O  F 


AMADQR  COUNTY! 

-XX* 


Ml* 


.--..•• 


WITHILLUSTRATIONSJ 


OF 


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CALIFORNIA, 


WITH 


Illustrations  and  Biographical  Sketches 


OF   ITS 


PROMINENT  MEN  AND  PIONEERS. 

r 


OAKLAND,  CAL. 
THOMPSON  &  WEST. 


1851. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1881,  by 

THOMPSON  &  WEST, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


PACIFIC  PRESS   PUBLISHING    HOUSE, 

PRINTERS, 

STEREOTYPERS    AND    BINDERS, 
OAKLAND,    CAL. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS, 


INTRODUCTION 9 — 10 

CHAPTEE   1. 

Scanty  Knowledge  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Fifty  Years  Since — Story 
of  "Sergas,"  by  Esplandin— Titles  to  Immense  Regions 
Conferred  by  the  Pope  — Expeditions  for  Discovery  and 
Settlement — Sir  Francis  Drake's  Operations — Expeditions 
Overland — Marvelous  Stories  of  a  Big  Canon — Expedition 
of  Father  Escalante 11—12 

CHAPTEE  II. 

BIG  CANON  OF  THE  COLORADO. 

Lieutenant  Whipple's  Expedition — Lieutenant  Ives'  Expedi 
tion — First  Attempt  to  Explore  the  Canon — Land  Party 
Organized — One  Sight  of  the  River — First  Exploration — 
Unwilling  Venture — Consider  the  Situation — Death  of  One 
of  the  Parties — Three  Months  in  the  Canon — Arrival  at 
Fort  Colville — Exploration  Made  Under  the  Direction  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institute — Indescribable  Character  of  the 
Stream — Loss  of  Boats  and  Provisions — Death  of  a  Portion 
of  the  Party — Emergence  of  the  Survivors — Geology  and 
Climate 12—17 

CHAPTEE    III. 

The  Exiles  of  Loreto — Father  Tierra's  Methods  of  Conversion — 
Death  of  Father  Tierra — Arrest  of  the  Jesuits — Midnight 
Parting — Permanent  Occupation  of  California — Missions  in 
Charge  of  Francisco  Friars — Character  of  Father  Junipero — 
Exploring  Expeditions — Origin  of  the  name  of  the  Bay — 
Mission  Dolores — Death  of  Father  Junipero 17 — 20 

CHAPTEE  IV. 
THE  MISSIONS  OF  ST.  FRANCIS. 

Their  Moral  and  Political  Aspect — Domestic  Economy — The  Es 
tablishments  Described — Secular  and  Religious  Occupations 
of  the  Neophytes — Wealth  and  Productions — Liberation  and 
Dispersion  of  the  Indians — Final  Decay 20 — 23 

CHAPTEE  V. 

DOWNFALL  OF  THE  OLD  MISSIONS. 

Results   of   Mexican   Rule — Confiscation  of   the   Pious   Fund — 

Revolution  Begun — Events  of  the  Colonial  Rebellion — The 

Americans  Appear  and  Settle  Things — Annexation  at  Last. 

23—24 

CHAPTEE  VI. 

PRIMITIVE  AGRICULTURE. 

Extent  of  the  Mission  Lands — Varieties  of  Product — Agricul 
tural  Implements  and  means  of  Working — A  Primitive  Mill 
— Immense  Herds  and  Value  of  Cattle — The  First  Native 
Shop 24—26 

CHAPTEE    VII. 

Sir  Francis  Drake's  Discoveries — The  Fabulous  Straits  of 
Anian — Arctic  Weather  in  June — Russian  Invasion — 
Native  Animals — Various  facts  and  Events 26 — 29 


CHAPTEE  VII I. 

THE  AMERICAN  CONQUEST. 

Fremont  and  the  Bear  Flag — Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Revolu 
tion — Commodores  Sloat,  Stockton,  and  Shubrick — Castro 
and  Flores  Driven  out — Treaty  of  Peace — Stockton  and 
Kearney  Quarrel — Fremont  Arrested,  etc 29 — 31 

CHAPTEE  IX. 

SAN  JOAQUIN  COUNTY  FROM  THE  TIME  CAPT.  C. 

M.  WEBER  FIRST  SAW  IT  IN  NOVEMBER, 

1841,  UNTIL  THE  CLOSE  OF  1847. 

Captain  C.  M.  Weber — Expedition  to  California,  1841 — Names 
of  the  Party — Sutter's  Fort — Hoza  Ha-soos — San  Jose — 
French  Camp  or  Weber  Grant — Revolutionary  Designs  of  the 
Foreigners — Treaty  between  Weber  and  Ha-soos — How  it 
was  observed  by  Ha-soos — Fremont's  Expedition,  1844 — 
David  Kelsey — Thomas  Lindsay — Policy  of  the  Foreigners — 
Weber  and  Micheltorena  at  San  Jose — John  A.  Sutter  aids 
Micheltorena — A  Revolutionary  Document — The  "Bear 
Flag  " — Attempt  to  Settle  the  Grant,  1846 — Isbel  Brothers 
and  Other  Early  Settlers — Twins,  Second  Children  born  in 
County,  1847 — End  of  Stanislaus  City — First  Marriage,  1847 
— Village  of  "Tuleburg"— William  Gann,  First  Child  born 
in  1847— Wild  Horse  Scheme— Resume 31—39 

CHAPTEE  X. 
BIOGRAPHIC  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL   SUTTER. 

His  Nativity — Migration  to  the  American  West — Arrival  in  Cal 
ifornia — Foundation  of  Sutter's  Fort — Prosperity  and 
Wealth  of  the  Colony — Decline  and  Ultimate  Ruin — Retire 
ment  to  Hock  Farm — Extract  from  Sutter's  Diary . .  39 — 46 

CHAPTEE    XI. 
THE    KING'S    ORPHAN. 

His  Observations  in  the  Sacramento  Valley  in  1843 — Indications 
of  Gold — Life  at  Sutter's  Fort — Indian  Gourmands — Won 
derful  Fertility  of  the  Land 46—47 

CHAPTEE    XII. 
SUTTER'S   FORT    IN    1846. 

Aspect  of  Sacramento  Valley — Sinclair's  Ranch — A  Lady  Pioin 
eer — Captain  Sutter  at  Home — The  Fort  Described — Condi 
tion  and  Occupation  of  the  Indians — Farm  Products  and 
Prices — Dinner  with  the  Pioneer — New  Helvetia  . . .  .47 — 49 

CHAPTEE    XIII. 
THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DONNER  PARTY. 

Scene  of  the  Tragedy — Organization  and  Composition  of  the 
Party — Election  of  George  Donner  as  Captain — Hastings' 
Cut-off — Ascent  of  the  Mountains — Arrival  at  Donner  Lake 
— Snow-storms — Construction  of  Cabins — "Forlorn  Hope 
Party  " — Captain  Reasin  P.  Tucker's  Relief  Party — James 
F.  Reed's  Relief  Party— "  Starved  Camp  "—Third  Relief 
Party — Heroism  and  Devotion  of  Mrs.  George  Donner — • 
Fourth  Relief  Party— The  Survivors 49—51 


IV 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE    XIV. 

THE  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD. 

Early  Reports  and  Discoveries — Marshall's  Great  Discovery  at 
Sutter's  Mill — His  Account  of  the  Event — Views  of  the 
Newspapers  of  that  Time  —  Political  and  Social  Revolu 
tion — Great  Rush  to  the  Mines — Results — General  Sutter's 
Aoxrantof  theGold  Discovery — Building  of  Saw-Mill.  51 — 5S 

CHAPTEE    XV. 

EARLY  CONDITION  OF  THIS  REGION. 

Mountains  Unexplored  by  the  Spaniards — The  Trappers — Fre 
mont's  Passage  of  the  Mountains  in  1844 — Battles  with  the 
Snow — The  Indian's  Warning — A  Glimpse  of  the  Valley — 
Subsisting  on  Horse  Flesh — Arrival  at  Sutter's  Fort — Early 
Settlements — An  Immigrant  Party  of  1844 — Captain  Truckee 
— Truckee  River — Alone  on  the  Summit — Death  of  Captain 
Truckee — Immigrants  in  1846 — Discovery  of  Gold  on  the 
Yuba 58—135 

CHAPTEE  XVI. 

AMADOR   COUNTY. 

Early  History — Origin  of  the  Name  of  Carson  Pass — River  and 
Valley — First  White  Men  in  the  Territory — Sutter's  Whip- 
saw-mill — Discovery  of  Gold — Organization  of  Calaveras 
County — Removal  of  County-Seat  from  Double  Springs  to 
Jackson — Second  Removal  to  Mokeluinne  Hill — First  Set  of 
County  Officers — Second  Set  of  County  Officers — Members 
of  the  Legislature — Miscellaneous  Matters  in  Calaveras — Joa- 
quin's  Career — Chased  by  Indians — Mokelumne  Hill  in  Early 
Days — Green  and  Vogan's  Line  of  Stages — Stories  of  Griz 
zlies—Bull  and  Bear  Fight (55—71 

CHAPTEE    XV  11. 

DOMESTIC   HABITS  OF    THE   MINERS. 

Exaggerated  Accounts  of  Bret  Harte  and  Joaquiu  Miller — Cook 
ing  and  Washing — Hawks,  Squirrels,  Quails,  and'  Other 
Game  for  Food  —  Getting  Supper  Under  Difficulties  — 
Laundry  Affairs — Prevalence  of  Vermin — The  Sanguinary 
Flea — Miners'  Flea  Trap — Fleas  versus  Bed-bugs — Rats  and 
Other  Animals  —  Visits  of  Snakes — A  Romantic  Affair 
Spoiled  by  a  Skunk 72—76 

CHAPTEE   XVIII. 
ORGANIZATION  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 

Election  for  or  Against  Division,  June  17,  1854 — Proceedings 
of  the  Board  of  Commissioners — Strife  for  the  Possession  of 
the  County  Seat — The  Owl — Sketches  of  the  First  Candi 
dates — Courts  Established — Efforts  to  Suppress  Disorderly 
Houses — Amusing  Procession — Election  in  1854 — Condition 
of  Society 76—83 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

RANCHERIA  MURDERS. 

Ill-feeling  between  the  Americans  and  Mexicans — Frequency  of 
Murders — The  Band  First  Seen  at  Hacalitas — Up  Dry  Creek 
— At  Rancheria — To  Drytown — A  Second  Time  to  Rancheria 
— Slaughter— Departure  of  the  Robbers — Excitement  the 
Next  Day — Immense  Gathering — Trial  and  Hanging  of  the 
Mexicans — Death  of  Roberts — Borquitas — Presence  of  County 
Officers — Pursuit  of  the  Murderers — Hunt  Around  Bear 
Mountain — The  Murderers  Overtaken — Death  of  Phoenix — 
Expulsion  and  Disarming  of  Mexican  Population — Outrages 
at  Drytown — Burning  of  the  Church — Mass  Meeting  at 
Jackson — Review  After  a  Lapse  of  a  Quarter  of  a  Century. 
83—88 

CHAPTEE  XX. 

POLITICAL   PARTIES   IN    1855. 

Success  of  the  American  Party — List  of  Officers  Elected — 
Rivalry  Between  Towns — Financial  Matters — Efforts  to 
Suppress  Gambling — Political  Parties  in  1856 — Names  of 
Officers  Elected — Calaveras  Indebtedness — Tax  Levy  in  1857 
— Disbursements  for  1857 — Table  of  Receipts  for  all  Moneys 
up  to  1857 — Political  Parties  in  1857 — Officers  Elected  in 


1857— Officers  Elected  1858— Tax  Levy  1858— Condition  of 
Treasury — Financial  Matters  in  1859 — Condition  of  Polit 
ical  Parties 88—92 

CHAPTEE  XXI. 

AMADOR  COUNTY    AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF   1860. 

County  Officers — Financial  Situation — Political  Parties — First 
Appearance  of  R.  Burnell — First  Appearance  of  Tom  Fitch 
—Officers  Elected  in  1860 — Amador  Wagon  Road  Voted 
On — Names  of  Amador  Mountaineers — Financial  Affairs  in 
1861 — Calaveras  Indebtedness  Denied — Enormous  Profits 
of  Officers — Political  Parties  in  1861 — The  Amador  Wagon 
Project  Renewed — Vote  on  the  Project,  May  10,  1862 — 
Rates  of  Toll — Impeachment  of  James  H.  Hardy — Political 
Parties  in  1862 — Great  Fire  in  Jackson — Petition  of  M.  W. 
Gordon — Supervisors  Order  the  Building  of  a  Court  House 
—Political  Parties  in  1863— French  Bar  Affair— Officers 
Elected  in  1863 — General  Vote — Political  Parties  in  1864 — 
Vote  of  1864 — Financial  Matters — Political  Parties  in  1865 
— Arrest  of  Hall  and  Penry — Election  Returns  by  Precincts, 
1865 — Seaton's  Defection — Counting  the  Votes — Clinton 
Vote— List  of  Officers  Elected  in  "l  865— Death  of  G.  W. 
Seaton,  and  Election  of  A.  H.  Rose,  his  Successor — Finan 
cial  Matters  in  1865  ..  92—107 


CHAPTEE   XXII. 

END    OF    THE    SECOND    DECADE. 

Politics  in  1866 — Financial  Matters — Rabolt  Declared  Ineligible 
to  the  Office  of  Treasurer,  and  Otto  Walther  Appointed — 
Political  Parties  in  1867 — New  Registry  Law — Election 
Returns  Showing  the  New  Precincts — Judiciary  Election— 
Financial  Matters — Financial  Matters  in  1868 — Contest  for 
Supervisor  in  the  First  District — Ingalls  Declared  Unseated 
— Carroll  Installed — Act  of  the  Legislature  in  Reference 
Thereto — Wealth  and  Population — Political  Parties  in  1 868, 
— Election  Returns  by  Precincts — Politics  in  1869 — Election 
Returns  by  Precincts 107 — 1 10 

CHAPTEE      XXI 11. 

CONDITION  OF  THE  COUNTY  AT  THE  BEGINNING 
OF  THE  THIRD  DECADE- 1870. 

Condition  of  the  County  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Third  Decade — 
Statistics  of  the  Wealth  and  Indebtedness — Politics  in  1870 
— Financial  Condition — Redemption  Fund — Condition  of 
Other  Counties — The  Miners'  League — Death  of  McMenemy 
and  Hatch — Political  Parties  in  1872 — Election  Returns  by 
Precincts,  1871 — Persons  Elected  in  1871 — Financial  .Mat 
ters  1872 — Political  Parties  in  1872 — Election  Returns  for 
1872 — Comparison  of  Vote  with  Previous  Years — Financial 
Matters,  1873 — Political  Parties  in  1873 — John  Eagon's  Posi 
tion — Judge  Gordon's  Stand — J.  T.  Farley's  Position — Elec 
tion  Returns  by  Precincts — Officers  Elected  in  1873 — Alpine 
county  Left  out  in  the  Election — Financial  Matters  in  1874 
— The  Funding  Project — Political  Parties  in  1874 — Financial 
Matters  in  1875 — Robbery  of  the  Treasury  May  9,  1875— 
Conclusion  of  Buttertield  Matter  in  1877 — Political  Matters 
in  1875— Officers  elected  in  1875 110—119 

CHAPTEE    XXIV.. 

FINANCIAL  MATTERS  IN  1876. 

Political  Parties  in  1876 — Election  Returns  by  Precincts — Finan 
ces  in  1877  —Political  Parties  in  1877 — Returns  by  Precincts 
— Death  of  the  Honorable  Robert  Ludgate — Financial  Mat 
ters  in  1878 — Political  Parties  in  1878 — Vote  on  the  Adop 
tion  of  the  New  Constitution — Financial  Matters  in  1879 — 
Political  Matters  in  1879— Officers  Elected— Effect  of  the 
New  Constitution  on  the  Judicial  System — Financial  Mat 
ters  in  1860 — Political  Parties  in  1880 — Amador  County 
Election  Returns  Nov.  2,  1880— Review  from  1870  to  1880. 

..  119—124 


CHAPTEE  XXV. 
GEOLOGY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 

Strata  in  Buena  Vista  Mountain — Carboniferous  Clays — Granitic 
Sandstone — Glacial  Epoch — Supposed  Section  of  the  Mount 
ains — Former  Course  of  the  Rivers — Account  of  the  Blue 
Lead — Stratified  Rocks — Serpentine  Range — Chromate  of 
Iron..  125—136 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTEE    XXVI. 

GEOLOGY    OF    AMADOR   COUNTY. 

BY  GEORGE   MADEIRA. 

Extensive  Character  of  the  Subject — Mother  Lode — Methods 
of  Vein  Deposits — Character  of  the  Veins  East  of  the 
Mother  Lode — Minerals  in  the  Tertiary  Rocks — Nature  of 
the  Limestones — Gravel  Deposits — Nature  of  the  Supposed 
Photographic  Rock — Evidences  of  Glaciers — Moving  Large 
Rocks — Volcanoes — Origin  of  the  Trap  Rock — Origin  of  the 
Smaller  Quartz  Veins — Butte  Mountain — Copper — Iron 
— Gypsum — Asbestos — Marble — Kaolin — Manganese— Agate 
— Chalcedony — Skeletons  of  the  Megatherium — Other  Fos 
sils — Rhinoceros — Hippopotamus — Horse  Destruction  of  the 
Arcadian  Land — Botany 1 36 — 141 

CHAPTEE    XX  VII. 
ORIGIN    OF    MINERAL    VEINS. 

Plutonic  Theory — Ocean  Floors — Other  Theories  Considered — 
Function  of  Wall  Rock  and  Gouge  —  Surface  Veins  — 
Probable  Depth  of  Veins — Methods  of  Deposit— Jurassic 
Gravel — Course  of  the  Blue  Lead 141 — 145 

CHAPTEE    XXVIII. 
QUARTZ    MINING. 

(Quartz  Mining,  Commencement  of — Quartz  Miners'  Convention — 
Account  of  the  Mother  Lode — Sketch  of  Different  Mines — 
Gwin  Mines — Casco — Murphy's  Ridge — Huffaker — Moore — 
Zeile — Description  of  a  Model  Mill — Plainer  Process  of 
Reducing  Sulphurets  —  Hiukley  Mine  —  Monterichard — 
Kennedy — Tubbs — Oneida — Summit — Hay  ward — Character 
of  the  Same —  Railroad  —  Wildmaii — Mahoney — Union  or 
Lincoln — Accident  in  the  Lincoln — Mechanics — Herbertville 
— Spring  Hill — Keystone — Consolidation  of  Granite  State 
and  Walnut  Hill — Discovery  of  the  Bonanza — Statistics  of 
Same — Big  Grab,  and  Failure  to  Hold  it — Account  of  the 
Suit — Original  Amador — Bunker  Hill — Pennsylvania  Gover 
— Black  Hills — Seaton — Potosi — Quartz  Mountain  —  Ply 
mouth  Group — Enterprise — Nashville 145 — 161 

CHAPTEE   XXIX. 

QUARTZ  MINING  EAST  OF  THE  MOTHER  LODE. 

Downs  Mine — Marklee — Tellurium — Thayer — Clinton  Mines — 
Mace  Range  of  Mines — Pioneer  and  Golden  Gate  Mines — 
Quartz  Veins  West  of  the  Mother  Lode — Kirkendall — Soap- 
Stone  or  Steatite  Mine — Quartz  Mining  in  the  Future — 
Put  Money  in  Thy  Purse — School  Cabinets — Copper  Min 
ing — General  Craze — Country  Formed  into  Districts — Funny 
Notices — New  Towns — Result  of  the  General  Search — 
Chrome  Iron — Failure  of  Meader — Remarkable  Discovery — 
Present  Condition  of  Copper  Mining — Newton  Mine.  161-167 

CHAPTEE    XXX. 

JACKSON. 

Capture  of  the  County  Seat — Killing  of  Colonel  Collyer — Loss  of 
the  County  Seat — Bull  Fight  and  Election — Mines — First 
School — Improvements  in  1854 — Hanging  Tree — Griswold 
Murder— Great  Freshet  1861— Great  Fire  1862— Flood  and 
Loss  of  Life  1 878 — Big  Frolic — Celebration  of  Admission  Day 
— Mokelumne  River — Murphy's  Gulch — Hunt's  Gulch — 
Tunnel  Hill — Butte  Basin — Butte  Mountain — Butte  City — 
Marriage  in  High  Life— The  Gate— Ohio  Hill— Slab  City- 
Clinton — Spaulding's  Invention 167 — 181 

CHAPTEE    XXXI. 

IONE  VALLEY  AND  VICINITY. 

First  White  Men  in  lone  Valley — First  House — First  Ranches — 
Judge  Lynch — Starkey's  Case — First  Mill — Fun  with  Griz 
zlies — Origin  of  Name  lone — First  School — First  Flour  Mill 
— First  Brick  Store — Methodist  Church — Centennial — Pres 
ident's  Address — Extracts  from  Poem — Extracts  from  Ora 
tion — lone  in  1876 — Railroad — Stockton  Narrow-Guage — 
Gait  Road — Overflows — Fires — Buena  Vista — First  Settle 
ment — Mining — Arroyo  Seco  Grant — Dispossession  of  Settlers 
— Present  Appearance — Buckeye  Valley — Irish  Hill — Quincy 
— Muletown — Miners'  Court — The  Funny  Man — Faithful 
Wife..  ..182—194 


CHAPTEE    XXXII. 

LANCHA    PLANA    AND   VICINITY. 

Its  Early  Settlers  —  Cholera  and  Diarrhea — Judge  Palmer's 
Bridge  —  Fires — First  School  —  Notable  Homicide  —  Bluff 
Mining — Open  Sea — Chaparral  Hill — Growth  of  the  Town 
— Bonita  Affair — Indian  War — Butler  Claim — Decline  of 
the  Town — Put's  Bar  and  the  Fruit  Interest — Overflows — 
Townerville — Camp  Opera — French  Camp — Copper  Centre. 
194—202 

CHAPTEE     XXXII 1. 

VOLCANO   AND   VICINITY. 

As  it  Looked  in  '49 — Georgia  Claim — Sharp  Mining  Broker — 
Rod.  Stowell  —  Agriculture  —  Society  —  A  Philosopher  — 
Hydraulic  Mining — Nature  of  the  Gravel  Deposits — China 
Gulch — Volcano  Tunnel — Former  Project  of  Lowering  the 
Outlet — Fires — Largest  Fire — Fire  of  1865 — Year  of  Fires^ 
Burning  of  Hanford's  Store — Miners'  Joke  —  Nocturnal 
Visitor — Murder  of  Beck  man — Lynch  Law — Stage  Robber 
ies — Miners'  Library  Association — Dramatic  Societies — 
Russel's  Hill — Fort  John — Upper  Rancheria — Aqueduct 
City — Contreras — Ashland —  Grizzly  Hill  —  Wheeler  Dig 
gings — Plattsburg — How  Named — Hunt's  Gulch — Spanish 
Gulch— Whisky  Slide— Large  Crystal  Caves 202—218 

CHAPTEE   XXXIV. 
NORTH-WESTERN  PART    OF   THE   COUNTY. 

Sutter  Creek — First  Foundry — Knight's  Foundry  and  Machine 
Shop — Planing  Mill — Society  at  Sutter  Creek — Schools  and 
'  Sohool-Houses — Shipment  of  Gold — Fires — Incorporation — 
Future  Prospects  —  Amador  —  M  inisters  —  Placer  Mines — 
Gold  of  Lower  Rancheria — Oleta — Execution  by  Lynch  Law 
— Killing  of  Carter  by  Doctor  Unkles — Home  Rule — Fatal 
Explosion — Bad  Case  of  Erysipelas — Lynch  Law  Vetoed — 
The  Famous  Safe  Robbery — First  School — Churches — Pres 
ent  Mining  Prospects — Sewell's  Addition — Cosumnes  River 
— Amusing  account  of  Mining  Machinery — Famous  Lynch 
ing  Affair  at  Jamison's  Ranch 218 — 229 


CHAPTEE    XXXV. 

NORTH-WESTERN    PART   OF    THE    COUNTY. 

Drytown  —  Details  of  Settlement  —  First  Justice  of  the  Peace  — 
Arrival  of  Families  —  Scurvy  —  Great  Fire  —  Farming  —  Dry 
Creek  —  Rattlesnake  Gulch  —  Mile  Gulch  —  Murderers' 
Gulch  —  Forest  Home  —  Arkansas  Creek  —  Yankee  Hill  —  Big 
Nugget  —  Willow  Springs  —  Central  House  —  Plymouth  — 
Puckerville  —  Mineral  Springs  —  Fires  —  Enterprise  —  Yeomet. 
..............................................  229—234 

CHAPTEE    XXXVI. 

EASTERN   PART  OF   AMADOR   COUNTY. 

Elevation  Above  Tide-water—lone,  Jackson,  Volcano  —  Pine 
Grove  —  Dentzler's  Flume  House  —  Claiborne  Foster's  —  Ante 
lope  Springs  —  Hipkius  &  Wiley's  Station—  Ham's  Station- 
Mud  Springs  —  Stevens'  Lumber  Yard  —  Emigrant's  Pass  — 
Amount  of  Timber  Remaining  —  Climatic  Effect  of  the  Loss 
of  Timber  —  Summer  Pasture  —  As  a  Summer  Resort  —  Prac 
tical  Jokes  —  Salt  Springs  —  Mammoth  Quartz  Vein  —  Trout 
Fishing  —  Silver  Mines  —  Sunset  from  the  Sierras  —  Climate  — 
Drouths  —  Freshets  —  Rain  Table  for  Amador  County,  as  Com 
piled  by  Frank  Howard  —  Rain  Table  for  Sacramento,  cor 
rected  for  Sutter  Creek  .........................  234—242 


CHAPTEE     XXXVII. 

ARROYO   SECO  GRANT. 

Claim  Rejected  —  Claim  Confirmed  on  Appeal  —  Character  of 
Grant  —  Matters  of  Record  —  Letter  from  T.  A.  Hendricks, 
Attorney  General  —  Final  Survey  —  During  Hancock  Agency- 
Proposed  Settlement  —  Sale  to  J.  Mora  Moss  &  Co.  —  Memo 
rial  to  President  Lincoln  —  Dispossession  —  Settlers'  League  — 
Shooting  of  Herman  Wohler  —  Last  Effort  —  Memorial  to 
Congress  ......................................  242—250 


HISTORY 


-OF- 


AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA 


BY  J.  D.   MASON. 


INTRODUCTION. 

CICERO  says  that,  "  it  is  the  first  law  of  history 
that  the  writer  should  neither  dare  to  advance  what 
is  false  nor  suppress  what  is  true;  that  he  should 
relate  the  facts  with  strict  impartiality,  free  from  ill- 
will  or  favor;  that  his  narrative  should  distinguish 
the  order  of  time,  and,  when  necessary,  the  descrip 
tion  of  places;  that  he  should  unfold  the  motives  of 
men,  and.  in  his  account  of  the  transactions,  or  the 
events,  interpose  his  own  judgment;  should  relate 
what  was  done,  how  it  was  done,  and  what  share 
rashness,  prudence,  or  judgment  had  in  the  issue; 
that  he  should  give  the  character  of  the  leading  men, 
their  weight  and  influence,  their  passions,  principles, 
and  conduct  through  life." 

A  good  history  is  a  growth;  the  first  attempts  to 
collate  the  facts  bearing  on  the  settlement  and  develop 
ment  of  a  country  are  necessarily  imperfect.  Many 
things  will  creep  in  which  were  better  left  out,  and 
others  of  importance  are  omitted.  Some  matters 
will  receive  undue  importance,  and  few  will  be  accu 
rately  related.  Not  until  edition  after  edition  has 
been  brought  before  the  public  will  the  prominent 
events  receive  due  notice,  or  the  doubtful  ones  have 
justice  done  them.  A  thousand  eyes  will  be  sharp 
ened  to  criticise  the  narrative.  A  thousand  new 
witnesses  will  arise  to  contradict,  affirm,  or  correct. 
The  publishers  hope  that  the  public  will  make  due 
allowance  for  errors  unavoidable  in  the  first  attempt 
to  collect  the  facts  pertaining  to  the  early  history  of 
the  county.  In  many  instances  the  testimony,  even 
of  eye-witnesses,  is  very  conflicting.  This  is  true  of 
the  aifairs  of  August,  1855.  Hardly  any  two  agree 
in  their  narratives  of  the  circumstances.  In  this,  as 
in  other  matters,  the  most  probable  statements  are 
recorded.  Nothing  has  been  set  down  in  malice,  and 
some  things  have  been  left  out  as  being  too  much 
like  tales  told  out  of  school;  as  far  as  possible  con 
signing  them  to  oblivion. 

Having  resided  over  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  the 
county,  and  acted  a  part,  though  a  humble  one,  in 


many  of  the  circumstances  narrated,  the  writer  has 
drawn  largely  on  his  own  memory  for  many  of  the 
incidents. 

The  chapters  on  geology  and  mining,  will,  it  is 
hoped,  furnish  interesting  and  profitable  reading  to 
all,  especially  those  engaged  in  mining.  The  facts 
and  theories  are  the  result  of  years  of  observation, 
and  many  miles  of  travel,  and  are  not  retailed  at 
second  hand  from  Whitney  or  other  scientists.  The 
observations  on  mining  have  been  compiled  from 
the  statements,  opinions  and  experiences,  of  hun 
dreds  of  intelligent  miners.  Thanks  are  due  to  all 
the  superintendents,  especially  to  those  of  the  Ama- 
dor  Consolidated,  the  Keystone,  the  Oneida,  the 
Empire,  the  Downs  and  the  Zeile  mines  for  valuable 
information  on  gold  mining,  and  to  Edward  Johnson 
of  the  Newton  mine,  for  statistics  and  methods  of 
copper  mining. 

The  habits  of  the  early  miners  will  be  read  with 
interest.  The  writer  hopes  that  some  of  the  false 
impressions,  produced  by  Bret  Hart,  Joaquin  Miller, 
and  other  writers,  regarding  early  Californians,  will 
be  dissipated  by  a  true  description  thereof.  The  stories 
of  the  "YubaDam,"  "Tuolumne  Debating  Society" 
and  others  of  that  kind,  have  truth  enough  for  a 
hint  to  a  lively  imagination  arid  no  more;  and  those 
who,  in  after  years,  judge  California  by  those  things, 
will  be  wide  of  the  mark.  The  writer,  having  been 
a  resident  of  the  State  since  1850,  has  an  interest 
in  the  good  reputation  of  the  pioneers,  and  is  glad 
to  enter  his  protest  to  such  absurdities  being  re 
corded  as  history.  With  him,  the  work  has  been 
one  of  love,  and  a  design  to  do  justice  to  our  coun 
trymen,  with  no  desire  to  hold  them  up  to  derision. 

The  publishers  intended  to  give  statistics  of  the 
growth  of  the  mining  and  agricultural  industries, 
but  found  the  published  returns  entirely  worthless. 
In  some  instances,  the  estimations  were  utterly  ab 
surd.  In  1877,  the  yield  of  wheat  in  Amador  county 
was  estimated  at  236  bushels  to  the  acre,  this  esti- 


10 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


mate  being  copied  without  remark  into  all  the  works 
on  statistics.  In  1866,  the  number  of  grape-vines 
was  estimated  at  557,773;  in  1867,  at  1,140,000;  1868, 
at  683,623.  The  estimates  in  many  instances  were 
mere  guess  work.  The  values  of  real  and  personal 
property  as  a  basis  for  taxation,  are  the  only  esti 
mates  that  approximate  the  truth.  These  have 
been  given  from  year  to  year,  in  the  continuous 
histoiy  of  the  county. 

The  history  of  the  Arroyo  Seco  Grant  has  been  ex 
haustively  treated.  The  facts  in  regard  to  this,  the 
most  important  event  in  the  history  of  the  county, 
were  fast  sinking  into  obscurity,  and  it  was 
deemed  best  to  collect  and  preserve  them,  that  our 
children  might  know  the  great  wrong  that  was 
perpetrated  under  cover  of  the  law.  Valuable 
assistance  in  this  was  rendered  by  J.  A.  Forbes  (now 
deceased),  who  was  familiar  with  the  whole  history 
of  the  grant  system. 

The  chapter  on  the  Colorado  Canon  will  be  found 
interesting,  and  worthy  of  being  preserved  with  the 
other  facts  bearing  on  the  discovery  and  settlement 
of  California. 

The  article  on  the  Dead  Rivers  of  California,  cop 
ied  from  the  Overland  Monthly,  is  well  worth  preser 
vation  in  connection  with  the  geology  of  the  county, 
and  will  be  welcomed  by  all  who  are  interested  in 
the  ancient  river  system. 

In  making  up  this  work,  many  authorities  have 
been  consulted;  Forbes'  History  of  California,  writ 
ten  in  1835;  Farnham's  History  of  the  Period  of 
the  Arroyo  Seco  Grant;  Annals  of  San  Francisco 
and  California,  by  Frank  Soule;  Tuthill's  His 
tory  of  California;  History  of  the  Pacific  School 
System,  by  John  Swett;  Cronise's  Natural  "Wealth 
of  California;  Hittel's  Resources  of  California;  Bay 
ard  Taylor's  El  Dorado;  Scenes  in  El  Dorado  in 
1849-'50,  by  S.  C.  Upham;  Raymond's  work  on 
the  Mines  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  others  too  numer 
ous  to  mention.  The  Odd  Fellows'  libraries  of  Oak 
land  and  San  Francisco,  the  school  library  of 
Alameda  county,  and  mercantile  library  of  San 
Francisco,  as  well  as  private  collections,  have 
been  frequently  visited.  The  files  of  the  Alta  Cal 
ifornia;  Spirit  of  the  Times  (M.  D.  Boruck's  paper), 
and  other  city  papers  have  often  been  consulted,  as 
well  as  files  of' the  county  papers,  the  Ledger,  Sentinel, 
News  and  Dispatch.  To  the  proprietor  of  the  Dis 
patch  especially,  are  many  thanks  due.  The  county 
papers  published  previous  to  August  23,  1862,  were 
mostly  destroyed  in  the  great  fire.  The  loss  is  irrep 
arable,  though  it  is  said  the  hermit  at  the  Gate,  J.  G. 
Farrar,  has  complete  files  of  all  the  papers  ever  pub 
lished  in  the  county,  but  the  author  was  unable  to 
get  access  to  them. 

To  point  out  all  the  sources  of  information,  or  to 
name  all  the  persons  giving  us  valuable  assistance 
would  be  impossible.  It  had  to  bo  gathered  from 
a  thousand  sources,  and  thousands  of  notes  com 
pared.  Valuable  assistance  was  rendered  by  Hon. 


H.  A.  Carter  in  matters  of  the  Arroyo  Seco  Grant, 
Robert  Reed,  James  Bagley,  D.  Stewart,  H.  F.  Hall, 
Hon.  R.  B.  Swift,  Hon.  L.  Brusie,  J.  M.  F.  Johnson, 
Mrs.  J.  T.  Henley,  J.  W.  Surface,  W.  H.  Fox,  J.  P. 
Martin,  P.  Scully,  William  Cook,  John  Fitzsimmons, 
Hon.  I.  B.  Gregory,  A.  Thompson,  Hon.  J.  W.  D. 
Palmer,  Isaac  Waddell,  Hon.  William  Waddell,  Will 
iam  Maroon,  J.  C.  Fithian,  R.  W.  Palmer,  George  W. 
Porter,  James  M.  Porter,  Thomas  Love,  Louis  Tel- 
lier,  Ellis  Evans,  A.  Askey,  Mrs.  Ellis  Evans,  J.  D. 
Davis,  James  Meehan,  George  Durham,  Hon.  M.  W. 
Gordon,  Hon.  John  A.  Eagon,  Hon.  A.  C.  IJrown,  J. 
C.  Shipman,  Thomas  Jones,  William  Lowry,  John 
Vogan,  H.  Goldner,  J.  A.  Butterfield,  C.  J.  Nickerson, 
C.  A.  Purinton,  P.  N.  Peck,  Wilmer  Palmer,  William 
Pitt,  E.  R.  Yates,  J.  E.  Reaves,  R.  Robinson,  J.  T. 
Wheeler,  A.  P.  Clough,  Jacob  Cook,  J.  C.  Ham,  Ed 
mund  Wise,  S.  Loree,  James  Henry,  L.  Ludikens,  L. 
McLaine,  D.  S.  Boydston,  A.  Petty,  F.  M.  Whitmore, 
F.  Mace,  James  Hall,  J.  A.  Foster,  W.  Q.  Mason,  A. 
Jerome,  S.  Petty,  R,  Fry,  Isaac  E.  Eastman  (who  was 
here  in  1848),  James  Hall,  E.  Genochio,  L.  J.  Fonten- 
rose,  County  Clerk,  C.  H.  Turner,  A.  Cammetti,  Dis 
trict  Attorney,  B.  Ross,  Hon.  J.  T.  Farley,  Thomas 
Frakes,  C.  Gossum,  T.  B.  Greenhalgh,  J.  F.  Gould,  C.J. 
Garland,  C.  B.  Goodrich,  W.  H.  Harmon,  W.  E.  Huey, 
Henry  Kutchenthall,  James  Livermore,  S.  S.  Man- 
non,  James  McCauley,  I.  G.  Nute,  I.  N.  Randolph, 
W.  T.  Wildman,  William  Jennings,  J.  C.  Williams, 
Frank  Henderson,  S.  B.  Boardman,  H.  H.  Towns, 
Superintendent  of  Amador  Canal,  James  Morgan, 
J.  O.  Bartlett,  R.  T.  Bisbee,  Wm.  O.  Clark,  M.  B. 
Church,  T.  A.  Chicizola,  A.  K.  Dudley,  Jacob  Em- 
minger,  Dan.  Worley,  John  Marchant,  Wm.  Moon, 
T.  J.  Phelps,  A.  S.  Putnam,  B.  S.  Sanborn,  E.  A. 
Smith,  W.Southerland,  Silas  Tubbs,  J.  Northup,  Leroy 
Worden,Hon.  Chapman  Warkins,  and  many  others. 

Many  old  residents  have  been  interviewed  in  San 
Francisco  and  Oakland,  and  valuable  information 
gained:  John  Hanson  first  Sheriff  of  Calaveras,  John 
Burke,  Dr.  Henry  M.  Fisk,  Dr.  W.  Ayer,  J.  W. 
Paugh,  J.  G.  Severance,  J.  A.  Robinson,  N.  W.  Spaul- 
ding,  Dr.  Louis  Sober,  Hon.  E.  D.  Sawyer,  A.  J. 
Houghtaling,  W.  C.  Pratt,  (the  last  three  being  mem 
bers  of  the  Legislature  at  the  time  of  the  Act  pro 
viding  for  the  organization  of  the  county),  Hon.  W.  W. 
Cope,  Hon.  Wm.  Higby,  Hon.  Wm.  B.  Ludlow,  B.  S. 
E.  Williams,  Hon.  J.  W.  Bicknell,  Alvinza  Hayward, 
A.  AV.  Richardson,  Hon.  J.  D.  Stevenson  (commander 
of  the  famous  Stevenson  regiment),  J.  Alexander 
Forbes,  James  Foley,  who  established  Post-offices  in 
Amador,  and  others  names  not  recalled. 

The  author  may  be  permitted  to  say  in  conclusion 
that  the  labor  has  been  a  source  of  constant  pleasure; 
that  the  memories  of  the  many  reunions  with  the 
pioneers  will  remain  pleasant  as  long  as  life  lasts. 
He  hopes  the  patrons  of  the  work  will  manifest  the 
same  good  spirit  in  reading  the  work,  passing  lightly 
over  the  unavoidable  imperfections,  and  remember 
ing  only  that  which  is  good. 


EARLY  HISTORY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


11 


CHAPTER   1. 

Scanty  Knowledge  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Fifty  Years  Since — Story 
of  "Sergas,"  by  Esplaiidin — Titles  to  Immense  .Regions 
Conferred  by  the  Pope  — Expeditions  for  Discovery  and 
Settlement — Sir  Francis  Drake's  Operations — Expeditions 
Overland — Marvelous  Stories  of  a  Big  Canon — Expedition 
of  Father  Escalante. 

THOSE  who  studied  geography  forty  or  fifty  years 
since,  recollect  how  little  was  known  of  the  "Great 
West."  "Lewis  and  Clarke's  Expedition  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  Oregon,"  contained  about  all 
that  was  known  of  the  Pacific  coast;  and  hundreds 
of  persons  now  living,  remember  that  that  portion 
of  the  map  now  marked  California  and  Arizona, 
was  occupied  with  a  table  of  distances  from  Wash 
ington  to  our  larger  cities.  The  Rocky  Mountains 
were  represented  as  a  single  range,  running  from 
the  Isthmus  of  Darien  to  the  North  Pole.  More 
facts  concerning  the  Pacific  slope  were  learned  in 
the  first  fifty  years  after  the  discovery  of  the  New 
World,  than  in  the  following  two  hundred.  The 
deserts  of  Arizona  and  the  "  Great  Canon,"  shut 
off  exploration  and  settlement  from  this  direction, 
though  rumors  of  a  country  rich  in  gold,  had  circu 
lation  among  the  hordes  that  overrun  Mexico  soon 
after  its  conquest  by  Cortez  and  his  followers.  On 
such  rumors,  was  founded  the  story  of  "Sergas"  by 
Esplandin,  the  son  of  Amadis  of  Gaul,  which  con 
tained  "  the  story  of  a  country  called  California, 
very  near  to  the  terrestrial  paradise,  which  was 
peopled  by  black  women  without  any  men  among 
them,  because  they  were  accustomed  to  live  after 
the  manner  of  the  Amazons.  They  were  of  strong 
and  hardened  bodies,  of  ardent  courage,  and  ^great 
force.  The  island  was  the  strongest  in  the  world, 
from  its  steep  and  rocky  cliffs.  Their  arms  were  all 
of  gold,  and  so  were  the  caparisons  of  the  wild 
horses  they  rode." 

At  that  time,  the  world  was  filled  with  rumors  of 
wonderful  discoveries,  by  land  and  by  sea.  Some, 
like  De  Soto,  set  off  in  quest  of  the  "  spring  of  eter 
nal  youth,"  which  it  was  confidently  asserted  was 
just  on  the  other  side  of  a  certain  range  of  mount 
ains.  It  was  easier  to  believe  in  a  land  of  gold, 
than  in  a  spring  of  eternal  youth.  This  exciting 
book,  written  to  satisfy  the  literary  market  of  that 
age,  was  universally  read  in  Spain;  and,  it  is  highly 
probable,  was  partly  the  cause  for  the  expedition 
which  afterwards,  under  the  charge  of  Hernando 
Grijalva,  actually  discovered  "  California  very  near 
to  the  Terrestrial  Paradise;"  so  that  it  is  probable 
that  a  dreamy  old  romancer  in  Seville,  Spain,  sug 
gested  the  name  of  the  country  that  was  to  upheave 
new  continents  in  the  commercial  world. 

IMMENSE   REGIONS   GRANTED   BY   THE   POPE. 

Cortez  had  achieved  the  conquest  of  Mexico  with 
but  a  handful  of  men,  in  1519;  and  nine  years  after 
returned  to  Spain,  laden  with  the  spoils  of  an  empire 
larger  and  richer,  and,  perhaps,  more  civilized  than 


Spain  herself;  also  with  accounts  of  countries  still 
richer  and  larger,  to  the  north-west  of  Mexico.  He 
was  received  with  distinguished  honors  by  Charles 
Y.,  and  rewarded  by  many  royal  concessions,  among 
which  were  the  right  to  one-twelfth  of  all  the 
precious  metals  he  could  find,  and  a  perpetual  vice- 
royalty  for  himself  and  heirs,  over  all  the  countries 
he  should  discover.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  Pope,  in  consideration  of  the  dissemination  of 
the  "  True  Faith,"  had  granted  to  the  Emperor  of 
Spain  all  lands  that  his  subjects  might  discover;  so 
the  title  seemed  to  \>Q/ee  simple  in  Cortez,  who,  from 
being  a  piratical,  roving  vagabond,  bounded  into 
royal  honors. 

EXPEDITIONS   OF    DISCOVERY   AND   SETTLEMENT. 

Returning  to  Mexico,  he  immediately  set  about 
the  expedition;  but,  delayed  by  the  difficulty  of 
building  and  fitting  out  ships  on  the  western  coast, 
he  did  not  get  off  until  1535.  Having  landed  on  the 
lower  peninsula  of  California,  he  found  the  country 
so  barren  and  uninviting,  that  he  abandoned  the 
expedition,  and  returned  to  Mexico  in  1537.  On  his 
return,  he  heard  of  the  De  Soto  expedition,  which, 
like  all  the  other  expeditions,  had  nearly,  but  not 
quite,  reached  the  land  where  arms,  as  well  as  trap 
pings  for  horses,  were  made  of  pure  gold.  This  led 
to  the  fitting  out  of  another  expedition  in  1542, 
under  Jose  R.  Cabrillo,  who  sailed  northward  as  far 
as  Cape  Mendocino,  which  ho  named  Cape  Mendoza, 
in  honor  of  his  friend,  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico.  Keep 
ing  within  sight  of  the  coast  the  greater  part  of  the 
way,  he  discovered  the  Farallone  Islands,  also  some 
of  the  more  southern  groups;  but,  like  his  predeces 
sor,  failed  to  see  the  future  Golden  Gate.  In  an 
English  work  printed  in  1839,  Mr.  James  Alexander 
Forbes  states  that  two  out  of  the  three  vessels,  com 
posing  this  expedition,  with  some  twenty  men,  were 
lost  in  the  Gulf  of  California,  in  consequence  of  a 
mutiny  and  a  difficulty  with  the  natives,  near  La 
Paz. 

These  expeditions  were  so  unsatisfactory,  that 
Cortez  resolved  upon  exploring  the  coast  himself. 
Three  vessels  were  fitted  out  at  Tehuantepec,  he 
marching  overland  with  a  large  body  of  soldiers, 
slaves,  settlers,  and  priests.  Cortez  explored  the 
Gulf  of  California,  proved  that  California  was  not 
an  island,  but  part  of  the  main  land.  For  some 
time  the  Gulf  of  California  was  known  as  the  Sea  of 
Cortez.  It  was  also  called  The  Red  Sea  (El  Mar 
Rojo),  from  having  a  reddish  color  from  the  wash 
of  the  Colorado  river,  which  empties  into  the  gulf 
at  the  head;  Cortez  returned  to  Acapulco,  but  con 
tinued  to  employ  others  in  the  explorations,  which 
were  confined  mostly  to  lands  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
gulf.  Several  attempts  were  made  to  settle  the 
land,  but,  as  it  was  very  barren  and  poor,  the  col 
onies  made  little  progress.  The  natives  were  desti 
tute  of  means  and  character,  both  sexes  going  nearly 
or  quite  naked. 


12 


HISTORY  OF  AM.ADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


SIR   FRANCIS    DRAKE  S   OPERATIONS. 

Sir  Francis  Drake  reached  the  Pacific  ocean  in 
1578,  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  thirty-six 
years  after  Cabrillo  named  the  Cape  of  Mendocino, 
and,  not  having  heard  of  the  former  expeditions, 
took  possession  of  the  whole  country  in  the  name  of 
Queen  Elizabeth.  It  has  been  claimed  for  him  that 
he  entered  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco;  but  the  lati 
tude  in  which  he  located  it  (37°  59  5"),  proves  it  to 
have  been  some  miles  north,  at  a  place  now  called 
Drake's  bay,  though  most  of  the  old  geographies 
give  the  present  sea-port  as  "  The  Bay  of  Sir  Francis 
Drake."  It  is  strange  that,  having  much  inter 
course  with  the  natives,  he  should  have  failed  to 
discover  the  great  harbor  which  was  in  sight  from, 
some  of  the  surrounding  hills.  The  real  discovery 
of  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco,  was  made  by  Portala, 
in  an  overland  expedition.  What  a  vision,  when  he 
stood  on  the  top  of  some  of  the  low  ranges  of  mount 
ains  surrounding,  and  saw  the  rich  valleys  reposing 
in  a  perpetual  Indian  Summer,  stretching  to  the 
northward  sixty  miles.  Little  did  the  Spaniard,  or 
those  who  came  after  him,  suppose  that  the  rivers 
flowing  into  the  bay  ran  over  golden  sands,  or  that 
the  hills  near  the  outlet  would  be  covered  by  a  city 
larger  than  any  of  the  cities  of  magnificent  Spain. 

It  is  now  time  to  turn  to  the  attempts  to  explore 
the  country  in  other  ways. 

EXPEDITION     OVERLAND — MARVELOUS    STORIES. 

The  ill  success  attending  the  expeditions  up  the 
coast,  induced  explorations  by  land,  especially  ass 
marvelous  reports  of  rich  walled  cities  in  the  far 
north,  occasionally  reached  the  capital  of  Mexico. 
In  less  than  fifty  years  from  the  discovery  of  Amer 
ica,  soldiers  and  priests  had  explored  the  Colorado 
river  for  a  considerable  distance  above  its  mouth. 
The  stories  of  a  gigantic  people,  walled  towns,  and 
impassable  canons  a  mile  or  more  in  depth,  were  con 
signed  to  the  same  fate  as  the  stories  of  mermaids 
and  other  sea  monsters.  Cervantes  in  Spain,  and 
Dean  Swift  in  England,  had  poured  unsparing  ridi 
cule  on  the  fabulous  stories  and  achievements  of  the 
age  succeeding  the  discovery  of  America.  Since  the 
exploring  expedition  sent  out  by  the  United  States, 
the  accounts  of  the  great  Colorado  river  have  been 
overhauled  and  read  with  avidity,  and  what  was 
then  deemed  a  pleasant  after-dinner  fiction  of  some 
bibulous  priest,  has  proved  to  be  substantially  cor 
rect,  though  the  Mojaves,  who,  doubtless,  are  the 
persons  described  as  giants,  do  not  quite  come  up  to 
their  ancestors  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 

As  early  as  1540  the  Viceroy  of  New  Spain,  inter 
ested  in  the  stories  of  a  San  Franciscan  monk  who 
had  seen  some  of  the  territory,  sent  out  an  expedi 
tion  under  the  command  of  Vasquez  da  Coronado. 
When  they  struck  the  river,  a  party  of  twenty -five 
was  detached  and  sent  to  the  westward.  They 
explored  the  river  to  the  mouth,  and  from  this  point 
was  sent  the  expedition  which  eventually  succeeded 


in  discovering  the  bay.  Another  of  Coronado's 
captains,  named  Cardinas,  reached  *the  pueblos  of 
the  Moquis,  and  from  these  towns  made  a  visit, 
under  Indian  guides,  to  a  portion  of  the  river  some 
hundreds  of  miles  above  the  explorations  of  pre 
vious  parties.  The  history  states  that  after  a  march 
over  a  desert  of  twenty  days,  they  came  to  a  river, 
the  banks  of  which  were  so  high  that  they  seemed 
to  be  three  or  four  leagues  in  the  air.  The  most 
active  of  the  party  attempted  to  descend,  but  came 
back  in  the  evening,  saying  they  had  met  with  dif 
ficulties  which  prevented  them  from  reaching  the 
bottom;  that  they  had  accomplished  one-third  of  the 
descent,  and  from  that  point  the  river  looked  very 
large.  They  averred  that  some  rocks,  which  ap 
peared  from  above  to  be  the  height  of  a  man,  were 
higher  than  the  tower  of  the  cathedral  of  Seville. 
This  is  the  earliest  notice  in  any  work  of  the  cele 
brated  canon  of  the  Colorado,  the  most  astonishing 
of  all  mountain  gorges,  and  which  may,  without 
doubt,  be  reckoned  the  greatest  wonder  of  the  world. 

EXPEDITION    OP   FATHER    ESCALANTE. 

About  one  hundred  years  ago,  Father  Escalante 
visited  the  region  north  of  New  Mexico,  keeping 
along  the  head-waters  of  the  Colorado  to  Salt  Lake, 
thence  south-west  to  the  Colorado  river  at  a  point 
nearly  opposite  that  reached  by  one  of  Coronado's 
captains  over  two  hundred  years  before.  This  mea 
ger  account  of  the  great  canon  is  about  all  that  is 
on  record  previous  to  the  acquisition  of  Arizona  by 
tho  United  States,  though  trappers  and  hunters 
sometimes  related  incredible  stories  of  a  country 
where  great  rivers  ran  in  canons  so  deep  that  day- 
light-nevcr  reached  the  bottom.  As  this  river  forms 
a  part  of  the  boundary  of  California,  and  was,  to  a 
great  extent,  from  its  unapproachable  character,  a 
barrier  to  the  early  settlement  of  this  coast,  thus 
perhaps  preserving  it  for  its  present  occupants,  and 
as  it  has  recently  become  a  center  of  interest  on 
account  of  the  mines  in  its  vicinity,  a  somewhat 
extended  account  of  this  remarkable,  and,  even  now, 
little  known  wonder  may  be  justifiable,  and  will  be 
incorporated  into  tho  work  in  a  separate  chapter. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BIG  CANON  OF  THE  COLORADO. 

Lieutenant  Whipple's  Expedition — Lieutenant  Ives'  Expedi 
tion — First  Attempt  to  Explore  the  Canon — Land  Party 
Organized — One  Sight  of  the  Eiver — First  Exploration — 
Unwilling  Venture — Consider  the  Situation — Death  of  One 
of  the  Parties — Three  Mouths  in  the  Canon — Arrival  at 
Fort  Colville — Exploration  Made  Under  the  Direction  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institute — Indescribable  Character  of  the 
Stream — Loss  of  Boats  and  Provisions — Death  of  a  Portion 
of  the  Party — Emergence  of  the  Survivors — Geology  and 
Climate. 

LIEUTENANT  WHIPPLE'S  EXPEDITION. 

JN  the  Spring  of  1854  Lieutenant  Whipple  in  com 
mand  of  an  expedition  for  the  exploration  and  sur 
vey  of  a  railroad  route  near  the  35th  parallel,  reached 
the  Colorado  at  the  mouth  of  Bill  Williams'  Fork,  and 


BIG  CANON  OF  THE  COLORADO. 


13 


ascended  the  river  from  that  point  aboutfifty  miles  and 
reported  the  country  as  mostly  impassable.  From 
an  elevated  point  a  view  of  an  apparent  valley  or 
course  of  a  river  could  be  seen,  which  seemed  to  be  a 
net- work  of  impassable  canons.  This  partial  explo 
ration  still  further  intensified  the  interest  in  this 
region.  That  any  portion  of  the  United  States  was 
unapproachable  was  too  absurd  to  credit. 

LIEUTENANT  IVES'    EXPEDITION. 

It  was  not  until  1857  that  an  appropriation  became 
available  for  further  exploration.  A  small  steamer 
was  constructed  for  the  purpose  of  ascending  the  river 
and  shipped  to  San  Francisco  in  parts,  and  thence  re- 
shipped  to  Fort  Yuma,  where  it  was  put  together. 
When  loaded  it  drew  somewhat  less  than  two  feet  of 
water,  and  the  river  was  ascended  four  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  above  Fort  Yuma.  Sometimes  the  little 
craft  was  nearly  overwhelmed  in  the  treacherous  cur 
rents  and  sometimes  the  men  were  obliged  to  tow  the 
steamer  over  shoals  where  it  would  touch  bottom 
continually.  Bands  of  natives  would  follow  the 
boat,  hugely  amused  with  the  puffing,  snorting  canoe 
that  was,  apparently,  so  helpless  and  good  for  noth 
ing.  At  length  the  party  came  in  sight  of  the 
much  talked  of  canon,  of  which  so  little  was  known 
and  so  much  conjectured.  The  enormous,  perpendicu 
lar  walls  of  rocks,  hundreds  of  feet  high,  which  had 
formed  the  banks  of  the  rivers  in  many  places,  had 
prepared  them  for  wonders,  but  they  did  not  ex 
pect  to  see  a  large  river  come  out  of  a  gate-way  two 
thousand  feet  high  and  only  a  few  feet  across.  If 
the  ancients  had  known  of  this  place  they  would  have 
added  new  horrors  to  their  infernal  regions. 

FIRST  ATTEMPT  TO  EXPLORE  THE  CANON. 

The  attempt  to  navigate  the  canon  with  the  steamer 
without  a  previous  reconnoissanco  was  thought  too 
hazardous,  and  a  boat  expedition  was  organized. 
Lieutenant  Ives  with  three  or  four  men  entered  the 
dark  gateway.  With  much  labor  they  worked  their 
way,  sometimes  rowing  and  sometimes  dragging  the 
boat  over  rapids.  Night  coming  on, the  party  took 
advantage  of  a  small  shingle  beach  for  acampingplacc. 
Some  drift-wood  lodged  in  a  cleft  of  rocks  furnished 
material  for  a  camp  fire.  There  was  no  need  of 
sentinels.  Eternal  silence  reigned  ;  not  even  the 
chirping  of  an  insect  broke  the  low  murmer  of  the 
waters  as  they  wound  their  tortuous  way  through 
the  dark  depths.  We  quote  freely  from  his  report 
to  the  Secretary  of  War  : — 

"  March  10,  1858.  *  *  *  Darkness  supervened 
with  surprising  suddenness.  Pall  after  pall  of  shade 
fell,  as  it  were  in  clouds,  upon  the  deep  recesses 
about  us.  The  line  of  light  through  the  opening 
above  at  last  became  blurred  and  indistinct,  and, 
save  the  dull  red  glare  of  the  camp  fire,  all  was 
enveloped  in  a  murky  gloom.  Soon  the  narrow 
belt  again  brightened  as  the  rays  of  the  moon 
reached  the  summits  of  the  mountains.  Gazing  far 
upwards  upon  the  edges  of  the  overhanging  walls 
we  witnessed  the  gradual  illumination.  A  few  iso 
lated  turrets  and  pinnacles  first  appeared  in  strong 


relief  upon  the  blue  band  of  the  heavens.  As  the 
silvery  light  descended  and  fell  upon  the  opposite 
crest  of  the  abyss,  strange  and  uncouth  shapes  seem 
to  start  out,  all  sparkling  and  blinking  in  the  light, 
and  to  be  peering  over  at  us  as  we  lay  watching 
them  from  the  bottom  of  the  profound  chasm.  The 
contrast  between  the  vivid  glow  above  and  the  black 
obscurity  beneath,  formed  one  of  the  most  striking 
points  in  the  singular  picture.  This  morning  as  soon 
as  the  light, permitted,  we  were  again  on  the  way. 
*  The  canon  continued  to  in 

crease  in  size  and  magnificence.  No  description  can 
convey  an  idea  of  the  peerless  and  majestic  grandeur 
of  this  water-way.  Wherever  the  river  makes  a  turn 
the  entire  panorama  changes,  and  one  startling  nov 
elty  after  another  appears  and  disappears  with  be 
wildering  rapidity.  Stately /«f«c?es,august  cathedrals, 
amphitheatres,  rotundas,  castellated  walls  and  rows 
of  time-stained  ruins  surmounted  by  every  form  of 
tower,  minaret,  dome  and  spire  have  been  moulded 
from  the  cyclopean  masses  of  rock  that  form  the 
mighty  defile.  The  solitude,  the  stillness,  the  sub 
dued  light  and  the  vastness  of  every  surrounding 
object,  produced  an  impression  of  awe  that  ultimately 
became  almost  painful.  As  hour  after  hour  passed, 
we  began  to  look  anxiously  for  some  kind  of  an  out 
let  from  the  range,  but  the  declining  day  only 
brought  fresh  piles  of  mountains,  higher  apparently 
than  any  before  seen.  Wo  had  made  up  our  minds 
to  pass  another  night  in  the  canon  and  were  search 
ing  for  a  spot  large  enough  for  a  resting  place,  when 
we  came  into  a  narrow  passage  between  two  mam 
moth  peaks  that  seemed  to  be  nodding  across  the 
stream,  and  unexpectedly  found  at  the  upper  end  the 
termination  of  the  '  Black  Canon,'  and  we  came 
into  rather  of  an  extensive  valley,  without  a  trace  of 
vegetation  however;  but  the  hills  and  mountains 
around  were  in  parti-colors  and  prevented  the  scene 
from  being  monotonous.  The  length  of  the  Black 
Canon  is  about  twenty-five  miles.  It  was  evident 
that  the  river  could  be  navigated  no  farther.  Climb 
ing  a  mountain  nothing  but  a  confused  mass  of  vol 
canic  rocks  piled  in  confusion  upon  each  other  came 
to  view.  *  *  *  Farther  to  the  east  could  be 
seen  the  course  of  the  river  where  it  formed  the 
Big  Canon." 

LAND  PARTY    ORGANIZED. 

The  exploring  party  returned  to  the  steamboat 
and  organized  an  expedition  to  explore  the  river  on 
the  south  side  towards  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  the 
boat  was  sent  back  to  Fort  Yuma.  In  a  few  days 
they  struck  the  lofty  plateau,  through  which  the 
j  Colorado  river  with  its  numerous  tributaries,  or  com- 
i  pan  ion  rivers,  carry  the  waters  formed  from  the 
I  melting  snows  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Scarcely 
any  rain  falls  on  this  elevated  plain,  and  the  banks  of 
the  rivers  remain  as  sharp  as  they  were  millions  of 
years  ago  when  the  channels  were  first  eroded.  Cen 
tury  after  century  the  work  of  deepening  the  channel 
goes  on.  Before  the  children  of  Israel  went  down  in 
to  Egypt;  before  the  building  of  the  Pyramids;  before 
the  rude  ancestors  of  the  Egyptians  found  the  Nile 
valley  ;  even  before  the  Nile  valley  itself  was  formed 
the  Colorado  rivers  had  done  the  most  of  their  work. 
It  was  out  of  the  question  to  explore  the  river. 
They  could  only  approach  it  at  one  point.  Only  the 
bird  that  could  wing  its  way  for  hundreds  of  miles, 


14 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


could  make  its  way  over  these  cavernous  depths  that 
marked  the  course  of  the  river  and  all  its  branches. 
From  elevated  points  they  could  see  table-land, 
rising,  base  on  base,  height  on  height,  with  impassa 
ble  canons  between.  As  the  limits  of  this  work  will 
permit  only  an  abbreviated  description  of  the  inter 
esting  exploration,  an  account  of  one  attempt  to  reach 
the  river,  giving  nearly  the  author's  own  words, 
which  cannot  be  condensed  without  doing  injustice 
to  the  subject,  will  close  the  story  of  this  expedition. 

ONE   SIGHT   OF   THE    RIVER. 

"Our  altitude  is  very  great.  During  the  last 
march  the  ascent  was  continuous,  and  the  barome 
ter  shows  an  elevation  of  nearly  seven  thousand 
feet.  The  Colorado  is  not  far  distant,  and  wo  must 
be  opposite  to  the  most  stupendous  part  of  the 
'  Big  Canon.'  The  bluffs  are  in  view,  but  the  inter 
vening  country  is  cut  up  by  side  canon*  and  cross 
ravines,  and  no  place  has  yet  been  found  that  pre 
sents  a  favorable  approach  to  the  gigantic  chasm.  * 
*  *  The  snow-storm  (this  was  in  the  "Winter)  had 
extended  over  but  little  area,  and  the  road,  at  first 
heavy,  in  a  mile  or  two  became  dry  and  good.  The 
pines  disappeared  and  the  cedars  gradually  dimin 
ished.  *  *  Each  slope  surmounted  disclosed  a 
new  summit  similar  to  that  just  passed,  till  the  end 
of  ten  miles,  when  the  highest  part  of  the  plateau 
was  attained,  and  a  sublime  spectacle  lay  spread 
before  us. 

"  Toward  the  north  was  the  field  of  plateaus  and 
cafions  already  mentioned,  and  shooting  out  from 
these  a  line  of  magnificent  bluffs,  extending  eastward 
an  enormous  distance,  marked  the  course  of  the 
canon  of  the  Little  Colorado.  Farther  south,  eighty 
miles  distant,  towered  the  vast  pile  of  the  San  Fran 
cisco  mountain,  its  conical  summit  covered  with 
snow  and  sharply  defined  against  the  sky.  Several 
other  peaks  were  visible  a  little  to  the  right,  and 
halfway  between  us  and  this  cluster  of  mighty  and 
venerable  volcanos  was  the  '  Red  Buttc,'  described 
by  Lieutenant  Whipple  (1853),  standing  in  isolated 
prominence  upon  the  level  plain.  *  *  * 

"  The  sun  was  oppressively  warm,  and  every  place 
whose  appearance  gave  promise  of  water  was 
searched,  but  without  success.  Ten  miles  conducted 
us  to  the  head  of  a  ravine,  down  which  there  was  a 
well-beaten  Indian  trail.  There  was  every  prospect 
therefore  that  we  were  approaching  a  settlement, 
similar  to  that  of  the  Hualpais,  on  Diamond  river. 
The  descent  was  more  rapid  than  the  former  had 
been,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  miles  we  had  gone 
down  into  the  plateau  one  or  two  thousand  feet, 
and  the  bluffs  on  either  side  had  assumed  stupendous 
proportions.  Still  no  signs  of  habitations  were  vis 
ible.  The  worn-out  and  thirsty  beasts  had  begun 
to  flag  when  we  were  brought  to  a  stand-still  by  a 
fall  one  hundred  feet  deep  in  the  bottom  of  the  canon. 
At  the  brink  of  the  precipice  was  an  overhanging 
ledge  of  rock,  from  which  we  could  look  down,  as  if 
into  a  well,  upon  the  continuation  of  the  gorge  far 
below.  The  break  reached  completely  across  the 
ravine,  and  the  side  walls  were  nearly  perpendicular. 
There  was  no  egress  in  that  direction,  and  it  seemed 
a  marvel  that  a  trail  should  lead  to  a  place  where 
there  was  nothing  to  do  but  return.  A  closer  inspec 
tion  showed  that  the  trail  still  continued  along  the 
cafion,  traversing  horizontally  the  face  of  the  right- 
hand  bluff.  A  short  distance  of  it  seemed  as  though 
a  mountain  goat  could  scarcely  keep  its  footing  upon 


the  slight  indentation  that  appeared  like  a  thread 
attached  to  the  rocky  wall,  but  a  trial  proved  that 
the  path,  though  narrow  and  dizzy,  had  been  cut 
with  some  care  into  the  surface  of  the  cliff,  and  afforded 
a  foot-hold,  level  and  broad  enough  both  for  men  and 
animals.     1  rode  upon  it  first,  and  the  rest  of   the 
party  and  the  train  followed— one  by  one — looking 
very  much  like  a  row  of  insects  crawling  upon  the 
side  of  a  building.     We  proceeded  for  nearly  a  mile 
along  this  singular   pathway,  which   preserved  its 
horizontal   direction.      The    bottom   of   the    canon 
meanwhile  had  been  rapidly  descending,  and  there 
were  two  or  three  falls  where  it  dropped  a  hundred 
feet  at  a  time,  thus  greatly  increasing  the  depth  of 
the  chasm.     The  change  had  taken  place  so  gradu 
ally  that  I  was  not  sensible  of  it,  till,  glancing  down 
the  side  of  my  mule,  I  found  that  he  was  walking 
within  three  inches  of  the  edge  of  the  brink  of  a 
sheer  gulf  a  thousand  feet  deep;  on  the  other  side, 
nearly  touching  my  knee,  was  an  almost  vertical 
wall  rising  to  an  enormous  altitude.     The  sight  made 
my  head  swim,  and  I  dismounted  and  got  ahead  of 
the  mule,  a  difficult  and  delicate  operation,  which  I 
was  thankful  to  have  safely  performed.     A  part  of 
the  men  became  so  giddy  that  they  were  obliged  to 
creep  upon  their  hands  and  knees,  being  unable  to 
walk  or  stand.     In  some  places  there  was   barely 
room  to  walk,  and  a  slight  deviation  in  a  step  would 
have  precipitated  one  into  the  frightful  abyss.     1  was 
a    good  deal  alarmed  lest  some  obstacle  should  be 
encountered  that   would  make  it  impossible  to  go 
ahead,  for  it  was  certainly  impracticable   to    return. 
After  an  interval  of  uncomfortable  suspense,  the  face 
of  the  rock  made  an  angle,   and  just  beyond   the 
angle  was  a  projection  from  the  main  wall  with  a 
surface  fifteen  or  twenty  yards  square  that  would 
afford  afoot-hold.     The  continuation  of  the  wall  was 
perfectly  vertical,  so  that  the  trail  could  no  longer 
lollow  it,  and  we  found  that  the  path  descended  the 
steep  face  of  the  cliff  to  the  bottom  of  the  canon.     It 
was  a  desperate  road  to  traverse,  but  located  with  a 
good  deal  of  skill,  zigzaging  down  the  precipice,  and 
taking  advantage  of  every  crevice  and  fissure  that 
could  afford  a  foot-hold.     It  did   not  take  long  to 
discover  that  no  mule  could  accomplish  this  descent, 
and  nothing  remained  but  to  turn  back.     We  were 
glad  to  have  even  this  privilege  in  our  power.     The 
jaded  brutes  were  collected  upon  the  little  summit, 
where  they  could  be  turned  around,  and  then  com 
menced  to  return  from  the  hazardous  journey.     The 
sun   shone  directly  into  the   canon,  and   the   glare 
reflected  from  the  walls  made  the  heat  intolerable. 
The   disappointed    beasts,   now   two   days   without 
water,  with  glassy  eyes  and  protruding  tongues,  plod 
ded    slowly   along,    uttei'ing   the    most   melancholy 
cries;     The    rxearest    water,  of  which    we  had   any 
knowledge,  was  almost  thirty   miles  distant.     There 
was   but  one  chance  of  saving  the  train,    and    after 
reaching    an   open  portion  of  the  ravine  the  packs 
and  saddles  were  removed,  and  two  or  three    Mexi 
cans  started  for  the  lagoons,  mounted  upon  the  least 
exhausted   animals  and  driving  the  others  loose  be 
fore   them.     It  was  somewhat  dangerous  to  detach 
them  thus  from  the  main  part}'  but  there  was  no  help 
for  it.     Some  of  the  mules  will  give  out  before  the 
night   march  is   over,  but  the   knowedge  that   they 
are  on  the  road  to   water  will  enable  the  most  of 
them  to  reach  it  in  spite  of  their  weariness  and  the 
length  of  the  way. 

"  It  was  estimated  that,  at  this  point  which  was 
within  a  few  miles  of  the  main  canon,  about  one-half 
of  the  original  plain  had  been  cutaway  by  the  action 
of  the  river  and  its  branches. 


BIG  CANON  OF  THE  COLORADO. 


15 


"A  party  was  made  up  to  explore  the  canon.  The 
distance  to  the  precipice  where  the  mules  were  turned 
back  was  about  five  miles.  The  precipice  was  de 
scended  without  difficulty,  though  in  one  or  two  places 
the  path  traversed  smooth,  inclined  plains  that 
made  the  footing  insecure  and  the  crossing  danger 
ous.  The  bottom  of  the  canon  which  from  the  sum 
mit  looked  smooth,  was  found  to  be  covei-ed  with 
small  hills  thirty  or  forty  feet  high.  Along  the  mid 
dle  of  the  canon  started  another  one  with  low  walls 
at  the  starting  point,  which  became  lofty  precipices 
as  the  base  of  the  new  ravine  sunk  deeper  and  deeper 
into  the  earth.  Along  the  bottom  of  this  gorge  we 
followed  the  trail,  distinctly  seen  when  the  surface 
was  not  composed  of  rocks.  Every  few  minutes  low 
falls  and  ledges  were  met  with,  which  wo  had  to 
jump  or  slide  down,  till  a  formidable  number 
of  obstacles  were  to  be  met  in  returning.  Like 
other  canons  this  was  circuitous,  and  at  each  turn  we 
expected  to  find  something  new  and  startling.  We 
were  deeper  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  than  we  had 
ever  been  before,  and  surrounded  by  walls  and  tow 
ers  of  such  imposing  dimensions  that  it  would  be 
useless  to  attempt  describing  them;  but  the  effects  of 
magnitude  had  begun  to  pall,  and  the  walk  from  the 
foot  of  the  precipice  was  monotonously  dull;  no  sign 
of  life  could  be  discerned  above  or  below.  At  the  end 
of  thirteen  miles  from  the  precipice  an  obstacle  pre 
sented  itself  that  there  seemed  to  be  no  possibility  of 
overcoming.  A  stone  slab,  reaching  from  one  side 
of  the  canon  to  the  other,  terminated  the  plain 
which  we  were  descending.  Looking  over  the 
edge  it  appeared  that  the  next  level  was  forty 
feet  below.  This  time  there  was  no  trail  along 
the  side  of  the  bluffs,  for  these  were  smooth  and 
perpendicular.  A  spring  of  water  rose  from  the 
canon  above  and  trickled  over  the  precipice, 
forming  a  beautiful  cascade.  It  was  supposed 
that  the  Indians  must  have  come  to  this  point  merely 
to  procure  water;  but  this  theory  was  not  satisfac 
tory  and  we  sat  down  to  consider  the  situation. 

"Mr.  Egloffstein  lay  down  by  the  side  of  the  creek, 
and  projecting  his  head  over  the  ledge  to  watch  the 
cascade  discovered  a  solution  to  the  mystery.  Below 
the  shelving  rock,  and  hidden  by  it  and  the  fall,  stood 
a  crazy-looking  ladder,  made  of  rough  sticks  bound 
together  with  thongs  of  bark.  It  was  almost  per 
pendicular  and  rested  upon  a  bed  of  angular  stones. 
The  rounds  had  become  rotten  from  the  incessant  flow 
of  the  water.  Mr.  Egloffstein,  anxious  to  have  the 
first  view  of  what  was  below,  scrambled  over  the 
rock  and  got  his  feet  upon  the  first  round.  Being  a 
solid  weight,  he  was  too  much  for  the  insecure  fabric, 
which  commenced  giving  away.  One  side  fortunately 
stood  firm,  and  holding  on  to  this  with  a  tight  grip 
he  made  a  precipitate  descent.  The  other  side  and 
all  the  rounds  broke  loose  and  accompanied  him  to 
the  bottom  in  a  general  crash,  effectually  cutting  off 
the  communication.  Leaving  us  to  devise  means  of 
getting  him  back  he  ran  to  the  bend  to  explore.  The 
bottom  of  the  canon  had  been  reached.  He  found 
that  he  was  at  the  edge  of  a  stream  ten  or  fifteen 
yards  wide  fringed  with  cottonwoods  and  willows. 
The  walls  of  the  canon  spread  out  for  a  short  distance 
leaving  room  for  a  narrow  belt  of  bottom-land  on 
which  were  fields  of  corn  and  a  few  scattered  huts. 
It  was  impossible  to  follow  the  stream  to  its  union' 
with  the  main  river,  Avhich  was  not  far  off.  Nor  could 
a  situation  be  found  where  a  complete  view  of  the 
great  canon  might  be  obtained;  at  one  spot  the  top 
could  be  seen,  at  another  the  bottom.  Measurements 
were  taken  which  showed  the  walls  of  the  canon  to 
be  over  six  thousand  feet  in  height." 


Notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  backed  by  money 
and  government  the  great  canon  was  not  entered, 
at  least  from  the  side.  The  parties  safely  made  their 
way  out  of  the  chasm,  and  resumed  their  journey 
towards  Fort  Defiance,  finding  on  their  way  the 
towns  of  stone  houses  which  the  early  Spanish  ex 
plorers  saw  and  which  had  since  remained  unknown 
and  mostly  forgotten. 

FIRST    EXPLORATION — UNWILLING   VENTURE. 

Some  of  my  readers  may  inquire  whether  this 
canon  has  never  been  explored?  Twice  only  of 
which"  any  record  has  been  found.  Some  time  in  the 
sixties,  three  men,  prospecting  on  the  head-waters  of 
the  river  in  the  Colorado  Territory,  fell  into  a  diffi 
culty  with  the  Indians.  Two  succeeded  in  reaching 
their  boats,  and  escaped  by  rowing  swiftly  down  the 
stream,  the  swift  current  and  bold  banks  facilitating 
their  flight.  When  they  had  gone  so  far  as  to  feel 
secure  from  pursuit,  and  took  time  to  consider  the 
situation,  they  found  themselves  floating  in  a 
stream,  so  swift  as  to  prevent  their  return,  even  if 
they  desired  it,  and  with  banks  so  precipitous  as  to 
make  escape  in  that  direction  impossible.  The  stream 
became  swifter  and  the  banks  or  walls  of  the  canon 
higher  every  hour. 

THEY   CONSIDER   THE    SITUATION. 

A  council  of  war  was  held,  and  all  evidence  at 
tainable  was  considered.  The  questions  put  forth  in 
one  of  Addison's  essays  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago,  "  Where  am  I  ?  What  sort  of  place  do  I  in 
habit?"  seemed  particularly  applicable  to  the  situa 
tion.  As  to  the  first  question,  they  could  only  say, 
we  are  in  "Uncle  Sam's"  dominion,  and  as  to  the 
last,  it  is  a  "  hell  of  a  place."  One  of  them  remem 
bered  of  hearing  some  old  trappers,  while  sitting 
around  a  camp  fire  near  Salt  Lake,  tell  a  story  of  a 
great  river  that  was  lost  in  a  range  of  mountains 
and  flowed  hundreds  of  miles  under  ground.  An 
other  said  that  it  did  not  flow  under  ground,  but  in  a 
narrow  channel  thousands  of  feet  in  depth,  so  deep 
that  daylight  never  reached  the  bottom.  None  of 
them,  however,  had  ever  seen  the  river  under  these 
circumstances.  The  Indians  believed,  some  of  them 
at  least,  that  the  deep  gorge  led  to  Heaven,  and 
others  thought  it  led  to  Hell  !  It  was  certain  that 
the  route  to  the  blessed  regions  would  not  go  through 
any  such  country  as  they  were  passing  ;  and*  as  to 
the  latter  place,  had  not  Beecher  knocked  the  bottom 
out  of  it?  So  they  concluded  to  go  on  ;  in  fact,  there 
was  no  other  alternative.  About  the  third  day  they 
heard  a  great  roaring  of  falling  water,  and  before 
they  had  time  to  consider  were  plunged  over  a  cat 
aract,  that  proved  not  a  very  high  one,  for  though 
the  boat  was  smashed,  they  saved  their  lives  by 
swimming  to  an  island  at  the  foot  of  the  falls, 
and  were  able  to  save  most  of  their  provisions. 
They  now  constructed  a  raft  of  dry,  cotton -wood 
logs,  which  they  found  lodged  high  up  on  the  island, 
and  continued  their  voyage. 


16 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


DEATH    OP   ONE   OP   THE    PARTIES. 

Falls  and  rapids  being  now  frequent,  and  the 
plunges  often  throwing  them  off  their  craft,  they 
imprudently  lashed  themselves  to  it.  Passing  the 
next  cataract  the  raft  was  upset,  and  one  of  the  two 
was  lost.  The  survivor  found  himself  on  the  raft, 
now  bottom  side  up,  though  entirely  ignorant  as  to 
how  he  succeeded  in  disengaging  himself  while  under 
the  water. 

Day  after  day,  week  after  week,  until  the  weeks 
became  months,  he  floated  down  the  river,  encoun 
tering  many  obstacles  but  escaping  with  his  life. 
The  river  was  destitute  of  fish  or  animals,  but  in 
places  he  found  the  mesquitc  bean  which  would  sus 
tain  life.  Months  afterward  a  soldier  at  Fort  Col- 
ville  saw  a  log  floating  in  the  river  appearing  to  have 
como  out  of  the  canon.  The  unusual  circumstance 
caused  him  to  turn  a  telescope  upon  it.  "  My  God  !" 
said  he,  "  there  is  a  man  on  that  log  !  !"  A  boat 
was  dispatched,  and  the  man  was  brought  ashore, 
nearly  famished,  speechless,  naked,  and  his  body  cov 
ered  with  sores.  After  some  nourish  ment  had  been 
taken,  he  was  able  to  say  that  ho  had  come  through 
the  great  canon.  The  man  recovered,  and  for  many 
years  afterward  drove  a  stage  in  Arizona. 

EXPLORATION    UNDER    THE    DIRECTION    OP   THE    SMITHSO 
NIAN    INSTITUTE. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  during  these 
years  had  enough  business  on  hand  without  attending 
to  expeditions  in  the  cause  of  science,  for,  so  far,  the 
river  had  no  value.  But  the  Smithsonian  Institute 
undertook  the  exploration  of  the  river.  Lieutenant 
Powell,  an  eminent  scientist  and  explorer,  was  sent 
out  to  gather  all  the  information  about  it  that  was 
possible.  The  transcontinental  railroad  now  made 
the  matter  easier.  He  interviewed  the  trappers  and 
hunters  at  Salt  Lake  and  Fort  Bridger ;  visited 
Arizona,  and  heard  all  that  the  stage-driver  could  re 
member,  and  went  East  to  make  preparations  for  the 
descent  of  the  river.  The  scientific  public  were  now 
aroused,  and  many  were  anxious  to  accompany  the 
expedition.  Several  boats  were  made  in  water-tight 
compartments,  so  contrived  as  to  float  though  they 
might  be  stove.  Provisions,  instruments  and  all  nec 
essary  articles  were  inclosed  in  water-tight,  rubber 
bags.  On  the  24th  of  May,  1869,  he  left  the  line  of 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  at  the  Green  River  Sta 
tion.  Those  who  love  to  read  of  the  grand,  the  pictur 
esque,  the  terrible,  will  find  their  satisfaction  in  reading 
"  Powell's  Explorations  of  the  Colorado  Canon."  The 
limits  of  this  book  will  only  permit  a  short  account 
of  the  trip  which  was  full  of  dangers  as  well  as 
pleasure.  They  passed  safely  down  the  upper  waters. 
Some  hundred  miles  below  the  starting-point,  the 
labor  commenced.  Sometimes  the  river  would  zig 
zag  between  metamorphic  slates  and  granite  spurs, 
making  a  channel  like  a  line  of  saw  teeth  ;  then  it 
would  leave  the  granite  and  cut  a  vast  amphitheatre 
in  the  sandstone,  miles  across  and  thousands  of  feet 


high.  Towers,  domes,  castles,  minarets,  and  all  the 
forms  of  ancient  and  modern  architecture  seemed 
anticipated.  Even  sculpture  was  not  forgotten,  for 
in  many  places  gigantic  figures  seemed  to  be  guard 
ing  the  great  canon,  and  threatening  to  overwhelm 
all  who  should  dare  to  invade  the  ancient  solitude. 
For  months  the  party  continued  their  voyage.  Not 
withstanding  their  ample  preparations,  it  was  nearly 
a  failure.  They  lost  their  boats  and  most  of  their 
provisions,  as  well  as  their  scientific  instruments. 
They  were  uncertain  whether  the  canon  was  three, 
four,  or  five  hundred  miles  long.  When  nearly 
through  it  was  proposed  to  leave  the  river  and  try 
to  ascend  its  banks.  It  Avas  urged  that  more  rapids 
on  the  junction  of  the  granite  and  slate  would  end 
the  expedition.  Part  of  the  men  determined  to  try 
to  scale  the  walls.  They  were  given  a  part  of  the 
scant  provisions,  and  also  a  copy  of  the  records  of 
the  trip.  Both  parties  bid  each  other  "  good 
bye,"  with  the  firm  belief  that  the  other  was 
destined  to  certain  destruction.  Powell  remained 
with  the  party  to  continue  down  the  river,  hoping 
that  if  he  perished  some  record  of  their  trip  would 
be  picked  up  on  the  lower  river  or  the  Gulf  of  Cal 
ifornia.  His  judgment  proved  the  best.  August  30th 
he  emerged  from  the  canon,  in  somewhat  better 
plight  than  the  stage-driver  did,  having  witnessed 
undoubtedly  the  greatest  wonder  of  the  world. 
Nothing  was  heard  of  the  other  party  for  years.  A 
prospector  brought  the  news  that  they  scaled  the 
walls  of  the  canon,  but  were  soon  afterwards  killed  by 
the  Indians,  being  mistaken  for  a  party  of  white  men 
who  had  committed  an  outrage  on  an  Indian  woman 

GEOLOGY    AND    CLIMATE. 

The  Colorado  river  drains  a  territory  of  three 
hundred  thousand  square  miles.  A  portion  of  this, 
eight  hundred  miles  in  extent,  resting  on  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  is  fed  by  snows,  and  has  numerous  rivers 
which,  with  all  their  branches,  form  cafions — one 
leading  into  another  and  all  finally  merging  into  the 
grand  gorge,  six  thousand  feet  deep  and  three  hund 
red  miles  long.  The  lower  part  of  the  Colorado  for 
one  thousand  miles  runs  through  an  almost  rainless 
country.  There  is  no  wearing  away  of  the  banks  into 
the  rounded,  graceful  forms  so  usual  in  the  vicinities  of 
rivers.  The  channels  of  the  rivers  being  so  deep 
the  country  is  thoroughly  drained  of  water,  and 
very  few  springs  emerge  from  the  surface.  The  soil 
is  consequently  destitute  of  vegetation.  There  are 
evidences,  however,  of  an  extensive  alluvial  deposit, 
of  a  time  when  the  river  meandered  through  fertile 
plains  like  the  Mississippi.  The  elephant,  the  mas 
todon,  and  their  contemporaries  wandered  in  herds 
over  suitable  pastures  where  now  desolation  reigns. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  influence  which  this 
strange  system  of  rivers  has  exerted  over  California. 
Had  not  the  early  explorers  when  in  search  of  gold 
met  this  obstruction,  our  mines  would  have  been 
discovered  and  worked,  and  California  would  have 


PERMANENT  OCCUPATION  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


17 


been  cursed  with  the  blight  that  has  covered  all  the 
Spanish  possessions.  It  was  reserved  for  a  more 
vigorous  race  to  develop. 

The  climatic  influence  is  also  great.  It  is  now  be 
lieved  that  our  dry,  desicating  north  winds  find 
their  way  from  the  Arizona  deserts,  and  that  the 
particles  of  red  dust  with  which  our  summer  atmos 
phere  is  loaded,  is  finely-pulverized  Arizona  soil. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Exiles  of  Loreto — Father  Tierra's  Methods  of  Conversion  — 
Death  of  Father  Tierra — Arrest  of  the  Jesuits — Midnight 
Parting — Permanent  Occupation  of  California — Missions  in 
Charge  of  Francisco  Friars— Character  of  Father  Junipero — 
Exploring  Expeditions — Origin  of  the  name  of  the  Bay — 
Mission  Dolores — Death  of  Father  Junipero. 

IT  was  the  custom  of  the  Spanish  Government  to 
send  out  a  certain  number  of  Christian  missionaries 
with  each  expedition,  whether  for  discovery  or  con- 
finest.  When  the  conquerors  took  possession  of  a 
new  territory,  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Spain,  the 
accompanying  Fathers  also  claimed  it  for  the  spirit 
ual  empire  of  the  Holy  Church,  and  in  this  manner 
California  became,  at  once,  the  possession  of  both 
Church  and  State,  by  right  of  discovery  and  con 
quest. 

As  before  stated,  California  was  discovered  in 
1534,  by  an  expedition  which  Cortez  had  caused  to 
be  fitted  out  in  the  inland  seas  of  Tehuantepec. 
From  that  time,  during  a  period  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years,  some  twenty  maritime  expeditions  sailed 
successively  from  the  shores  of  New  Spain  to  the 
coast  of  California,  with  the  object  of  perfecting 
its  conquest;  but  none  of  them  obtained  any  satis 
factory  result,  beyond  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
geographical  situation  of  the  country.  The  barren 
aspect  of  the  coast,  and  the  nakedness  and  poverty 
of  the  savages,  who  lived  in  grottoes,  caves,  and  holes 
in  the  ground,  clearly  indicated  that  they  had  scarcely 
advanced  beyond  the  primitive  condition  of  man, 
and  discouraged  the  adventurers,  who  were  in  search 
of  another  country  like  Mexico,  abounding  in  natural 
wealth,  and  the  appliances  of  a  rude  civilization. 
After  the  expenditure  of  immense  sums  of  both  pub 
lic  and  private  wealth,  the  permanent  settlement  of 
California  was  despaired  of.  The  Spanish  Govern 
ment  would  advance  no  more  money,  private  enter 
prise  was  turned  in  another  direction,  and  it  was 
decided  to  give  over  the,  so  far,  fruitless  experiment 
to  the  Fathers  of  the  church.  Many  attempts  had 
been  made  to  Christianize  the  natives  of  the  Pacific 
coast.  Cortez  is  said  to  have  had  several  ecclesias 
tics  in  his  train,  though  there  is  no  account  of  their 
having  attempted  to  convert  the  natives,  or  even  of 
landing  among  them.  The  first  recorded  attempt 
was  made  about  the  beginning  of  the  year  1596  by 
four  San  Francisco  friars,  who  came  with  Vis- 
caino's  expedition.  During  their  stay  of  two  months 
at  La  Paz,  they  visited  many  of  the  Indians,  who 
thought  them  children  of  the  sun,  and  treated  them 
3 


very  kindly.  Three  Carmelite  friars  also  came  with 
Viscaino's  third  expedition  in  1602,  two  Jesuit  mis 
sionaries  in  1648,  two  Franciscans  in  1688,  and  three 
Jesuits  in  1683,  the  latter  with  the  expedition  of 
Admiral  Otondo.  The  celebrated  Father  Kiihno 
was  one  who  came  with  the  latter  expedition.  Once, 
when  attempting  to  explain  the  doctrine  of  the  res 
urrection  to  the  savages,  he  was  at  loss  for  a  word  to 
express  his  meaning.  He  put  some  flies  under  the 
water  until  they  appeared  to  be  dead,  and  then 
exposed  them  to  the  rays  of  the  sun,  when 
they  revived.  The  Indians  cried  out  in  astonish 
ment,  "I  bimuhueite  !  I  bimuhueite  !"  which  the 
Fathers  understood  as  "they  have  come  to  life,"  the 
expression  he  wanted,  and  applied  it  to  the  resurrec 
tion  of  the  Redeemer. 

No  substantial  success  was,  however,  achieved 
until  about  1675.  Then  appeared  the  heroic  apostle 
of  California  civilization,  Father  John  Salva  Tierra, 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  commonly  called  Jesuits. 

Father  Tierra,  the  founder,  and  afterwards  visita- 
dore  of  the  missions  of  California,  was  a  native  of 
Milan,  born  of  noble  parentage  and  Spanish  ances 
try,  in  1644.  Having  completed  his  education  at 
Parma,  he  joined  the  order  of  Jesuits,  and  went  as  a 
missionary  to  Mexico  in  1675.  He  was  robust  in 
health,  exceedingly  handsome  in  person,  resolute  of 
will,  highly  talented,  and  full  of  religious  zeal.  For 
several  years  he  conducted  the  missions  of  Sonora 
successfully,  when  he  was  recalled  to  Mexico  in  con 
sequence  of  his  great  ability  and  singular  virtues, 
and  was  employed  in  the  chief  offices  of  the  provin 
ces.  After  ten  years  of  ineffectual  solicitation,  he 
obtained  permission  of  the  Viceroy  to  go  to  Cali 
fornia,  for  the  purpose  of  converting  the  inhabitants, 
on  condition  that  the  possession  of  land  should  be 
taken  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Spain,  without  his 
being  called  on  to  contribute  anything  towards  the 
expenses  of  the  expedition.  Tierra  associated  with 
himself  the  Jesuit  Father,  Juan  Ugarte,  a  native  of 
Honduras.  On  the  10th  of  October,  1697,  they 
sailed  from  the  port  of  Yaqui,  in  Sonora,  for  Lower 
California,  and,  after  encountering  a  disastrous 
storm,  and  suffering  partial  shipwreck  on  the  gulf, 
landed,  on  the  19th  of  that  month,  at  San  Bruno, 
at  Saint  Dennis  bay.  Not  finding  that  place  suitable 
for  their  purpose,  the  Fathers  removed  to  St.  Dyon- 
issius,  afterwards  named  Loreto,  and  there  setup  the 
sign  of  civilization  and  Christianity  on  its  lonely 
shore.  Thus  Loreto,  on  the  east  side  of  the  penin 
sula,  in  latitude  25°  35'  north  of  the  equator,  may  be 
considered  the  Plymouth  Rock  of  the  Pacific  coast. 
This  historic  and  memorable  expedition  consisted  of 
only  two  ships  and  nine  men,  being  a  corporal,  five 
private  soldiers,  three  Indians,  the  captain  of  the 
vessel,  and  the  two  Fathers. 

On  the  19th  of  October,  1697,  the  little  party  of 
adventurers  went  ashore  at  Loreto,  and  were  kindly 
received  by  about  fifty  natives,  who  were  induced  to 
kneel  down  and  kiss  the  crucifix. 


18 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


METHODS  OF  CONVERSION. 

It  is  said  of  Father  Ugarte  that  he  was  a  man  of 
powerful  frame.  When  he  first  celebrated  the  cere 
monials  of  the  church  before  the  natives  they  were 
inclined  to  jeer  and  laugh  over  solemnities.  On  one 
ision  a  huge  Indian  was  causing  considerable  dis 
turbance,  and  was  demoralizing  the  other  Indians 
with  his  mimicry  and  childish  fun.  Father  Ugarte 
caught  him  by  his  long  hair,  swung  him  around  a 
few  times,  threw  him  in  a  heap  on  the  floor,  and 
proceeded  with  the  rites.  This  argument  had  a 
converting  effect,  as  he  never  rebelled  again.  As 
the  conversion  of  the  natives  was  the  main  object  of 
the  settlement,  and  11  mutter  of  the  greatest  impor 
tance,  to  the  natives  at  least,  no  means  were  spared  to 
effect  it.  When  the  natives  around  the  mission  had 
been  Christianized,  expeditions  inland  were  under 
taken  to  capture  more  material  for  converts.  Some- 
tiiiu-s  many  lives  were  taken,  b'ut  they  generally  suc 
ceeded  in  gathering  in  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  women 
and  children,  the  men  afterwards  following.  Two 
or  three  days'  exhortation  (confinement  and  starva 
tion)  was  generally  sufficient  to  effect  a  change  of 
heart,  after  which  the  convert  was  clothed,  fed,  and 
put  to  work.  Father  Ugarte  worked  with  them, 
teaching  them  to  plant,  sow,  reap,  and  thresh,  and 
they  were  soon  good  Christians. 

The  imposing  ceremonies  and  visible  symbols  of 
the  Catholic  church  are  well  calculated  to  strike  the 
ignorant  savage  with  awe.  Striking  results  were 
often  attained  with  pictures.  When  moving  from 
one  mission  to  another,  and  especially  when  meeting 
strange  Indians,  the  priests  exhibited  a  picture  of 
the  Virgin  Mary  on  one  side  of  a  canvas,  and  Satan 
roasting  in  flames  on  the  other  side.  They  were 
offered  a  choice,  to  become  subjects  of  the  Holy 
Mother,  or  roast  in  the  flames  with  Satan,  and  gen 
erally  accepted  the  former,  especially  as  it  was  accom 
panied  with  food. 

DEATH    OF   TIERRA. 

After  twenty  years  of  earnest  labor,  privation, 
danger,  and  spiritual  success,  Father  Tierra  was 
recalled  to  Mexico  by  the  new  Viceroy,  for  consul 
tation.  Ho  was  then  seventy  years  old;  and,  not 
withstanding  his  ago  and  infirmities,  he  set  out  on 
horseback  from  San  Bias  for  Tepic;  but,  having 
tainted  by  the  way,  he  was  carried  on  a  litter  by  the 
Indians  tQ  Guadalajara,  where  ho  died  July  17,  1717, 
and  was  buried  with  appropriate  ceremonies  behind 
the  altar  in  the  chapel  of  our  Lady  of  Loreto. 

The  historic  village  of  Loreto,  the  ancient  capital 
of  California,  is  situated  on  the  margin  of  the  gulf, 
in  the  center  of  St.  Dyonissius'  Cove.  The  church, 
built  in  1742,  is  still  in  tolerable  preservation,  and, 
among  the  vestiges  of  its  former  richness,  has  eighty- 
six  oil  paintings;  some  of  them  by  Murillo,  and  other 
celebrated  masters,  which,  though  more  than  a  hun 
dred  years  old,  are  still  in  a  good  condition;  also 


some  fine  silver  work,  valued  at  six  thousand  dol 
lars.  A  great  storm  in  1827  destroyed  many  of  the 
buildings  of  the  mission.  Those  remaining,  are  in 
a  state  of  decay.  It  was  the  former  custom  of  the 
pearl-divers  to  dedicate  the  products  of  certain  days 
to  Our  Lady  of  Loreto;  and,  on  one  occasion,  there 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Virgin  a  magnificent  pearl,  as 
large  as  a  pigeon's  egg,  of  wonderful  purity  and 
brilliancy.  The  Fathers  thought  proper  to  change 
its  destination,  and  presented  it  to  the  Queen  of 
Spain,  who  gratefully  and  piously  sent  Our  Lady  of 
Loreto  a  magnificent  new  gown.  Some  people  were 
unkind  enough  to  think  the  queen  had  the  better  of 
the  transaction. 

ARREST    OF    THE   JESUITS. 

The   Jesuits   continued  their  missionary  work  in 
Lower  California  for  seventy  years.     On  the  second 
day  of  April,  1797,  all  of  the  Order  throughout  the 
Spanish  dominions,  at  home  and   abroad,  were  ar 
rested   by  order  of  Charles  III.,  and  thrown   into 
prison,  on  the  charge  of  conspiring  against  the  State 
and  the  life  of  the  king.     Nearly  six  thousand  were 
subjected  to  that  decree,  which  also  directed  their 
expulsion  from  California,  as  well  as  all  other  colo 
nial   dependencies  of  Spain.     The  execution  of  the 
despotic  order  was  intrusted  to  Don  Gaspar  Portala, 
the   Governor  of  the  province.     Having  assembled 
the  Fathers  of  Loreto  on  the  eve  of  the  nativity, 
December  24th,  he  acquainted  them  with  the  heart 
breaking    news.     Whatever    may    have    been    the 
faults  of  the  Jesuits  in  Europe,  they  certainly  had 
been  models  of  devoted  Christians  in  the  new  world. 
They  braved  the   dangers   of  hostile   savages,   ex 
posed   themselves   to  the  malarious  fevers  incident 
to  new  countries,  and  had  taken  up  their  residences 
far  from  the  centers  of  civilization  and  thought,  so 
dear  to  men  of   cultivated  minds,  to  devote  them 
selves,  soul  and  body,  to  the  salvation  of  the  natives, 
that  all  civilized  nations  seemed  bent  on  extermin 
ating.     It  is  probable  that   the   simple-minded   son 
of  the  forest  understood  little  of  the  mysteries  of 
theology;    and   his   change    of    heart   was   more   a 
change  of  habit,  than  the  adoption  of  any  saving 
religious  dogma.     They  abandoned   many  of  their 
filthy  habits,  and  learned  to  respect  the  family  ties. 
They  were  taught  to  cultivate  the  soil,  to  build  com 
fortable  houses,  and  to  cover  their  nakedness  with 
garments.     They  had  learned   to   love   and  revere 
the  Fathers,  who  were  ever  kind  to  them. 

MIDNIGHT    PARTING. 

After  seventy  years  of  devoted  attention  to  the 
savages;  after  building  pleasant  homes  in  the  wilder 
ness,  and  surrounding  themselves  with  loving  and 
devoted  friends,  they  received  the  order  to  depart. 
They  took  their  leave  on  the  night  of  February  3, 
1768,  amidst  the  outcries  and  lamentations  of  the 
people,  who,  in  spite  of  the  soldiers,  who  could  not 
keep  them  back,  rushed  upon  the  departing  Fathers, 


PERMANENT  OCCUPATION  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


19 


kissing  their  hands,  and  clinging  convulsively  to 
ihem.  The  leave-taking  was  brief,  but  aft'ecting: 
"  Adieu,  my  dear  children!  Adieu,  land  of  our  adop 
tion!  Adieu,  California!  It  is  the  will  of  God!" 
And  then,  amid  the  sobs  and  lamentations,  heard  all 
along  the  shore,  they  turned  away,  reciting  the 
litany  of  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God,  and  were  seen 
no  more. 

For  one  hundred  and  sixty  years  after  the  dis 
covery  of  California,  it  remained  comparatively  un 
known.  It  is  true  that  many  expeditions  were; 
fitted  out  to  explore  it  for  gold  and  precious  stones. 
The  first  was  fast  locked  in  mountains  of  the  Sierras, 
which  were  occupied  by  bands  of  hostile  and  war 
like  Indians;  and  the  last  have  not  yet  been  found. 
The  circumstances  attending  the  discovery  of  the 
great  bjjy,  will  always  be  of  interest,  and  deserve  a 
place  in  every  record;  for  up  to  1769,  no  navigator 
ever  turned  the  prow  of  his  vessel  into  the  narrow 
entrance  of  the  Golden  Gate. 

On  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  from  Lower  Cali 
fornia,  the  property  of  the  missions,  consisting  oi 
extensive  houses,  flocks,  pasture  lands,  cultivated 
fields,  orchards,  and  vineyards,  was  intrusted  to  the 
College  of  San  Francisco  in  Mexico,  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Order  of  St.  Francis.  The  zealous  scholar, 
Father  Junipero  Serra,  was  appointed  to  the  charge 
of  all  the  missions  of  Lower  California. 

FATHER  JUNIPERO,  as  he  was  called,  was  born  of 
humble  parents  in  the  island  of  Majorca,  on  the  24th 
of  November,  1713.  Like  the  prophet  Samuel,  he 
was  dedicated  to  the  priesthood  from  his  infancy, 
and  having  completed  his  studies  in  the  Convent  of 
San  Bernardino,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  devoting 
himself  to  the  immediate  service  of  God;  and  went 
from  thence  to  Palma,  the  capital  of  the  province, 
to  acquire  the  higher  learning  necessary  for  the 
priesthood.  At  his  earnest  request,  he  was  received 
into  the  Order  of  St.  Francis,  at  the  age  of  sixteen; 
and,  at  the  end  of  one  year's  probation,  made  his 
religious  profession,  September  15,  1731.  Having 
finished  his  studies  in  philosophy  and  theology,  he 
soon  acquired  a  high  reputation  as  a  writer  and 
orator,  and  his  services  were  sought  for  in  every 
direction;  but,  while  enjoying  these  distinctions  at 
home,  his  heart  was  set  on  his  long  projected  mission 
to  the  heathen  of  the  New  World.  He  sailed  from 
Cadiz  for  America,  August  28,  1749,  and  landed  at 
Vera  Cruz,  whence  he  went  to  the  City  of  Mexico, 
joined  the  College  of  San  Fernando,  and  was  made 
President  of  the  missions  of  Sierra  Gorda  and  San 
Saba.  On  his  appointment  to  the  missions  of  Cali 
fornia,  he  immediately  entered  upon  active  duties, 
and  proceeded  to  carry  out  his  grand  design  of  the 
civilization  of  the  Pacific  coast.  Acting  under  the 
instructions  of  the  Viceroy  of  Mexico,  two  expedi 
tions  were  fitted  out  to  explore  and  colonize  U  pper 
or  Northern  California,  of  which  little  or  nothing 
was  known,  one  of  which  was  to  proceed  by  sea, 
and  the  other  by  land;  one  to  carry  the  heavy  sup 


plies,  the  other  to  drive  the  flocks  and  herds.  The 
first  ship,  the  San  Carlos,  left  Cape  St.  Lucas,  in 
Lower  California,  January  9,  1769,  and  was  followed 
by  the  San  Antonio  on  the  15th  of  the  same  month. 
A  third  vessel,  the  San  Jose,  was  dispatched  from 
Loreto  on  the  16th  of  June.  After  much  suffering, 
these  real  pioneers  of  California  civilization,  reached 
San  Diego;  the  San  Carlos,  on  the  1st  of  May;  the 
Sun  Antonio,  on  the  llth  of  April,  1769,  the  crews 
having  been  well  nigh  exhausted  by  scurvy,  thirst, 
and  starvation.  After  leaving  Loreto,  the  San  Jose 
was  never  heard  of  more. 

EXPLORING    EXPEDITIONS. 

The  overland  expedition  was  divided  into  two 
divisions;  one  under  command  of  Don  Gaspar  de 
Portala,  the  appointed  Military  Governor  of  the  New 
Territory;  the  other,  under  Capt.  Rivera  Y.  Moncado. 
Rivera  and  his  company,  consisting  of  Father  Crespi, 
twenty-five  soldiers,  six  muleteers,  and  a  party  of 
Lower  Calitornia  Indians,  started  from  Villaceta  on 
the  24th  of  March,  and  reached  San  Diego  on  the 
14th  of  May,  1769.  Up  to  that  time,  no  white  man 
had  ever  lived  in  Upper  California;  and  then  began 
to  rise  the  morning  star  of  our  civilization. 

The  second  division,  accompanied  by  Father 
Junipero,  organized  the  first  mission  in  Upper 
California  on  the  16th  of  July,  1769;  and  there  the 
first  native  Calif'ornian  was  baptized  on  the  26th  of 
December,  of  that  year.  These  are  memorable 
points  in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  this  coast. 

On  the  14th  of  July,  1769,  Governor  Portala 
started  out  in  search  of  Monterey,  as  described 
by  previous  navigators.  He  was  accompanied  by 
Fathers  Juan  Crespi  and  Francisco  Gomez ;  the 
party  consisting  of  fifty-six  white  persons,  including 
a  sergeant,  an  engineer,  and  thirty-three  soldiers, 
and  a  company  ol  emigrants  from  Sonora,  together 
with  a  company  of  Indians  from  Lower  California. 
They  missed  their  course,  and  could  not  find  the 
Bay  of  Monterey,  but  continued  on  northward,  and, 
on  the  25th  day  of  October,  17G9,  came  upon  the 
great  Bay  of  San  Francisco,  which  they  named  in 
honor  of  the  titular  saint  of  the  friar  missionaries. 

ORIGIN    OF   THE    NAME    OP   THE   BAY. 

It  is  said  that,  while  on  this  expedition,  a  regret 
was  expressed  that  no  mission  was  as  yet  named 
after  the  patron  of  the  Order.  Says  Portala,  "Let 
the  saint  guide  us  to  a  good  harbor,  and  we  will 
name  a  mission  for  him."  When  they  came  in  sight 
of  the  bay,  Father  Gomez  cried,  "  There  is  the  har 
bor  of  San  Francisco,"  and  thus  it  received  its  name. 

FatLer  Junipero  Serra  was  not  of  this  illustrious 
company  of  explorers,  and  did  not  visit  the  Bay  of 
San  Francisco  for  nearly  six  years  after  its  dis 
covery.  The  honor  belongs  to  Fathers  Crespi  and 
Gomez,  Governor  Portala,  and  their  humbler  com 
panions.  The  party  then  returned  to  San  Diego, 
which  they  reached  on  the  24th  of  January,  1770, 


20 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


niter  an  absence  of  six  months  and  ten  days.  Six 
years  thereafter,  on  the  9th  of  October,  1776,  the 
Mission  of  San  Francisco  de  los  Dolores,  was  founded 
on  the  western  shore  of  the  great  bay,  the  old  church 
remaining  in  tolerable  preservation  to  the  present 
time,  the  most  interesting  landmark  of  our  present 
civilization. 

MISSION    DOLORES. 

One  may  retire  from  the  noise  and  bustle  of  the 
city,  and  spend  a  pleasant  hour  among  the  quaint 
surroundings  of  the  old  church.  The  adobe  walls, 
the  columns  of  doubtful  order  of  architecture,  the 
bells  hung  with  rawhide  which  called  the  dusky 
converts  to  worship,  all  were  doubtless  objects  of 
wonder  and  mystery  to  the  simple-minded  natives. 
From  1776  to  1881,  what  changes  on  either  side  of 
the  continent.  A  hundred  years  is  much  in  the  life 
of  men,  little,  except  in  effect,  in  the  life  of  a  nation. 

Father  Junipero,  who  founded  these  missions,  and 
under  whose  fostering  care  they  reached  such  unex 
ampled  prosperity,  reposes  in  the  old  church-yard  at 
Monterey.  His  life  reads  like  a  romance. 

CHURCH  HISTORY.— It  is  related  of  him  as  illustrat 
ing  his  fiery  zeal,  that,  while  on  his  way  to  found 
the  mission  of  San  Antonio  de  Padua,  he  caused  the 
mules  to  be  unpacked  at  a  suitable  place,  and  the 
bells  hung  on  a  tree.  Seizing  the  rope  he  began  to 
ring  with  all  his  might,  regardless  of  the  remonstra- 
tions  of  the  other  priests,  shouting  at  the  top  of  his 
voice,  "  Hear!  hear,  O  ye  Gentiles  !  Come  to  the 
Holy  Church!  Come  to  the  faith  of  Christ!"  Such 
enthusiasm  will  win  its  way  even  among  savages. 

FATHER    JUNIPERO'S    DEATH. 

At  length  having  founded  and  successfully  estab 
lished  six  missions,  and  gathered  into  his  fold  over 
seven  thousand  wild  people  of  the  mountains  and 
plains,  the  heroic  Junipero  began  to  feel  that  his 
end  was  drawing  near.  He  was  then  seventy  years 
old;  fifty-three  of  these  years  he  had  spent  in  the 
active  service  of  his  master  in  the  New  World.  Hav 
ing  fought  the  good  fight  and  finished  his  illustrious 
course,  the  broken  old  man  retired  to  the  Mission 
of  San  Carlos  at  Monterey,  gave  the  few  remain 
ing  days  of  his  life  to  a  closer  communion  with 
God,  received  the  last  rites  of  the  religion  which  he 
had  advocated  and  illustrated  so  well,  and  on  the 
Hh  of  August,  1784,  gently  passed  away.  Tradi 
tions  of  the  "boy  priest"  still  linger  among  the  rem 
nants  of  the  tribes  which  were  gathered  under  his 
care. 


CHAPTER  IV.  * 

THE  MISSIONS  OF  ST.  FRANCIS. 

Their  Moral  and  Political  Aspect — Domestic  Economy — The  Es 
tablishments  Described — Secular  and  Religious  Occupations 
of  the  Neophytes — Wealth  and  Productions — Liberation  and 
Dispersion  of  the  Indians — Final  Decay. 

CERTAIN  writers  upon  the  early  history  of  Califor 
nia,  have  taken  an  unfavorable  view  of  the  system 
under  which  the   missionary  friars    achieved  their 
wonderful  success  in  reducing  the  wild  tribes  to  a 
condition  of  semi-civilization.   The  venerable  Fathers 
are  accused  of  selfishness,   avarice  and  tyranny,  in 
compelling  the  Indians  to  submission,  and  forcibly 
restraining   them  from   their  natural   liberty,    and 
keeping  them  in  a  condition  of  servitude.     Nothing 
could  be  more  unjust  and  absurd.     It  were  as  well  to 
say  that  it  is  cruel,  despotic,  and  inhuman  4o  tame 
and  domesticate  the  wild  cattle  that  roam  the  great 
plains  of  the  continent.     The  system  of  the  Fathers 
was  only  our  modern  reservation  policy  humanized 
and  Christianized  ;  inasmuch  as  they  not  only  fed  and 
clothed   the  bodies  of  the  improvident  natives,  but 
likewise  cared  for  their  imperishable  souls.     The  cure 
of  Indian  souls  was  the  primary  object  of  the  friar 
enthusiasts  ;  the  work  required  of  the  Indians  was 
of  but  few  hours'  duration,  with  long  intervals  of 
rest,  and  was  only  incidental  to  the  one  great  and 
hoty  purpose  of  spiritual  conversion  and  salvation. 
Surely,  "  No  greater  love  hath  any  man  than  that 
he  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friend;"  and  it  is  a. cruel 
stretch  of  sectarian  uncharity  to  charge  selfishness 
and  avarice  to  the  account  of  self-devoting  men  who 
voluntarily,  went  forth  from  the  refinements,  pleas 
ures,  and  honors  of  European  civilization,  to  traverse 
the  American  wilderness  in  sandals,  and  with  only 
one  poor  garment  a  year,  in  order  to  uplift  the  de 
graded   and   savage   tribes   of  Paganism   from   the 
regions  of  spiritual  darkness,  and  lead  them  to  the 
heights  of  salvation;  nay,  even  to  starve  and  die  on 
the    "coral  strand"   of  California  in   helpless  and 
deserted  age.     In  1838,  the  Rev.  Father  Sarria  act 
ually  starved  to  death   at  the  Mission   of  Soledad, 
after  having  labored  there  for  thirty  years.     After 
the  mission  had  been  plundered  through  the  perfidy 
of  the  Mexican  Government,  the  old  man,  broken  by 
age   and   faint   with   hunger,  lingered   in   his   little 
church  with  the  few  converts  that  remained,  and  one 
Sunday  morning  fell  down  and   died   of  starvation 
before  the  altar  of  his  life-long  devotion.     O,  let  not 
the  Christian  historian   of  California,  who  is  yet  to 
write   for   all  time   to   come,  stain  and  distort  his 
pages  by  such  cruel  and  unworthy  charges  against 
the  barefooted  paladins  of  the  Cross. 

To  entirely  comprehend  the  system  and  proceed 
ings  of  the  friars,  it  will   be  essential  to  know  the 


*This  and  Chapters  V,  VI,  VII,  VIII,  X,  XI,  XII,  XIII, 
XIV  and  XV  are  taken  from  the  History  of  Sacramento  County, 
and  Chapter  IX  from  the  History  of  San  Joaquin  County,  these 
works  being  among  those  published  by  Thompson  &  West. 


w 


THE  MISSION  OF  ST.  FRANCIS. 


21 


meaning  of  certain  descriptive  terms  of  their  insti 
tutions  of  settlement.     These  were —  .  - 

1st.     Presidios. 

2d.      Castillos. 

3d.     Pueblos. 

4th.    Missions. 

The  presidios  were  the  military  garrisons,  estab 
lished  along  the  coast  for  the  defense  of  the  country 
and  the  protection  of  the  missionaries.  Being  the 
head-quarters  of  the  military,  they  became  the  seats 
of  local  government  for  the  different  presidencies 
into  which  the  country  was  divided.  There  were 
four  of  these  presidios  in  Upper  California — at  San 
Diego,  Santa  Barbara,  Monterey,  and  San  Francisco. 
They  were  uniform  in  structure,  consisting  of  adobe 
walls  twelve  or  fourteen  feet  high,  inclosing  a  square 
of  three  hundred  feet  on  each  side,  defended  at  the 
angles  by  small  bastions  mounting  eight  twelve- 
pounder,  bronze  cannon.  Within  were  the  barracks, 
store-house,  a  church  for  the  soldiers,  and  the  com 
mandant's  residence.  On  the  outside  they  were 
defended  by  a  trench,  twelve  feet  wide  and  six  feet 
deep,  and  were  entered  by  two  gates,  open  during 
the  day,  and  closed  at  night.  The  number  of  sol 
diers  assigned  to  each  presidio  was  limited  to  two 
hundred  and  fifty  ;  but  rarely  were  there  so  many 
at  any  one  station.  In  addition  to  the  duty  of 
guarding  the  coast,  small  details  of  four  and  five 
men,  under  a  sergeant,  accompanied  the  Fathers 
when  they  went  abroad  to  establish  missions,  or  on 
other  business.  A  certain  number  of  troops  were 
also  assigned  to  each  mission,  to  keep  order  and 
defend  the  place  against  the  attacks  of  hostile  na 
tives.  They  dressed  in  buckskin  uniform,  which 
was  supposed  to  be  impervious  to  arrows,  and  the 
horses,  too,  were  encased  in  leather  armor,  like  those 
of  the  knights  of  old. 

The  castillo  was  a  covered  battery,  near  the  pre 
sidio,  which  it  was  intended  to  guard.  It  was  manned 
and  mounted  with  a  few  guns,  and  though  but  a 
slight  defense  against  a  powerful  enemy,  it  served  to 
intimidate  and  keep  off  the  feeble  and  timorous 
Gentiles. 

The  pueblo  was  a  town,  inhabited  originally  by 
discharged  soldiers  who  had  served  out  their  time  at 
the  presidios.  It  was  separate  from  the  presidio  and 
mission,  the  lands  having  been  granted  by  the  Fa 
thers.  After  a  while  other  persons  settled  there,  and 
sometimes  the  inhabitants  of  the  pueblo,  or  independ 
ent  town,  outnumbered  those  of  the  neighboring 
mission.  There  were  only  three  of  those  pueblos  in 
Upper  California — Los  Angeles,  San  Jose,  and  Bran- 
ciforte,  the  latter  near  Santa  Cruz.  San  Francisco 
was  not  a  pueblo.  There  were  three  classes  of  these 
settlements  in  later  times — the  pueblo  proper,  the 
presidiol,  and  the  mission  pueblo.  The  rancherias  were 
King's  lands,  set  apart  for  the  use  of  the  troops,  to 
pasture  their  cattle  and  horses. 

The  mission  was  the  parent  institution  of  the 
whole.  There  the  natives  resided,  under  religious 


treatment,  and  others  were  not  allowed  to  inhabit 
the  place  except  for  a  very  brief  time.  This  was  to 
prevent  the  mingling  of  whites  and  natives,  for  it 
was  thought  that  the  former  would  contaminate  and 
create  discontent  and  disorder  among  the  natives. 
The  missions  were  all  constructed  on  the  same  gen 
eral  plan.  They  were  quadrangular,  adobe  struct 
ures,  two  stories  high,  inclosing  a  court-yard  orna 
mented  with  fountains  and  trees  ;  the  whole  consist 
ing  of  a  church,  Father's  apartments,  store-houses, 
barracks,  etc.  The  four  sides  of  the  building  were 
each  about  six  hundred  feet  in  length,  one  of  which 
was  partly  occupied  by  the  church.  Within  the 
quadrangle  or  court,  a  gallery  or  porch  ran  round 
the  second  story,  opening  upon  the  workshops,  store 
rooms,  and  other  apartments. 

The  entire  management  of  each  mission  was  under 
the  care  of  the  friars  ;  the  elder  attended  to  the 
interior,  and  the  other  the  out-doors  administration. 
One  large  apartment,  called  the  monastery,  was  oc 
cupied  exclusively  by  Indian  girls,  under  the  watch 
ful  care  of  the  matron,  where  they  were  instructed 
in  such  branches  as  were  deemed  necessary  for  their 
future  condition  in  life.  They  were  not  permitted  to 
leave  the  monastery  till  old  enough  to  be  married. 
In  the  schools,  such  children  as  manifested  adequate 
capacity,  were  taught  vocal  and  instrumental  music, 
the  latter  consisting  of  the  flute,  horn,  and  violin.  In 
the  various  mechanical  departments,  the  most  in 
genious  and  skillful  were  promoted  to  the  foreman - 
ship. 

The  daily  routine  of  the  establishment  was  usually 
as  follows  :  At  sunrise  they  all  arose  and  repaired 
to  the  church,  where  after  morning  prayers,  they 
assisted  at  the  mass.  The  morning  religious  exer 
cises  occupied  about  an  hour.  Thence  they  went 
to  breakfast,  and  afterwards  to  their  respective  em 
ployments.  At  noon  they  returned  to  the  mission, 
and  spent  two  hours  at  dinner  and  in  rest ;  thence  to 
work  again,  continuing  until  the  evening  angelus, 
about  an  hour  before  sundown.  Then,  all  betook 
themselves  to  church,  for  evening  devotions,  which 
consisted  usually  in  ordinary  family^prayers  and 
rosary,  but  on  special  occasions  other  devotional  ex 
ercises  were  added.  After  supper,  they  amused 
themselves  in  various  games,  sports,  and  dances  till 
bedtime,  when  the  unmarried  sexes  were  locked  up 
in  separate  apartments  till  morning.  Their  diet  con 
sisted  of  good  beef  and  mutton,  with  vegetables, 
wheaten  cakes,  puddings,  and  porridges,  which  they 
called  atole  and  pinole.  The  men  dressed  in  linen 
shirts,  pants,  and  a  blanket,  the  last  serving  for  an 
overcoat ;  the  women  had  each  two  undergarments, 
a  new  gown,  and  a  blanket  every  year.  When  the 
missions  had  grown  rich,  and  in  times  of  plenty, 
the  Fathers  distributed  money  and  trinkets  among 
the  more  exemplary,  as  rewards  for  good  conduct. 

The  Indians  lived  in  small  huts  grouped  around, 
a  couple  of  hundred  yards  away  from  the  main 
building  ;  some  of  these  dwellings  were  made  of 


•2-2 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


adobes,  and  others  were  of  rough  poles,  conical  in 
shape,  and  thatched  with  grass,  such  as  the  people 
had  been  ai-.-uMomed  to  in  their  wild  state.  Here 
the  married  Indians  resided  with  their  families.  A 
tract  of  land,  about  fifteen  miles  square,  was  appor 
tioned  to  each  mission,  for  cultivation  and  pasturage. 
There  is  a  wide  distinction  between  the  signification 
of  the  terms  •  Mis  ion  "  and  "Mission  lands  ;"  the 
former  referred  to  the  houses,  vineyards,  and  or 
chards,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  churches, 
and  also  included  the  cattle  belonging  to  the  es 
tablishment;  while  mission  lands,  assigned  for  graz 
ing  and  agriculture,  were  held  only  in  fief,  and  were 
afterwards  claimed  by  the  Government — against  the 
loud  remonstrance  of  the  Fathers,  however.  The 
missions  were  originally  intended  to  be  only  tempo 
rary  in  duration.  It  was  contemplated  that  in  ten 
years  from  the  time  of  their  foundation  they  should 
cease,  as  it  was  then  supposed  that  within  that 
period  the  Indians  would  be  sufficiently  prepared  to 
assume  the  position  and  character  of  citizens,  and 
that  the  mission  settlements  would  become  pueblos, 
and  the  mission  churches  parish  institutions,  as  in 
older  civilizations;  but  having  been  neglected  and 
undisturbed  by  the  Spanish  Government,  they  kept 
on  in  the  old  way  for  sixty  years,  the  comfortable 
Fathers  being  in  no  hurry  to  insist  on  a  change. 

From  the  foregoing,  derived  chiefly  from  Gleeson's 
valuable  work,  "  History  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
California,"  it  will  be  inferred  that  the  good  Fathers 
trained  up  their  young  neophytes  in  the  way  in 
which  they  should  go.  Alexander  Forbes,  and  other 
historians,  say  that  during  church-time  a  sort  of 
beadle  went  around  with  a  long  stick,  and  when  he 
perceived  a  native  inattentive  to  the  devotions  or 
inclined  to  misbehave,  gave  him  or  her  an  admonitory 
prod,  or  a  rap  over  the  cabesa  I  But  all  authorities, 
both  Catholic  and  Protestant  agree  concerning  the 
gentleness  and  humanity  of  the  Fathers,  who  were 
absolute  in  authority  and  unlimited  in  the  monarchy 
of  their  little  kingdoms.  Not  that  there  was  never 
any  application  of  severe  and  necessary  discipline; 
there  were  among  the  Indians,  as  well  as  in  civilized 
society,  certain  vicious  and  turbulent  ones,  incapable 
of  affection  and  without  reveience  for  authority, 
and  these  were  soundly  whipped,  as  they  no- doubt 
deserved,  as  such  crooked  disciples  now  are  at 
San  Quentin.  Occasionally  some  discontented  ones 
ran  away  to  the  hills,  and  these  were  pursued  and 
brought  back  by  the  mission  cavalry.  They  gen 
erally  returned  without  much  trouble,  as  they  had 
an  idea  that,  having  been  baptized,  something  dread 
ful  would  happen  to  them  if  they  stayed  away. 

While  modern  sentimentalists  may  lament  that 
these  poor  people  were  thus  deprived  of  their  nat 
ural  liberty  and  kept  in  a  condition  of  servitude,  it 
must  be  admitted  that  their  moral  and  physical 
situation  was  even  better  than  the  average  poor  in 
the  European  States  at  that  time.  Their  yoke  was 
easy,  and  their  burdens  were  light;  and  if,  in  the 


Christian  view  of  things,  their  spiritual  welfare  be 
taken  into  account,  the  Fathers,  instead  of  being 
regarded  as  despots  and  task-masters,  must  be 
viewed  as  the  substantial  benefactors  of  the  swarthy 


race. 


The  wealth  created  by  some  of  the  missions  was 
enormous.  At  its  era  of  greatest  prosperity,  the 
Mission  of  San  Gabriel,  founded  in  1771,  numbered 
three  thousand  Indians,  one  hundred  and  five  thou 
sand  cattle,  twenty  thousand  horses,  forty  thousand 
sheep;  produced,  annually,  twenty  thousand  bushels 
of  grain,  and  five  hundred  barrels  of  wine  and 
brandy.  Attached  to  this  mission  were  seventeen 
extensive  ranches,  farmed  by  the  Indians,  and  pos 
sessing  two  hundred  yoke  of  oxen.  Some  of  the  old 
fig  and  olive  trees  are  still  bearing  fruit,  and  one  old 
Indian  woman  still  survives,  who  is  said  to  have 
reached  the  incredible  age  of  one  hundred  and  forty 
years.  In  1836,  the  number  of  Indians  at  the 
Mission  of  Upper  California  was  upwards  of  thirty 
thousand.  The  number  of  live-stock  was  nearly  a 
million,  including  four  hundred  thousand  cattle, 
sixty  thousand  horses,  and  three  hundred  thousand 
sheep,  goats,  and  swine.  One  hundred  thousand 
cattle  were  slaughtered  annually,  their  hides  and 
tallow  producing  a  revenue  of  nearly  a  million  of 
dollars,  a  revenue  of  equal  magnitude  being  derived 
from  other  articles  of  export.  There  were  rich 
and  extensive  gardens  and  orchards  attached 
to  the  missions,  ornamented  and  enriched  with  a 
variety  of  European  and  tropical  fruit  trees,  includ 
ing  bananas,  oranges,  olives,  and  figs,  to  which  were 
added  productive  and  highly  cultivated  vineyards, 
rivaling  the  richest  grape-fields  of  Europe.  When 
the  missions  were  secularized  and  ruined  by  the 
Mexican  Government,  there  were  above  a  hundred 
thousand  piasters  in  the  treasury  of  San  Gabriel. 

But,  evil  times  were  coming.  In  1826,  the  Mexi 
can  Congress  passed  an  Act  for  the  liberation  of  the 
mission  Indians,  and  the  demoralization  and  dis 
persion  of  the  people  soon  ensued.  Eight  years 
thereafter,  the  number  of  Christian  Indians  had 
diminished  from  thirty  thousand  six  hundred  and 
fifty,  to  four  thousand  four  hundred.  Of  the  eight 
hundred  thousand  head  of  live-stock,  only  sixty- 
three  thousand  remained.  Everything  went  to  rack 
and  ruin,  and  what  had  been  a  land  of  abounding 
life  and  generous  plenty,  reverted  to  silence  and 
desolation.  At  the  Mission  of  St.  John  Capistrano, 
of  the  two  thousand  Christian  population,  only  one 
hundred  remained;  of  the  seventy  thousand  cattle, 
but  five  hundred  were  left;  of  the  two  thousand 
horses,  only  one  hundred  survived,  and  of  the  ten 
thousand  sheep,  not  one  remained. 

And  then,  after  sixty  years  of  cheerful  and  suc 
cessful  labor,  and  from  happy  abundance  in  which 
they  had  hoped  to  die  at  last,  went  forth  the  down 
cast  Fathers,  one  after  another;  some  in  sorrow  to 
the  grave,  some  to  other  and  rougher  fields  of  mis 
sionary  labor,  and  others  to  be  dispersed"  among  the 


DOWNFALL  OF  THE  OLD  MISSIONS. 


23 


widespread  retreats  of  the  Brothers  of  St.  Francis. 
And  the  swarthy  neophytes — the  dark-eyed  maidens 
of  San  Gabriel,  whither  went  they?  Back  to  the 
savage  defiles  of  the  mountains,  down  to  the  depths 
of  barbarism,  to  wander  in  the  lonely  desert,  to 
shiver  in  the  pitiless  storm,  and  to  perish  at  last 
under  the  ponderous  march  of  a  careless  and  unfeel 
ing  civilization. 


CHAPTER  V. 

DOWNFALL  OF  THE  OLD  MISSIONS. 

Results  of  Mexican  Rule — Confiscation  of  the  Pious  Fund — 
Revolution  Begun — Events  of  the  Colonial  Rebellion — The 
Americans  Appear  and  Settle  Things — Annexation  at  Last. 

IN  1822,  Mexico  declared  independence  of  Spain, 
and  immediately  the  old  missions  began  to  decline. 
Four  years  afterwards  the  Christian  Indians  were 
removed  from  under  the  control  of  the  Fathers, 
their  manumission  having  been  ordered  by  the 
Mexican  Government.  They  were  to  receive  cer 
tain  portions  of  land,  and  to  be  entirely  independent 
of  the  friars.  The  annual  salaries  of  the  Fathers, 
which  had  been  derived  from  interest  on  the  Pious 
Fund,  were  withheld  and  appropriated  by  the  Gov 
ernment,  and  soon  after  the  fund  itself  was  confis 
cated  by  the  Mexican  Congress,  and  used  for  the 
purposes  of  state.  The  Pious  Fund  was  the  aggre 
gated  donations  of  the  Catholic  world  for  the  main 
tenance  of  missions  in  Lower  and  Upper  California, 
the  interest  being  about  fifty  thousand  dollars  annu 
ally,  which  went  for  the  support  of  the  Fathers. 
This  large  sum,  principal  and  interest,  amounting  in 
1817  to  one  million  two  hundred  and  seventy-three 
thousand  dollars,  the  beggarly  Mexican  Government 
meant  to  steal.  Professor  Gleeson,  writing  in 
defense  of  the  Fathers,  makes  out  a  fearful  bill  of 
damages  against  the  perfidious  Government,  amount 
ing  to  no  less  than  twelve  millions  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  which  will  probably  never  be  paid 
by  that  rather  shaky  republic.  The  missions  were 
thus  practically  ruined.  Following  the  rapacious 
example  set  by  Government,  the  white  settlers  laid 
violent  hands  on  the  stock  and  lands  belonging  to 
the  missions,  and,  having  returned  to  their  mountain 
fastnesses,  the  Indians  instituted  a  predatory  war 
fare  against  the  settlers,  carrying  off  their  goods, 
cattle,  and  sometimes  their  wives  and  children. 
The  whites  retaliating  in  kind,  villages  were  de 
stroyed,  and  the  whole  country,  highlands  and  low 
lands,  was  kept  in  a  state  of  apprehension,  rapine, 
and  spoliation,  resembling  the  condition  of  Scotland 
in  the  times  of  the  Jacobites. 

In  the  meantime  in  1836,  a  revolt  against  the  Mex 
ican  Government  was  projected  by  the  white  settlers 
who  seized  upon  Monterey,  the  capital,  and  declared 
the  country  independent.  Thirty  American  rifle 
men,  under  Isaac  Graham  from  Tennessee,  and  sixty 
mounted  Californians,  under  General  Castro,  com 
posed  the  entire  insurgent  army,  Alvarado  being  the 


generalissimo.  They  advanced  on  and  took  the 
territorial  capital  in  November,  Governor  Gutierrez 
and  his  seventy  men  having  valiantly  shut  them 
selves  up  in  the  fort,  where  they  ignominiously  sur 
rendered  at  the  very  first  gun.  Gutierrez  with  his 
officials  was  deported  to  Lower  California,  and  Alva 
rado  had  himself  appointed  Governor  in  his  stead. 
Don  M.  G.  Vallejo  was  appointed  military  Command 
ant-General,  and  Don  Jose  Castro  was  created  Pre 
fect  of  Police.  The  country  was  then  formally  de 
clared  a  free  and  independent  State,  providing  that 
in  the  case  the  then  existing  Central  Government  of 
Mexico  should  be  overthrown  and  a  federal  constitu 
tion  adopted  in  its  stead,  California  should  enter  the 
federation  with  the  other  States.  The  people  of  Los 
Angeles  and  Santa  Barbara  refused  to  acknowledge 
the  new  territorial  administration,  but  Alvarado 
marched  upon  Los  Angeles,  where  he  was  met  by 
Castello,  and  instead  of  a  bloody  battle,  it  was  agreed 
that  Alvarado  should  recognize  the  existing  Central 
Government  of  Mexico,  and  be  proclaimed  political 
chief  of  California,  pro  tern.,  while  Castello  was  to 
proceed  to  Mexico  as  deputy  to  Congress,  with  a  sal 
ary  of  three  thousand  piasters  a  year.  The  Govern 
ment  of  Mexico  declined  to  confirm  the  arrangement, 
and  appointed  Don  Carlos  Carillo  Governor  of  the 
Territory.  Alvarado  again  went  to  war,  and  with  a 
small  company  of  Americans,  and  Californians, 
marched  against  Carillo,  the  new  Governor  at  Santa 
Barbara.  The  valiant  Carillo,  having  a  wholesome 
dread  of  the  American  sharp-shooters,  retired  from 
the  field  without  a  battle,  leaving  Alvarado  master 
of  the  situation.  The  pusillanimous  character  of  the 
then  existing  Mexican  Government  is  illustrated  by 
the  fact  that  Alvarado  was  confirmed  as  Constitu 
tional  Governor  of  California,  notwithstanding  he 
had  been  the  leader  of  the  rebellion. 

Then  ensued  a  succession  of  spoliations  which 
destroyed  the  laborious  enterprise  of  sixty  years,  and 
left  the  old  missions  in  melancholy  ruins. 

Alvarado  bestowed  upon  his  English  and  Ameri 
can  followers  large  grants  of  land,  money  and  stock 
confiscated  from  the  missions.  Graham,  the  captain 
of  the  band,  obtained  a  great  landed  estate  and  two 
hundred  mules.  To  the  commandant,  General  Val 
lejo,  fell  the  goods  and  chattels  of  the  missions  of 
San  Rafael  and  Solano;  Castro,  the  Prefect  of  Mont 
erey,  received  the  property  of  the  San  Juan  Bau- 
tista,  while  Governor  Alvarado  himself  appropriated 
the  rich  spoil  of  the  missions  of  Carmelo  and  Soledad.* 

In   the  meantime  a  conspiracy  against  Alvarado 

*  Authorities  differ  on  this  matter.  Some  well-informed  per 
sons  say  that  Alvarado  had  promised  Bates,  and  others,  large 
tracts  of  land,  if  they  would  assist  him  in  establishing  himself  as 
ruler ;  that  after  succeeding  in  his  ambitious  desires,  he  turned 
traitor  to  his  friends,  and  undertook  to  destroy  them  on  the  pre 
tence  of  a  contemplated  insurrection.  There  was  no  fair  fi^ht. 
Alvarado  captured  the  men,  over  a  hundred  in  number,  by  send 
ing  armed  parties  to  their  homes  in  the  night,  or  by  luring 
them  to  Monterey  on  pretence  of  important  business,  and  put" 
ting  chains  on  them  as  fast  as  they  came  into  his  presence, 

otherwise  they  would  have  made  short  work  of  deposing  him. 

[EDITOR. 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


was  set  on  foot  by  certain  of  his  English  and  Amer 
ican  compatriots,  the  object  being  the  admission  of 
California  to  the  American  Union.  The  conspirators 
were  forty-six  in  number,  twenty-five  English  and 
twenty-one  Americans,  under  command  of  Graham. 
Alvarado  soon  heard  of  the  design,  and  sent  a  party 
of  soldiers,  under  Castro,  to  Monterey,  surprised  the 
revolutionists  in  their  hut,  and  poured  in  a  volley  of 
musketry  disabling  many  of  them;  the  balance  were 
taken  prisoners,  and  afterwards  deported  to  San  Bias 
and  thence  to  Tepic,  where  they  were  treated  as  con 
victs.  The  Americans  and  English  in  California  ap 
pealed  to  the  Mexican  Government,  and  President 
Bustamente  became  alarmed  at  the  danger  of  war 
with  England  and  the  United  States,  and  ordered 
the  exiled  prisoners  to  be  sent  back  to  California, 
and  that  they  should  be  indemnified  for  their  loss  of 
time  at  the  rate  of  three  piasters  a  day.  The  re 
turned  prisoners,  immediately  on  their  arrival,  re 
sumed  their  design  with  greater  energy  than  before, 
having  determined  to  be  revenged  on  Castro  and 
Alvarado  for  the  outrages  they  hud  inflicted. 

In  1841  other  Americans  arrived,  and  the  revolu 
tionary  party  was  considerably  increased.  Alvarado 
demanded  reinforcements  from  Mexico,  but  the  only 
assistance  he  received  was  tbat  of  three  hundred 
convicts  from  the  Mexican  prisons.  At  this  juncture, 
Santa  Ana,  the  new  President,  removed  Governor 
Alvarado  from  oflice,  appointing  Micheltorena  in  his 
stead,  and  when  the  latter  arrived,  Monterey,  the 
capital,  had  previously  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
American  Commodore  Jones,  although  then  in  the 
possession  oftke  Mexicans.  Commodore  Catesby 
Jones,  having  heard  that  war  had  been  declared  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  hastened  to 
Monterey,  took  possession  of  the  city,  and  hoisted 
the  American  colors;  but  learning  his  serious  mistake 
on  the  following  day,  he  lowered  his  flag  and  made 
a  becoming  apology.  This  extraordinary  incident 
occurred  on  the  20th  of  October,  1842,  and  it  was 
then  obvious  that  the  distracted  country  must  soon 
Call  into  the  hands  of  the  United  States,  or  some 
other  foreign  nation. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  new  Governor,  Mich 
eltorena,  was  the  restoration  of  the  missions  to  the 
friars,  after  a  turbulent  interregnum  of  six  years. 
But  this  act  of  policy  and  justice  came  too  late;  the 
missions  were  ruined  beyond  the  possibility  .of  resus 
citation.  The  Indians  had  been  dispersed,  many  of 
them  living  by  brigandage,  and  others  had  become 
wandering  vagabonds.  After  two  years'  exertion  by 
the  Fathers  things  began  to  improve;  some  of  the 
Indians  had  returned,  and  the  lands  were  being  re- 
cultivated,  when  the  Government  again  interfered, 
and  ordered  Governor  Pio  Pico,  in  1845,  to  dispose 
of  the  missions  either1  by  sale  or  rental,  to  the  white 
settlers.  Thus,  at  length,  the  last  of  the  property 
which  the  Fathers  had  created  by  sixty  years  of 
patient  labor,  passed  into  the  possession  of  private 
individuals;  many  of  the  Fathers  were  reduced  to 


extreme  poverty,  humiliation,  and  distress,  and  the 
missions  went  down,  never  to  rise  again.  The  de 
struction  of  the  missions  was  almost  immediately 
succeeded  by  the  war  between  the  United  States 
and  Mexico,  and  the  long  vexed  territory  passed  to 
llic  American  Union. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PRIMITIVE  AGRICULTURE. 

Extent  of  the  Mission  Lands— Varieties  of  Product— Agricul 
tural  Implements  and  means  of  Working— A  Primitive  Mill 
—Immense  Herds  and  Value  of  Cattle— The  First  Native 
Shop. 

UP  to  the  time  of  the  American  conquest  the  pro 
ductive  lands  of  California  were  chiefly  in  the  hands 
of  the  missionaries.  Each  of  the  missions  included 
about  fifteen  miles  square,  and  the  boundaries  were 
generally  equi-distant.  As  the  science  of  agriculture 
was  then  in  a  very  primitive  condition  in  Spain,  the 
monks  of  California  could  not  be  expected  to  know 
much  about  scientific  farming.  They  knew  nothing 
about  the  utility  of  fallows,  or  the  alternation  of 
crops,  and  their  only  mode  of  renovating  exhausted 
soil,  was  to  let  it  lie  idle  and  under  the  dominion  of 
native  weeds,  until  it  was  thought  capable  of  bear 
ing  crops  again.  Land  being  so  abundant,  there 
was  no  occasion  for  laborious  or  expensive  processes 
of  recuperation. 

The  grains  mostly  cultivated  were  Indian  corn, 
wheat,  barley,  and  a  small  bean  called  frijol,  which 
was  in  general  use  throughout  Spanish  America. 
The  beans,  when  ripe,  were  fried  in  lard,  and  much 
esteemed  by  all  ranks  of  people.  Indian  corn  was 
the  bread-staple,  and  was  cultivated  in  rows  or 
drills.  The  plow  used  was  a  very  primitive  affair. 
It  was  composed  of  two  pieces  of  wood;  the  main 
piece,  formed  from  a  crooked  limb  of  a  tree  of  the 
proper  shape,  constituting  both  sole  and  handle.  It 
had  no  mould-board,  or  other  means  for  turning  a 
furrow,  and  was  only  capable  of  scratching  the  sur 
face  of  the  ground.  A  small  share,  fitted  to  the 
point  of  the  sole,  was  the  only  iron  about  the  im 
plement.  The  other  piece  was  a  long  beam,  like 
the  tongue  of  a  wagon,  reaching  to  the  yoke  of  the 
cattle  by  which  the  plow  was  drawn.  It  consisted 
of  a  rough  sapling,  with  the  bark  taken  off,  fixed 
into  the  main  piece,  and  connected  by  a  small  up 
right  on  which  it  was  to  slide  up  or  down,  and  was 
fixed  in  position  by  two  wedges.  When  the  plow 
man  desired  to  plow  deep,  the  forward  end  of  the 
tongue  was  lowered,  and  in  this  manner  the  depth 
of  the  furrow  was  regulated.  This  beam  passed 
between  the  two  oxen,  a  pin  was  put  through  the 
end  projecting  from  the  yoke,  and  then  the  agri 
cultural  machine  was  ready  to  run.  The  plowman 
walked  on  one  side,  holding  the  one  handle,  or  stilt, 
with  his  right  hand,  and  managing  the  oxen  with 
the  other.  The  yoke  was  placed  on  the  top  of  the 
cattle's  heads  close  behind  the  horns,  tied  firmly  to 


PRIMITIVE   AGRICULTURE. 


25 


the  roots  and  to  the  forehead  by  thongs,  so  that, 
instead  of  drawing  by  the  shoulders  and  neck,  the 
oxen  dragged  the  plow  by  their  horns  and  fore 
heads.  When  so  harnessed  the  poor  beasts  were  in 
a  very  deplorable  condition;  they  could  not  move 
their  heads  up,  down,  or  sidewise,  went  with  their 
noses  turned  up,  and  every  jolt  of  the  plow  knocked 
them  about,  and  seemed  to  give  them  great  pain. 
Only  an  ancient  Spaniard  could  devise  such  a 
contrivance  for  animal  torture.  When  Alexander 
Forbes  suggested  to  an  old  Spaniard  that  perhaps 
it  might  be  better  to  3roke  the  oxen  by  the  neck  and 
shoulders,  "  What!"  said  the  old  man,  "can  you  sup 
pose  that  Spain,  which  has  always  been  known  as 
the  mother  of  the  sciences,  can  be  mistaken  on 
thtd  point?" 

The  oxen  were  yoked  to  the  carts  in  the  same 
manner,  having  to  bear  the  weight  of  the  load 
on  the  top  of  their  heads,  the  most  disadvantageous 
mechanical  point  of  the  whole  body.  The  ox-cart 
was  composed  of  a  bottom  frame  of  clumsy  con 
struction,  with  a  few  upright  bars  connected  by 
smaller  ones  at  the  top.  When  used  for  carry 
ing  grain,  it  was  lined  with  canes  or  bulrushes.  The 
pole  was  large,  and  tied  to  the  yoke  in  the  same 
manner  as  with  the  plow,  so  that  every  jerk  of  the 
cart  was  torture  to  the  oxen.  The  wheels  had  no 
spokes,  and  were  composed  of  three  pieces  of  timber, 
the  middle  piece  hewn  out  of  a  log,  of  sufficient  size 
to  form  the  nave  and  middle  of  the  wheel,  all  in 
one;  the  middle  piece  was  of  a  length  equal  to  the 
diameter  of  the  wheel,  and  rounded  at  the  ends  to 
arcs  of  the  circumference.  The  other  two  pieces 
were  of  timber  naturally  bent,  and  joined  to  the 
sides  of  the  middle  piece  by  keys  of  wood  grooved 
into  the  ends  of  the  pieces  which  formed  the  wheel. 
The  whole  was  then  made  circular,  and  did  not 
contain  a  particle  of  iron,  not  even  so  much  as  a  nail. 

From  the  rude  construction  of  the  plow,  which 
was  incapable  of  turning  a  furrow,  the  ground  was 
imperfectly  broken  by  scratching  over,  crossing,  and 
re-crossing  several  times;  and  although  four  or  five 
crossings  were  sometimes  given  to  a  field,  it  was 
found  impossible  to  eradicate  the  weeds.  "It  was 
no  uncommon  thing,"  says  Forbes  in  1835,  "to  see, 
on  some  of  the  large  maize  estates  in  Mexico,  as 
many  as  two  hundred  plows  at  work  together.  As 
the  plows  are  equal  on  both  sides,  the  plowmen 
have  only  to  begin  at  one  side  of  the  field  and  follow 
one  another  up  and  down,  as  many  as  can  be  em 
ployed  together  without  interfering  in  turning  round 
at  the  end,  which  they  do  in  succession,  like  ships 
tacking  in  a  line  of  battle,  and  so  proceed  down  the 
same  side  as  they  come  up." 

Harrows  were  unknown,  the  wheat  and  barley 
being  brushed  in  by  a  branch  of  a  tree.  Sometimes 
a  heavy  log  was  drawn  over  the  field,  on  the  plan 
of  a  roller,  save  that  it  did  not  roll,  but  was  dragged 
so  as  to  carry  a  part  of  the  soil  over  the  seeds. 
Indian  corn  was  planted  in  furrows  or  ruts  drawn 


about  five  feet  apart,  the  seed  being  deposited  by 
hand,  from  three  to  five  grains  in  a  place,  which 
were  slightly  covered  by  the  foot,  no  hoes  being 
used.  The  sowing  of  maize,  as  well  as  all  other 
grains  in  Upper  California,  commenced  in  Novem 
ber,  as  near  as  possible  to  the  beginning  of  the  rainy 
season.  The  harvest  was  in  July  and  August. 
Wheat  was  sown  broadcast,  and  in  1835  it  was 
considered  equal  in  quality  to  that  produced  at  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  had  begun  to  attract  at 
tention  in  Europe.  All  kinds  of  grain  were  threshed 
at  harvest  time,  without  stacking.  In  1831,  the 
whole  amount  of  grain  raised  in  Upper  California, 
according  to  the  mission  records,  was  46,202  fanegas 
—the  fanega  being  equal  to  2£  English  bushels. 
Wheat  and  barley  were  then  worth  two  dollars  the 
fanega;  maize,  a  dollar  and  a  half;  the  crop  of  that 
year  at  the  several  missions  being  worth  some  eighty- 
six  thousand  dollars. 

The  mills  for  grinding  grain  consisted  of  an  up 
right  axle,  to  the  lower  end  of  which  was  fixed  a 
horizontal  water-wheel  under  the  building,  and  to 
the  upper  end  a  millstone.  As  there  was  no  inter 
mediate  machinery  to  increase  the  velocity  of  the 
stone  it  could  make  only  the  same  number  of  revo 
lutions  as  the  water-wheel,  so  that  the  work  of 
grinding  a  grist  was  necessarily  a  process  of  time. 
The  water-wheel  was  fearfully  and  wonderfully 
made.  Forbes  described  it  as  a  set  of  cucharas,  or 
gigantic  spoons,  set  around  its  periphery  in  place  of 
floats.  They  were  made  of  strong  pieces  of  timber, 
in  the  shape  of  spoons,  with  the  handles  inserted  in 
mortises  in  the  outer  surface  of  the  wheel,  the  bowl 
of  the  spoons  toward  the  water,  which  impinged 
upon  them  with  nearly  its  whole  velocity.  Rude  as 
the  contrivance  was,  it  was  exceedingly  powerful— 
a  sort  of  primitive  turbine.  There  were  only  three 
of  these  improved  mills  in  the  country  in  1835,  and 
the  possession  of  such  a  rare  piece  of  machinery  was 
no  small  boast  for  the  simple-hearted  Fathers,  so 
far  away  from  the  progressive  mechanical  world. 
It  was  not  a  primitive  California  invention,  how 
ever,  as  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  his  romance  of  "  The 
Pirate,"  describes  a  similar  apparatus  formerly  in 
use  in  the  Shetland  Islands.* 

Before  the  advent  of  foreigners,  neither  potatoes 
nor  green  vegetables  were  cultivated  as  articles  of 
food.  Hemp  was  raised  to  some  extent,  and  flax 
grew  well,  but  its  culture  was  discontinued  for  want 
of  machinery  for  manufacture.  Pasturage  was  the 
principal  pursuit  in  all  Spanish  colonies  in  America. 
The  immense  tracts  of  wild  land  afforded  unlimited 
ranges,  but  few  men  and  little  labor  were  required, 
and  the  pastoral  state  was  the  most  congenial  to 
the  people.  The  herds  were  very  large;  in  the 
four  jurisdictions  of  San  Francisco,  Monterey,  Santa 

*This  form  of  water-wheel  was  common  in  the  Eastern  States 
during  the  earlier  part  of  this  century,  and  was  known  as  the 
tub  or  spur  wheel.  Even  the  mounting  of  the  mill-stones  was 
in  the  manner  described. — [EDITOR. 


26 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Barbara,  and  San  Diego,  there  were  in  1836  three 
hundred  thousand  black  cattle,  thirty-two  thousand 
horses,  twenty -eight  thousand  mules,  and  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty-three  thousand  sheep.  Great  num 
bers  of  horses  ran  wild,  and  these  were  hunted  and 
killed  to  prevent  their  eating  the  grass.  There  was 
hardly  such  a  thing  as  butter  or  cheese  in  use,  but 
ter  being,  in  general,  an  abomination  to  a  Spaniard. 
In  the  earlier  times  immense  droves  of  young  bulls 
were  sent  to  Mexico  for  beef.  The  cattle  being  half- 
wild,  it  was  necessary  to  catch  them  with  the  lasso. 
a  process  which  need  not  be  here  described.  The 
process  of  milking  the  cows  was  peculiar.  They  first 
let  the  calf  suck  for  a  while,  when  the  dairyman 
stole  up  on  the  other  side,  and,  while  the  calf 
was  still  sucking,  procured  a  little  of  the  milk. 
They  had  an  idea  that  the  cow  would  not  "  give 
down  "  milk  if  the  calf  was  taken  away  from  her. 
The  sheep  were  of  a  bad  breed,  with  coarse  wool;  and 
swine  received  little  attention.  The  amount  of  the 
annual  exports  in  the  first  feAv  years  after  the  open 
ing  of  the  ports  to  foreign  vessels,  was-  estimated  at 
thirty  thousand  hides  and  seven  thousand  quintals 
of  tallow;  with  small  cargoes  of  Avheat,  wine,  raisins, 
olives,  etc.,  sent  to  the  Russian  settlements  and  San 
Bias.  Hides  were  worth  two  dollars  each,  and  tallow 
eight  dollars  per  quintal.  Afterwards  the  exporta 
tion  ofhides  and  tallow  was  greatly  increased,  and 
it  is  said  that  after  the  Fathers  had  become  con 
vinced  that  they  would  have  to  give  up  the  mission 
lands  to  the  Government,  they  caused  (he  slaughter 
of  one  hundred  thousand  cattle  in  a  single  year,  for 
their  hides  and  tallow  alone.  And  who  could  blame 
them?  The  cattle  were  theirs.  Notwithstanding 

O 

all  this  immense  revenue  these  enthusiasts  gave  it 
all  to  the  church,  and  themselves  went  away  in 
penury,  and,  as  has  been  related  heretofore,  one  of 
them  actually  starved  to  death. 

In  1836  the  value  of  a  fat  ox  or  bull  in  Upper  Cali 
fornia  was  five  dollars;  a  cow,  five;  a  saddle-horse, 
ten ;  a  mare,  five ;  a  sheep,  two ;  and  a  mule  ten 
dollars. 

The  first  ship  ever  constructed  on  the  eastern  shores 
of  the  Pacific  was  built  by  the  Jesuit  Father,  Ugarte. 
at  Loivto,  in  1719.  Being  in  want  of  a  vessel  to  sur 
vey  the  coast  of  the  peninsula,  and  there  being  none 
available  nearer  than  New  Spain  or  the  Philippine 
Islands,  the  enterprising  friar  determined  to  build 
one.  After  traveling  two  hundred  miles  through  the 
mountains  suitable  timber  was  at  last  found,  in  a 
marshy  - ••im.try;  but  how  to  get  it  to  the  coast  was 
the  great  question;  this  was  considered  impossible  bv 
all  but  the  stubborn  old  friar.  When  the  'party 
returned  to  Loreto,  Father  Ugarte's  ship  in  the 
mountains  became  a  ghostly  joke  among  his  brother 
friars.  But,  not  to  bo  beaten  and  laughed  down, 
Ugarte  made  the  necessary  preparations,  returned 
to  the  mountains,  felled  the  timber,  dragged  it  two 
hundred  miles  to  the  coast,  and  built  a  handsome 
ship,  which  he  appropriately  named  The  Triumph  of 


the  Cross.  The  first  voyage  of  this  historic  ves 
sel  was  to  La  Paz,  two  hundred  miles  south  of  Loreto, 
where  a  mission  was  to  be  founded. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Sir  Francis  Drake's  Discoveries — The  Fabulous  Straits  of 
Aniau — Arctic  Weather  iu  June — Russian  Invasion — 
Native  Animals — Various  facts  and  Events. 

FOR  many  years  it  was  supposed  and  maintained 
in  England  that  Sir  Francis  Drake  was  the  original 
discoverer  of  San  Francisco  bay;  but  it  is  now  con 
sidered  certain  that  he  never  found  the  entrance  to 
that  inland  sea.  Drake  was  a  buccaneer,  and,  in 
1579,  was  in  the  South  Seas  looking  for  Spanish 
ships  to  plunder,  under  the  pretext  of  existing  war 
between  England  and  Spain.  He  had  two  other  pur 
poses  to  subserve  in  behalf  of  the  English  Govern 
ment;  to  discover  a  new  route  from  Europe  to  the 
Indies,  and  to  find  a  new  territory  northward 
that  would  rival  the  Spanish-American  possessions 
in  natural  wealth.  A  rich  trade  had  sprung  up 
between  the  Philippine  Islands  and  Spain;  every 
year  a  Spanish  galleon  from  the  Malayan  Archipel 
ago  crossed  the  Pacific  to  Acapulco,  freighted  with 
the  richest  merchandise,  and  this,  Captain  Drake 
was  on  the  watch  for,  and  did  eventually  capture. 

At  that  time  navigators  universally  believed  that 
the  American  and  Asiatic  continents  were  separated 
only  by  the  Straits  of  Anian,  which  were  sup 
posed  to  lead  eastward  to  the  Atlantic,  somewhere 
about  Newfoundland.  This  long-sought  northwest 
ern  passage  Drake  was  in  search  of.  In  the  autumn 
of  1578  Drake  brought  his  little  fleet  of  three  ves 
sels  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  and  found  the 
Pacific  ocean  in  a  stormy  rage,  and,  having  been 
drifted  about  Cape  Horn  a  couple  of  months,  he  con 
cluded  that  the  continent  was  there  at  an  end;  that 
the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans  there  united  their 
waters;  and  he  very  naturally  came  to  the  conclu 
sion  that  a  similar  juncture  of  seas  would  be  found 
at  the  north.  Having  captured  the  great  Spanish 
galleon,  and  finding  himself  overburdened  with  rich 
treasure,  Drake  wanted  to  return  to  England.  He 
did  not  care  to  encounter  the  stormy  waters  of 
Cape  Horn,  and  expecting  to  find  a  hostile  Spanish 
fleet  awaiting  him  at  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  he 
determined  to  make  his  way  home  by  a  new  and 
hitherto  unknown  route,  the  north-eastern  passage. 
On  the  17th  of  June,  1579,  he  entered  what  the  his 
torian  of  the  expedition  called  a  "  faire,  good  bay 
within  thirty-eight  degrees  of  latitude  of  the  line.'1' 
That  exactly  corresponds  with  what  is  now  known 
as  Drake's  Bay,  behind  Point  Reyes.  There,. 
although  it  was  in  the  month  of  June,  his  men  u  com 
plained  grievously  of  the  nipping  cold."  Drake 
having  given  up  the  perilous  north-eastern  passage 
by  way  of  the  fabulous  Straits  of  Anian,  sailed  away 
for  England  by  way  of  the  Philippine  Islands  and 


MISCELLANEOUS  FACTS  AND  EVENTS. 


27 


the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  It  is  probable  that  while 
off  the  north-west  coast,  Drake  saw  the  snowy 
crest  of  Mount  Shasta  and  some  of  the  Oregon 
peaks,  and  concluded  that  he  had  got  near  enough 
to  the  North  Pole.  At  any  rate,  it  is  clear  enough 
that  he  never  passed  through  the  Golden  Gate,  or 
rested  on  the  magnificent  waters  of  San  Francisco 
bay. 

The  Keverend  Fletcher,  chaplain  of  Drake's  expe 
dition,  must  have  been  a  terrible  old  story-teller.  He 
says  that  when  off  the  coast  of  Oregon,  in  the 
month  of  June,  "  The  rigging  of  the  ship  was  frozen 
stiff,  and  the  meat  froze  as  it  was  taken  off  the 
fire."  Moreover,  saith  the  same  veracious  parson, 
"There  is  no  part  of  earth  here  to  be  taken  up, 
wherein  there  is  not  a  reasonable  quantity  of  gold 
and  silver."  These  arctic  regions  and  golden  treas 
ures  were  found  along  the  ocean  shore  between  San- 
Francisco  and  Portland. 

Another  English  buccaneer,  Thomas  Cavendish, 
appeared  on  the  Pacific  coast  in  1586,  and  plundered 
the  Philippine  galleon  of  122,000  pesos  in  gold, 
besides  a  valuable  cargo  of  merchandise.  The  pirate 
ran  the  vessel  into  the  nearest  port,  set  her  on  fire, 
liberated  the  crew  and  made  his  escape  to  England. 

It  is  supposed  that  one  of  the  extensive  Smith 
family  was  the  first  white  man  who  crossed  the 
Sierra  Nevada  from  the  States,  but  this  fact  is  not 
altogether  certain.  In  the  Summer  of  1825  Jedediah 
S.  Smith,  the  head  of  the  American  Fur  Company, 
led  a  party  of  trappers  and  Indians  from  their  camp, 
on. Green  river,  across  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  into 
the  Tulare  valley,  which  they  reached  in  July.  The 
party  trapped  for  beaver  from  the  Tulare  to  the 
American  river,  and  had  their  camp  near  the  pres 
ent  site  of  Folsom.  On  a  second  trip  Smith  led  his 
company  further  south,  into  the  Mojave  country,  on 
the  Colorado,  where  all  except  himself  and  two  com 
panions  were  killed  by  the  Indians.  These  three 
made  their  way  to  the  Mission  of  San  Gabriel,  near 
Los  Angeles,  which  they  reached  in  December,  1826. 
In  the  following  year  Smith  and  his  party  left  the 
Sacramento  valley  for  the  settlements  on  the  Colum 
bia  river,  but  at  the  mouth  of  the  Umpqua  they 
were  attacked  by  Indians,  and  all  killed  except 
Smith  and  two  Irishmen,  who,  after  much  suffering, 
reached  Fort  Vancouver.  Smith  returned  to  St. 
Louis  in  1840,  and  the  following  year  was  killed  by 
Indians,  while  leading  an  expedition  to  Santa  Fe. 
His  history  is  no  less  adventurous  and  romantic 
than  that  of  the  famous  Captain  John  Smith,  of 
Virginia. 

In  1807  the  Russians  first  appeared  on  the  coast  of 
California.  The  Czar's  ambassador  to  Japan  came 
down  from  Sitka,  ostensibly  for  supplies,  and 
attempted  to  establish  communication  between  the 
llussian  and  Spanish  settlements.  The  better  to 
effect  his  purpose  he  became  engaged  in  marriage 
with  the  Commandante's  daughter,  at  San  Francisco, 
but  on  his  way  back  to  obtain  the  sanction  of  his 


Government  he  was  thrown  from  his  horse  and 
killed.  The  lady  assumed  the  habit  of  a  nun,  and 
mourned  for  her  lover  until  death;  In  1812  a  hun 
dred  Eussians  and  as  many  Kodiac  Indians  came 
down  from  their  northern  settlements  and  squatted 
at  Bodega,  where  they  built  a  fort  and  maintained 
themselves  by  force  of  arms  until  1841,  when  they 
sold  the  establishment  to  Captain  Sutter  and  disap 
peared. 

In  1822  Mexico  declared  her  independence  ot 
Spain,  and  established  a  separate  empire.  When  the 
Indians  at  San  Diego  heard  of  it  they  held  a  great 
feast,  and  commenced  the  ceremonies  by  burning 
their  chief  alive.  When  the  missionaries  remon 
strated,  the  logical  savages  said:  "Have  you  not 
done  the  same  in  Mexico  ?  You  say  your  King 
was  not  good,  and  you  killed  him;  well,  our  cap 
tain  was  not  good,  and  we  burned  him.  If  the  new 
one  is  bad  we  will  burn  him  too." 

The  State  of  California  was  originally  divided 
into  twenty-seven  counties.  The  derivation  of  the 
several  terms  adopted  is  given  by  General  Vallejo: 

San  Diego  (Saint  James)  takes  its  name  from  the 
old  town,  three  miles  from  the  harbor,  discovered  by 
Viscaino,  in  1602. 

Los  Angeles  county  was  named  from  the  city 
(Ciudad  de  Los  Angeles)  founded  by  order  of  the 
Viceroy  of  New  Spain,  in  1780. 

Santa  Barbara  was  named  after  the  town  estab 
lished  in  1780  to  protect  the  five  adjacent  missions. 

San  Luis  Obispo,  after  its  principal  town,  the  site 
of  a  misson  founded  in  1772  by  Junipero  Serra  and 
Jose  Cavalier. 

Monterey,  after  the  chief  town,  which  was  so 
named  by  Viscaino  in  honor  of  his  friend  and  patron, 
the  Viceroy,  Count  of  Monterey. 

Santa  Cruz  (the  Holy  Cross)  was  named  from  the 
mission  on  the  north  side  of  the  bay. 

San  Francisco,  named  in  honor  of  the  friars' 
patron  saint. 

Santa  Clara,  named  from  the  mission  established 
there  in  1777. 

Contra  Costa  (the  opposite  coast)  is  the  natural 
designation  of  the  country  across  the  bay  from  San 
Francisco. 

Marin  county,  named  after  a  troublesome  chief 
whom  an  exploring  expedition  encountered  in  1815. 
Marin  died  at  the  San  Eafael  Mission  in  1834. 

Sonoma,  named  after  a  noted  Indian,  who  also 
gave  name  to  his  tribe.  The  word  means  "  Valley 
of  the  Moon." 

Solano,  the  name  of  a  chief,  who  borrowed  it  from 
his  missionary  friend,  Father  Solano. 

Yolo,  a  corruption  of  an  Indian  word  yoloy,  sig 
nifying  a  place  thick  with  rushes;  also,  the  name  of 
a  tribe  of  Indians  on  Cache  creek. 

Napa,  named  after  a  numerous  tribe  in  that  re 
gion,  which  was  nearly  exterminated  by  small-pox 
in  1838. 


L>S 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Mendocino,  named  by  the  discoverer  after  Men- 
doza,  Viceroy  of  New  Spain. 

Sacramento  (the  Sacrament).  Moraga  gave  the 
main  river  the  name  of  Jesus  Maria,  and  the  prin 
cipal  branch  he  called  Sacramento.  Afterwards, 
the  great  river  came  to  be  known  as  the  Sacra 
mento,  and  the  branch.  Feather  river. 

El  Dorado,  the  appropriate  name  of  the  district 
where  gold  was  discovered  in  1848. 

Sutter  county,  named  in  honor  of  the  world- 
renowned  pioneer,  John  A.  Sutter. 

Vuba,  a  corruption  of  Uva,  a  name  given  a  branch 
of  Feather  river  in  1824  by  an  exploring  party,  on 
account  of  the  great  quantities  of  wild  grape  virues 
growing  on  its  banks. 

Butte,  the  common  French  term  for  a  mound,  in 
allusion  to  three  symmetrical  hills  in  that  county; 
so  named  by  a  party  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company 
hunters. 

Colusa,  from  Coluses,  the  name  of  a  numerous 
tribe  on  the  west  side  of  the  Sacramento.  Meaning 
of  the  word  is  unknown. 

Shasta,  the  name  of  a  tribe  who  lived  at  the  base 
of  the  lofty  peak  of  same  name. 

Calaveras,  so  named  by  Captain  Moraga,  on  ac 
count  of  an  immense  number  of  skulls  in  the  vicinity 
of  a  stream,  which  he  called  "Calaveras,  or  the 
River  of  Skulls."  This  is  the  reputed  site  of  a  terri 
ble  battle  between  the  mountain  and  valley  Indians, 
over  the  fishing  question. 

San  Joaquin,  after  the  river,  so  named  by  Captain 
Moraga,  in  honor  of  the  legendary  father  of  the 
Virgin. 

Tuolumne,  a  corruption  of  an  Indian  word,  signi 
fying  a  cluster  of  stone  wigwams. 

Mariposa  signifies  butterfly.  So  called  by  a  party 
of  hunters,  who  camped  on  the  river  in  1807,  and 
observed  the  trees  gorgeous  with  butterflies. 

Trinity,  called  after  the  bay  of  that  name,  which 
was  discovered  on  the  anniversary  of  Trinity  Fes 
tival. 

When  first  visited  by  the  Spaniards,  California 
abounded  in  wild  animals,  some  of  which  are  now 
extinct.  One  of  these  was  called  Berendo  by  the 
Spaniards,  and  by  the  natives,  Taye.  « It  is,"  says 
Father  Venegas,  "about  the  bigness  of  a  calf  a 
year  and  a  half  old,  resembling  it  in  figure,  except 
the  head,  which  is  like  that  of  a  deer,  and  the 
horns  very  thick,  like  those  of  a  ram.  Its  hoof 
largo,  round,  and  cloven,  and  its  tail  short." 
This  was  the  Argali,  a  species  intermediate  between 
the  goat  and  the  sheep,  living  in  large  herds  along 
the  bases  of  the  mountains;  supposed  to  be  a  variety 
of  the  Asiatic  argali,  so  plentiful  in  Northern  and 
Central  Asia.  In  his  journey  from  Monterey  to  San 
Francisco,  Father  Serra  met  with  herds  of  immense 
deer,  which  the  men  mistook  for  European  cattle 
and  wondered  how  they  got  there.  Several  deer 
were  shot,  whose  horns  -measured  eleven  feet  from 
tip  to  tip.  Another  large  animal,  which  the  natives 


called  cibolo,  the  bison,  inhabited  the  great  plains, 
but  was  eventually  driven  off  by  the  vast  herds  of 
domestic  cattle.  When  Langsdorff  s  ship  was  lying 
in  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco  in  1804,  sea-otter  were 
swimming  about  so  plentifully  as  to  be  nearly  un 
heeded.  The  Indians  caught  them  in  snares,  or 
killed  them  with  sticks.  Perouse  estimated  that 
the  Presidency  of  Monterey  alone  could  supply 
ten  thousand  otter  skins  annually.  They  were  worth 
twenty  dollars  and  upwards  apiece.  Beechey  found 
birds  in  astonishing  numbers  and  variety,  but  their 
plumage  was  dingy  looking,  and  very  few  of  them 
could  sing  respectably. 

The  name  California  was  first  given  to  the  Lower 
Peninsula  in  1536,  and  was  afterwards  applied  to 
the  coast  territory  as  far  north  as  Cape  Mendocino. 
There  has  been  much  learned  speculation  concerning 
the  probable  derivation  of  the  word,  but  no  satis 
factory  conclusion  has  been  reached.  The  word  is 
arbitrary,  derived  from  some  expression  of  the  In 
dians. 

The   province,  as   it  formerly  existed   under  the 
Viceroys,  was  divided  into  two   parts;    Peninsular, 
or  Lower   and  Old  California,  and  Continental,  or 
Upper  and  New,  the  line  of  separation  running  near 
the  32d  parallel  of  latitude,  from  the  northern  ex 
tremity  of  the  Gulf  of  California,  to  the  Pacific  ocean. 
The  Gulf  of  California— called  also  the  Sea  of  Cor- 
tez,  and  the  Vermilion  Sea — is  a  great  arm  of  the 
Pacific,  which  joins  that  ocean  under  the  23d  par 
allel  of  latitude,  and  thence  extends  north-westward 
inland  about  seven  hundred  miles,  where  it  receives 
the  waters  of  the  Colorado  and  Gila  rivers.     It  is 
a  hundred  miles  wide  at  the  mouth,  widens  further 
north,  and  still  further  on  contracts  in  width,  till  its 
shores   become   the   banks   of   the   Colorado.     The 
Peninsular,  or  California  side  of  the  Gulf,  was  for 
merly   celebrated  for  the   size    and   beauty    of  its 
pearls,  which  were   found   in    oysters.     They  were 
obtained  with  great  difficulty,  from  the  crevices  at 
the  bottom,  by  Indian  divers,  who  had  to  go  down 
twenty  or  thirty  feet,  and  frequently  were  drowned, 
or  devoured  by  sharks.     In  1825,  eight  vessels  en 
gaged    in    the    fishing,    obtained,    altogether,    five 
pounds  of  pearls,  which  were  worth  about  ten  thou 
sand  dollars.     Sometimes,  however,  a   single   mag 
nificent   pearl   was   found,   which   compensated   for 
years  of  labor   and  disappointment.     Some  of  the 
richest  in  the  royal  regalia  of  Spain,  were  found  on 
the  California  gulf. 

Peninsular,  or  Lower  California,  lying  between 
the  gulf  and  the  ocean,  is  about  130  miles  in  breadth 
where  it  joins  the  continent  at  the  north,  under  the 
32d  parallel,  and  nearly  in  the  same  latitude  as 
Savannah  in  Georgia.  Thence  it  runs  south-east 
ward,  diminishing  in  breadth  and  terminating  in 
two  points,  the  one  at  Cape  San  Lucas,  in  nearly  the 
same  latitude  as  Havana,  the  other  at  Cape  Palmo, 
<»  miles  north-east,  at  the  entrance  of  the  gulf. 
Continental  California  extends  along  the  Pacific 


HIRAM    C.  MEEK 

(AT93Y'?  or  AGE.) 


THE  AMERICAN  CONQUEST. 


29 


from  the  32d  parallel,  where  it  joins  the  peninsula, 
about  seven  hundred  miles,  to  the  Oregon  line, 
nearly  in  the  latitude  of  Boston.  The  Mexican 
Government  considered  the  42d  parallel  of  latitude 
as  the  northern  line  of  California,  according  to  a 
treaty  with  the  United  States  in  1828. 

Greenhow,  writing  in  1844,  says:  "The  only  mine 
as  yet  discovered  in  Upper  California  is  one  of 
gold,  situated  at  the  foot  of  the  great  westernmost 

O  /  *•  * 

range  of  mountains,  on  the  west,  at  the  distance 
of  twenty-five  miles  from  Angeles,  the  largest 
town  in  the  country.  It  is  said  to  be  of  extra 
ordinary  richness." 

The  animals  originally  found  in  California  were 
buffalo,  deer,  elk,  bear,  wild  hogs,  wild  sheep, 
ocelots,  pumas,  beavers,  foxes,  and  many  others, 
generally  of  a  species  different  from  those  on  the 
Atlantic  side.  Cattle  and  horses  were  introduced 
from  Mexico,  and  soon  overrun  the  country,  and 
drove  out  the  buffalo  and  other  of  the  large  animals. 
One  of  the  worst  scourges  of  the  country  was  the 
chapid,  a  kind  of  grasshopper,  which  appeared  in 
clouds  after  a  mild  winter,  and  ate  up  every  green 
thing. 

Little  or  no  rain  fell  during  the  years  1840  and 
1841,  in  which  time  the  inhabitants  were  reduced  to 
the  verge  of  starvation. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  Golden  Gate  is 
nearly  in  the  same  latitude  as  the  entrance  of  Chesa 
peake  bay  and  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar. 

In  1844,  the  town  of  Monterey,  the  capital  of 
Upper  California,  was  a  wretched  collection  of  mud, 
or  adobe  houses,  containing  about  two  hundred  in 
habitants.  The  castle  and  fort  consisted  of  mud 
walls,  behind  which  were  a  few  worthless  guns,  good 
for  nothing  but  to  scare  the  Indians. 

In  1838,  the  Russian  settlements  at  Ross  and 
Bodega  contained  eight  or  nine  hundred  inhab 
itants,  stockaded  forts,  mills,  shops,  and  stables,  and 
the  farms  produced  great  abundance  of  grain,  vege 
tables,  butter,  and  cheese,  which  were  shipped  to 
Sitka.  The  lazy  Spaniards  were  bitterly  hostile  to 
the  industrious  Muscovites,  but  durst  not  meddle 
with  them.  At  last,  having  maintained  their  in 
dependent  colony  thirty-one  years,  they  sold  out  to 
Captain  Sutter,  and  quietly  moved  away. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  AMERICAN  CONQUEST. 

Fremont  and  the  Bear  Flag — Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Revolu 
tion — Commodores  Sloat,  Stockton,  and  Shubrick — Castro 
and  Flores  Driven  out — Treaty  of  Peace — Stockton  and 
Kearney  Quarrel — Fremont  Arrested,  etc. 

IN  the  Spring  of  1845,  John  C.  Fremont,  then  a 
brevet-captain  in  the  corps  of  United  States  Topo 
graphical  Engineers,  was  dispatched  on  a  third 
tour  of  exploration  across  the  continent,  and  was 
charged  to  find  a  better  route  from  the  Rocky 
Mountains  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river. 


This  was  his  ostensible  business,  but  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  he  had  other  and  private  instructions 
from  the  Government  concerning  the  acquisition 
of  California,  in  view  of  the  pending  war  with 
Mexico.  Fremont  reached  the  frontiers  of  Cali 
fornia  in  March,  184G,  halted  his  company  a  hun 
dred  miles  from  Monterey,  and  proceeded  alone  to 
have  an  interview  with  General  Castro,  the  Mexican 
Commandante.  He  wanted  permission  to  take  his 
company  of  sixty-two  men  to  San  Joaquin  valley, 
to  recruit  their  energies  before  setting  out  for 
Oregon.  To  this  Castro  assented,  and  told  him  to  go 
where  he  pleased.  Immediately  thereafter  the  per 
fidious  Castro,  pretending  to  have  received  fresh 
instructions  from  his  Government,  raised  a  com 
pany  of  three  hundred  native  Californians,  and  sent 
word  to  Fremont  to  quit  the  country  forthwith,  else 
he  would  fall  upon  and  annihilate  him  and  his  little 
band  of  adventurers.  Fremont  sent  word  back  that 
he  should  go  when  he  got  ready,  and  then  took  posi 
tion  on  Hawk's  Peak,  overlooking  Monterey,  and 
raised  the  American  flag.  At  this  time  neither  party 
had  heard  of  any  declaration  of  war  between  the 
United  States  and  Mexico. 

Fremont's  party  consisted  of  sixty-two  rough 
American  borderers,  including  Kit  Carson  and  six 
Delaware  Indians,  each  armed  with  a  rifle,  two  pis 
tols,  a  bowie-knife,  and  tomahawk.  Castro  maneu 
vered  round  for  three  days  with  his  cavalry,  infantry 
and  field  pieces,  but,  with  true  Mexican  discretion, 
kept  well  out  of  rifle  shot;  and,  on  the  fourth  day 
Fremont,  perceiving  that  there  was  no  fight  in  the 
gascon,  struck  his  camp  and  moved  at  his  leisure 
toward  Oregon. 

At  Klamath  lake,  Lieutenant  Gillespie,  of  the 
United  States  army,  overtook  Fremont's  party,  with 
verbal  dispatches,  and  a  letter  from  the  American 
Secretary  of  State,  commending  the  bearer  to  Fre 
mont's  good  offices.  That  was  all;  what  the  verbal 
dispatches  were  is  still  unknown.  Fremont  returned 
to  the  Sacramento  valley,  and  encamped  near  the 
Marysville  Buttes.  He  found  the  American  settlers 
greatly  alarmed  by  Castro's  war-like  proclamations, 
and  had  no  difficulty  in  raising  a  considerable  com 
pany  of  volunteers,  a  party  of  whom  marched  on 
the  post  of  Sonoma,  captured  nine  brass  cannon,  two 
hundred  and  fifty  stand  of  small  arms,  and  made 
prisoners  of  General  Vallejo  and  two  other  persons 
of  importance.  Eighteen  men  were  left  to  garrison 
the  place,  under  William  B.  Ide.  Castro  fulminated 
another  proclamation  from  his  head-quarters  at  Santa 
Clara,  calling  on  the  native  Californians  to  "  rise  for 
their  religion,  liberty,  and  independence,"  and  Ide 
issued  another  at  Sonoma,  appealing  to  the  Ameri 
cans  and  other  foreigners  to  rise  and  defend  their 
rights  of  settlement,  as  they  were  about  to  be  mas 
sacred  or  driven  out  of  the  country.  The  settlers 
responded  numerously  and  with  alacrity;  and,  after 
one  or  two  skirmishes,  repaired  to  Sonoma,  declared 
an  independent  State,  and  raised  the  now  celebrated 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Bear  Flag.  That  historic  standard  consisted  of  a 
piece  of  cotton  cloth,  with  a  tolerable  likeness  of  a 
LTi-i/xly  bear,  done  with  a  blacking  brush  and  berry - 
juice,  and  now  belongs  to  the  California  Society  of 
Pioneers. 

In  the  meantime  Fremont  was  organizing  a  bat 
talion  at  Slitter's  Fort,  and  having  heard  that  Castro 
was  moving  in  force  on  Sonoma,  he  made  a  forced 
march  to  that  point  with  ninety  riflemen.  Thence 
Fremont,  Kit  Carson,  Lieutenant  Gillespie,  and  a 
tew  others,  crossed  to  the  old  fort  at  San  Francisco, 
made  prisoner  the  Commandante,  spiked  all  the 
guns,  and  returned  to  Sonoma.  There,  on  the  5th  of 
July,  is-li;.  he  called  his  whole  force  of  revolution 
ists  together,  and  recommended  an  immediate 
declaration  of  independence.  This  was  unanimously 
uted  to,  and  the  bear  party  was  merged  into  the 
battalion,  which  now  numbered  one  hundred  and 
sixty  mounted  riflemen.  Next  day  it  was  deter 
mined  to  go  in  pursuit  of  the  proclaiming  Castro, 
who  was  said  to  be  entrenched  at  Santa  Clara  with 
four  hundred  men;  but  when  the  battalion  had 
crossed  the  Sacramento  at  Slitter's  Fort,  they 
learned  that  Castro  had  evacuated  the  Santa  Clara 
country  and  fled  to  Los  Angeles,  whither  they 
resolved  to  follow  him,  five  hundred  miles  away.  At 
this  point  news  was  received  that  the  American  flag 
had  been  raised  at  Monterey,  and  that  the  American 
naval  forces  would  co-operate  with  the  mounted 
riflemen  in  the  effort  to  capture  Castro.  Then  the 
Bear  Flag  was  hauled  down,  giving  place  to  the 
-tars  and  stripes,  and  Fremont  and  his  men  set  out 
overland  for  Los  Angeles,  after  the  declamatory  but 
fugacious  Castro,  who  will  live  in  history  as  the  "  Cap 
tain  Bobadil  "  of  that  brief  but  stirring  revolution. 
Up  to  this  time  nothing  had  been  heard  of  a  declara 
tion  of  war  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States. 

On  the  2d  of  July,  1846,  Commodore  Sloat  had 
arrived  at  Monterey  in  the  United  States  frigate, 
Sni-niDKih,  his  whole  fleet  consisting  of  one  frigate 
and  five  smaller  vessels.  He  had  no  intelligence 
of  a  declaration  of  war  between  the  United  States 
and  Mexico,  but  was  aware  that  hostilities  were 
impending,  and  was  in  doubt  what  to  do.  The 
British  Rear-Admiral,  Sir  George  Seymour's  flag 
ship,  was  lying  in  the  harbor  of  San  Bias  while  Sloat 
was  at  Mazatlan,  and  eight  other  British  ships  were 
on  the  coast  watching  the  American  movements,  and 
ready  to  take  possession  of  California.  When  Sloat 
sailed  from  Mazatlan  Seymour  put  out  from  San  Bias, 
each  ship  spreading  every  sail  in  a  race  for  Monterey, 
but  the  American  Commodore  out-sailed  the  British 
Admiral,  and,  when  the  latter  rounded  the  Point  of 
Pines  at  Monterey,  ho  found  the  Americans  in  full  pos- 
ion.  On  the  7th  of  July  Commodore  Sloat  sent 
Captain  Mervinc,  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  ma 
rines  and  seamen,  on  shore,  hoisted  the  American  flag 
over  Monterey,  the  capital  of  Upper  California,  and 
issued  a  proclamation  declaring  the  province  hence 
forth  a  portion  of  the  United  States.  He  had  pre 


viously  dispatched  a  messenger  to  San  Francisco  to 
Commander  Montgomery,  and  on  the  8th  of  that 
month  the  stars  and  stripes  waved  over  Yerba 
Buena.  On  the  10th  Montgomery  sent  an  American 
flag  to  Sonoma,  which  the  revolutionists  received 
with  great  joy,  pulled  down  their  Bear  Flag,  and 
hoisted  the  Union  standard  in  its  stead,  and  thus 
ended  the  dominion  of  the  revolutionary  Bear  Flag 
in  California,  having  played  a  conspicuous  and 
important  part  in  the  conquest. 

Sloat  then  organized  a  company  of  volunteer  dra 
goons  to  take  possession  of  certain  arms  and  storee 
at  San  Juan;  but,  when  they  arrived,  Fremont  and 
his  battalion  had  been  there  from  Slitter's  Fort,  and 
captured  nine  pieces  of  cannon,  two  hundred  mus 
kets,  twenty  kegs  of  powder,  and  sixty  thousand 
pounds  of  cannon  shot. 

When  Fremont  reported  himself  upon  Sloat's 
order,  at  Monterey,  a  misunderstanding  occurred 
between  the  Commodore  and  the  Pathfinder,  and 
the  former  refused  to  co-operate  with  the  latter  in 
the  further  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  while  the 
dispute  was  pending  Commodore  Stockton  arrived  to 
supersede  Sloat,  who  had  been  too  slow  and  hesitating 
to  suit  the  authorities  at  Washington. 

Sloat  having  retired,  Stockton  and  Fremont  worked 
harmoniously.  The  former  assumed  command  of  the 
land  forces,  and  invited  Fremont  and  Gillespie  to 
take  service  under  him  with  their  battalion.  Ojithc 
23d,  Stockton  dispatched  Commodore  Dupont  with 
the  Cyane,  to  convey  Fremont  and  his  battalion  to 
San  Diego,  and  soon  afterwards  himself  sailed  for 
San  Pedro,  the  sea-port  of  Los  Angeles.  At  Santa 
Barbara  he  went  ashore  and  took  possession  unre- 
sisted.  There  he  learned  that  Castro  and  Pico  were 
at  Los  Angeles  with  fifteen  hundred  men,  and  also 
that  Fremont  had  reached  San  Diego.  After  drilling 
his  seamen  in  the  land  service,  Stockton,  with  his 
three  hundred  men,  took  up  his  march  for  Los 
Angeles,  but,  on  his  arrival,  Castro  had  decamped 
and  fled  to  Sonora.  Stockton  at  once  took  posses 
sion  of  the  place,  and  was  soon  after  joined  by  Fre 
mont,  and,  having  received  official  notice  of  existing- 
war  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  he  pro 
claimed  California  a  territory  of  the  United  States, 
organized  a  temporary  government,  and  invited  the 
people  to  meet  on  the  15th  of  September  and  elect 
officers  of  their  own.  He  then  returned  to  Yerba 
Buena,  or  San  Francisco,  where  the  people  of  the 
neighboring  country  gave  him  a  public  reception. 

After  Stockton  had  left  Los  Angeles,  General  Flores 
re-organized  the  scattered  forces  of  the  Mexicans, 
retook  the  place,  and  proclaimed  expulsion  or  death 
to  the  Americans;  so  the  conquest  had  to  be  made 
again.  Stockton  returned  to  San  Diego,  and,  after 
various  events  which  cannot  be  here  related  in 
detail,  was  joined  by  General  Kearney,  who  had 
marched  across  the  country  from  Santa  Fe,  and,  on 
the  20th  of  December,  commenced  his  march  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  to  Los  Angeles.  He  found 


31 


the  enemy,  a  thousand  or  twelve  hundred  strong, 
drawn  up  in  battle  array  on  the  bank  of  the  San 
Gabriel  river;  a  battle  ensued,  in  which  the  Mexi 
cans  were  defeated  by  Stockton  and  Kearney,  and 
fled  towards  Los  Angeles,  and,  after  three  ineffect 
ual  attempts  to  make  a  stand,  they  scattered  in  con 
fusion.  On  the  10th  of  January  Stockton  re-entered 
Los  Angeles,  and  restored  the  American  flag  to  the 
eminence  which  it  still  maintains.  Flores,  after  hav 
ing  made  a  much  better  fight  than  Castro,  fled  to 
Sonora.  The  treaty  of  Couenga  ensued,  restoring 
peace  to  the  country  and  completing  the  American 
conquest. 

Immediately  after  the  conquest  a  dispute  arose  be 
tween  Commodore  Stockton  and  General  Kearney  as 
to  precedence  in  the  territorial  Government.  Kearney 
was  authorized  to  etablish  a  civil  Government  in  Cal 
ifornia,  provided  he  should  conquer  it,  as  he  did  New 
Mexico;  Stockton  and  Fremont  maintained  that  the 
conquest  was  accomplished  before  he  arrived.  Fre 
mont  decided  to  report  officially  to  Commodore 
Stockton,  who  thereupon  commissioned  him  as  Gov 
ernor  of  the  Territory.  Thus  Fremont  obtained  the 
ill-will  of  General  Kearney,  who,  combining  with 
Commodore  Shubrick,  in  the  absence  of  Stockton, 
abrogated  the^treaty  of  Couenga,  and  proceeded  to 
oust  Fremont  from  the  Governorship,  in  the  mean 
time  Colonel  Stephenson  arrived  with  his  regiment 
of  New  York  volunteers,  and  sided  with  Kearney. 
Mason  was  installed  as  Governor,  and  Fremont  was 
ordered  to  report  at  Monterey  within  twelve  days; 
this  he  failed  to  do,  and  Kearney  refused  him  per 
mission  to  join  his  regiment,  sold  his  horses,  and 
ordered  him  to  repair  to  Monterey,  where  he  com 
pelled  him  to  turn  over  his  exploring  outfit  to 
another  person.  When  Kearney  was  ready  to  go 
East  he  compelled  Fremont  to  accompany  him,  and 
at  Fort  Leaven  worth  Fremont  was  arrested  for 
insubordination,  conveyed  to  Fortress  Monroe,  tried 
by  Court-martial,  found  guilty  of  mutiny,  disobedi 
ence,  and  disorderly  conduct,  deprived  of  his  com 
mission,  but  recommended  to  the  clemency  of  the 
President.  Having  suffered  these  outrageous  indig 
nities  solely  in  consequence  of  a  quarrel  between 
Commodore  Stockton  and  General  Kearney,  Fre 
mont  declined  to  avail  himself  of  executive  clemency, 
and  quit  the  service. 

The  people  of  the  country  generally  considered 
that  Fremont  had  been  ungenerously  used  by  the 
Government,  and,  a  few  years  after,  his  popularity 
having  been  greatly  enhanced  through  the  influence 
of  his  magnificent  wife,  the  daughter  of  Senator 
Thomas  II.  Benton,  he  was  nominated  for  the  Pres 
idency  by  the  Republican  party. 


CHAPTER  IX* 

SAN  JOAQUIN  COUNTY  FROM  THE  TIME  CAPT.  C. 

M.  WEBER  FIRST  SAW  IT  IN  NOVEMBER, 

1841,  UNTIL  THE  CLOSE  OF  1847. 

Captain  C.  M.  Weber— Expedition  to  California,  1841— Names 

of  the   Party— Sutter's   Fort — Hoza   Ha-soos — San   Jose 

French  Camp  or  Weber  Grant— Revolutionary  Designs  of  the 
Foreigners— Treaty  between  Weber  and  Ha-soos— How  it 
was  observed  by  Ha-soos — Fremont's  Expedition,  1844— 
David  Kelsey— Thomas  Lindsay— Policy  of  the  Foreigners — 
Weber  and  Micheltorena  at  San  Jose— John  A.  Sutter  aids 
Micheltorena — A  Revolutionary  Document — The  "Bear 
Flag  "—Attempt  to  Settle  the  Grant,  1846— Isbel  Brothers 
and  Other  Early  Settlers— Twins,  Second  Children  born  in 
County,  1847— End  of  Stanislaus  City — First  Marriage,  1847 
—Village  of  "Tuleburg"— William  Gann,  First  Child  born 
in  1847— Wild  Horse  Scheme — Resume. 

CAPT.  C.  M.  WEBER  was  born  at Hombourg, Depart 
ment  of  Mont  Tonnerre,  under  the  Emperor  Napo 
leon  I.,  on  the  16th  day  of  February,  1814.  His 
parents  were  German.  This  province,  about  a  year 
later,  became  a  part  of  the  Kingdom  of  Bavaria. 
His  father  was  a  minister,  and  held  the  position 
which  in  America  would  be  called  County  School 
Superintendent.  The  Captain  received  an  academic 
education — but  not  relishing  an  outlook  that  pre 
sented  the  ministry  in  the  future,  his  education  was 
cut  short  at  the  threshold  of  the  classic,  and  a  mer 
cantile  horoscope  was  cast  for  the  years  "  that  were 
not  yet." 

Being  of  an  adventurous  disposition,  theland  where 
Washington  had  fought  and  DeKalb  had  fallen  held 
to  his  youthful  imagination  an  irresistible  attraction; 
and  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  crossed  the  ocean' 
landed  at  New  Orleans  in  the  latter  part  of  1836 
and  for  five  years  was  a  resident  of  Louisiana  and 
Texas,  when  in  the  Spring  of  1841,  under  medical 
advice,  he  visited  St.  Louis.  In  the  meantime  he  had 
read  in  the  newspapers  the  glowing  descriptions  of 
California  given  by  Dr.  John  Marshe,  a  resident  of 
the  San  J  oaquin  valley,  and  which  were  attracting 
ing  considerable  attention  in  the  States.  The  Cap 
tain—knowing  that  a  trip  across  the  plains,  over  the 
mountains  of  the  west,  and  down  into  the  California 
valleys  would  benefit  his  healt*,  and,  at  the  same  time 
give  him  an  opportunity  to  see  this  comparatively  un 
known  country— decided  to  join  an  expedition  then 
fitting  out  in  that  city  for  a  trip  to  the  Pacific  slope, 
intending  in  the  following  Spring  to  continue  his 
journey  to  Mexico,  through  that  country,  and  ulti 
mately,  in  that  Avay,  reach  Louisiana,  his  final  desti 
nation,  having  no  intention  of  stopping  in  California 
longer,  at  the  farthest,  than  through  the  ensuing 
Winter.  But  "the  best  laid  schemes  o'  mice  and  men 
gang  aft  agley." 

The  party  to  which  the  Captain  attached  himself  was' 
a  combination  of  emigrants  for  three  different  points: 
One  party  was  destined  for  Oregon;  another  was  a 
company  of  Jesuit  priests  going  to  the  western  wilds 

*The  portion  of  the  history  of  San  Joaquin  is  intimately  con 
nected  with  that  of  Amador,  forming  the  connecting  link  between 
the  Spanish  and  American  settlement. 


32 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


on  a  mission  to  the  Indians,  hoping  to  Christianize 
the  tribes  of  <  >regon  and  Idaho;  their  immediate 
destination  was  the  missions  of  Coeur  d'  Alene  and 
Pen  d' Oreille;  Father  P.  J.  DeSmet,  S.  J.,  was  the 
leading  spirit,  and  his  efforts  in  that  field  have  been 
written,  a  brief  page  in  history,  and  the  red  man 
still  scalps  his  foes.  The  third  was  the  California 
wing  of  the  little  emigrant  army,  and  numbered 
among  its  party  men  whose  subsequent  acts  helped 
materially  to  shape  the  destinies  of  the  State  which 
has  since  become  a  golden  star  in  the  galaxy  of  the 
Republic. 

There  were  thirty-six  in  that  party.  One  only 
was  a  woman — the  first  American  lady,  probably, 
who  ever  entered  California — certainly  the  first  to 
reach  it  from  over  the  plains.  Her  name  was  Mrs. 
Nancy  A.  Kelsey.  She  was  the  wife  of  Benjamin 
Kelsey,  and  they  had  a  little  daughter  named  Ann. 
This  family  commenced  their  march  then,  and,  like 
the  wandering  Jew,  have  never  since  found  a  place 
to  stop  and  rest.  The  beauties  of  California  could 
not  keep  them, — they  moved  away  to  the  forests  of 
Oregon,  and  then  returned  again  to  the  El  Dorado 
ofthe  coast;  but  no  sooner  had  they  settled  there  than 
the  spirit  of  unrest  came  whispering  "move  on,"  and 
over  the  plains  again  they  started ;  they  were  attacked 
by  the  Camanches  in  Texas,  lost  everything,  and 
their  little  girl  was  scalped  by  the  savages.  Stopping 
for  a  time,  they  once  more  started  for  California 
and  now  are  possibly  moving  to  some  new  scene. 

The  men  ofthe  party  were: — 

CAPT.  J.  B.  BARTELSON;  Captain  of  the  party;    re 
turned  to  Missouri;  is  now  dead. 
JOHN  BIDWELL;  lives  at  Chico. 
JOSEPH  B.  GUILDS;  still  alive. 

JOSIAH  BELDEN;  lives  at  San  Jose  and  San  Francisco. 
(  'HARLES  M.  WEBER;  died  in  Stockton,  May  4, 1881. 
CiiAiti.E.s  HOPPER;  lives  in  Napa  county. 
HENRY  HUREK;  lives  in  San  Francisco. 
MITCHELL  NYE;  had  a  ranch  at  Marysville;  probably 

now  alive. 

GREEN  M«M. \IION;  lives  in  Solano  county. 
NELSON  McMAHON;  died  in  New  York. 
TALBOT  H.  GREENE;  returned  East. 
AMBROSE  WALTON;  returned  East. 
JOHN  McDoNEL;  returned  East. 
GEORGE  HENSHAW;  returned  East. 
H'.KKKT   UVCKMAN;  returned  East. 
WM.  BETTY   or    BELTY;    returned   East  by  way    of 

Santa  I«V. 

CIIAIU.KS  FI.KGGE;  returned  East. 
GWIN  PATTON;  returned  East;  died  in  Missouri. 
BEN.JIMAN   KKI.SKV;  was  within  a  few  years  in"  Santa 
Barbara  county,  or  at  Clear  Lake,  Lake  county. 
ANDREW  KELSEY;  killed  by  Indians  at  Clear  Lake. 
JAMKS  JOHN  or  LITTLEJOHN;  went  to  Oregon. 
HENRY  BROLASKY;  went  to  Callao. 
JAMES    I><>\\SON;  drowned  in  Columbia  river. 
M  \.i.  WALTON,  drowned  in  Sacramento  river. 
<;KORGE  SIIORTWELL;   accidentally  shot  on  the  wav 
out.  J 


JOHN  SWARTZ;  died  in  California. 
GROVE  COOK;  died  in  California. 
D.  W.  CHANDLER;  went  to  Sandwich  Islands. 
JS  ICHOLAS  DAWSON  ;  dead. 
THOMAS  JONES;  dead. 

ROBERT  H.  THOMES;    died  in  Tehama  county,  Cali 
fornia,  March  26,  1878. 
ELIAS  BARNET. 
JAMES  P.  SPRINGER. 
JOHN  ROWLAND. 

They  left  Indpendence,  Missouri,  May  8,  1841  and 
all  traveled  together  as  far  as  Fort  Hall,  near  Salt 
Lake,  where  Capt.  J.  B.  Bartelson's  party,  as  named 
above,  separated  from  the  rest  and  started  for  Cali 
fornia,  without  a  guide,  by  the  way  of  Mary's  (now 
Humboldt)  river,  they  went  to  Carson  river,  and 
from  the  latter,  to  the  main  channel  of  -Walker's 
river,  up  which  they  went  to  near  its  source,  from 
which  point  they  commenced  their  passage  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada,  descending  its  western  slope  between 
the  Stanislaus  and  Tuolumne  rivers,  reaching  the 
San  Joaquin  valley  and  passing  down  along  the 
Stanislaus,  crossed  the  San  Joaquin  river  and 
arrived  at  the  Dr.  Marshe  ranch,  near  the  east 
ern  base  of  Mount  Diablo;  on  the  4th  of  November, 
1841,  having  been  six  months,  lacking  four  days,  on 
the  way.  Here  the  company  rested  for  a  number  of 
days,  and  then  disbanded,  each  going  to  the  point 
in  the  country  which  his  interests  demanded.  The 
Captain  and  a  friend  started  for  Sutter's  Fort,  having 
letters  of  introduction  to  Captain  Sutter.  They  passed 
through  the  country  now  known  as  San  Joaquin 
county,  and  beheld  for  the  first  time  the  land  that 
the  result  of  his  own  labors  was  to  people  within  his 
life-time  with  thirty  thousand  souls. 

The  Winter  of  1841-2  was  spent  by  the  Captain  at 
Sutter's  Fort,  occupying  his  time  by  acting  as  over 
seer  and  assistant  for  Captain  Sutter.  While  at 
the  fort  he  found  a  quantity  of  seeds  which  had 
been  laid  away  and  apparently  forgotten.  They  had 
been  sent  to  Sutter  by  Wm.  G.  Ray,  of  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company,  as  a  friendly  expression  of  good  will. 
The  Captain,  desiring  to  try  an  experiment,  had  the 
land  around  the  fort  prepared  by  Indians,  and 
planted  the  seeds.  Among  them  were  three  kinds  of 
tobacco,  a  number  of  varieties  of  flowers,  and  some 
vegetables.  The  experiment  proved  u  grand  success, 
and  in  the  Spring  Sutter's  Fort  seemed  like  an  en 
chanted  fortress  built  in  the  midst  of  perennial 
gardens. 

During  the  winter  of  1841-2  Jose  Jesus  (pro 
nounced  llo-xa  Ha-soos),  the  celebrated  chief  of  the 
Si-yak- um-na  tribe,  visited  the  fort,  at  which  time 
the  Captain  first  met  him.  In  after  years  there  sprang 
up  a  warm  friendship  between  these  two  men,  that 
had  much  to  do  with  the  peaceable  manner  in  which 
the  country  was  afterwards  settled  by  the  whites. 
The  Captain  learned,  in  his  intercourse  with  foreign 
ers  in  the  country,  that  there  was  germinatinga  prin 
ciple- or  feeling  which  was  in  some  localities  freely 


- 


- 


SAN  JOAQUIN  COUNTY  FROM  1841  TO  1847. 


talked  of,  to  eventually  Americanize  California; 
and,  concluded  with  that  prospect  to  look  forward 
to,  that  he  was  fully  warranted  in  casting  his  des 
tinies  with  the  other  venturesome  spirits  who  had 
decided  to  make  Alta  California  their  future  home. 

In  the  Spring  he  visited  San  Jose,  and  concluded 
to  make  that  the  point  of  his  future  business  oper 
ations,  until  the  time  should  come,  if  ever,  when  it 
would  become  necessary  to  wrest  from  Mexico  a 
portion  of  the  country,  over  which  to  hoist  a  flag  with 
the  "lone  star." 

We  do  not  wish  to  be  misunderstood  in  this 
matter.  The  intention  of  the  leading  pioneers  of  Cali 
fornia,  those  who  came  here  previous  to  June,  1846, 
with  the  intention  of  making  this  their  home,  with 
out  regard  to  their  nationality,  was  to  work  a  polit 
ical  change  in  the  country,  "peaceably  if  they  could, 
foi-cibly  if  they  must;"  and  this  was  to  be  done  not 
because  of  any  desire  to  injure  the  native  Califor- 
nians,  nor  in  a  spirit  of  conquest,  but  because  it  was 
evident  to  those  clear-headed  Argonauts  that  to  make 
the  coTmtry  a  prosperous  one,  (one  that  would  war 
rant  occupation  by  a  people  of  progressive  civiliza 
tion),  necessitated  a  radical  change  in  the  manner  of 
administering  the  affairs  of  State. 

This  change  they  proposed  to  effect  in  connection 
with  the  native  inhabitants,  if  they  could;  and  if  this 
could  not  be  done,  to  eventually,  when  they  became 
strong  enough,  Avrest  a  portion  of  the  territory  from 
Mexico,  and  form  a  government  of  their  own. 

Captain  Weber  formed  a  copartnership  with 
Guillermo  Gulnac,  and  soon  established  a  credit  which 
enabled  the  firm  to  do  a  very  large  business.  They 
were  the  first  parties  in  that  portion  of  the  State  to 
build  a  flouring  mill  and  manufacture  flour,  combin 
ing  with  the  business  the  manufacture  of  sea-biscuit 
or  crackers,  this  mill  having  been  erected  and  flour 
made  in  1842.  They  also  entered  quite  largely  into 
the  manufacture  of  soap  and  American  shoes,  being 
the  first  manufacturers  of  the  latter  in  California. 

In  1843.  July  14th,  Guillermo  Gulnac  petitioned 
Manuel  Micheltorena,  the  Governor  of  California,  for 
a  grant  of  eleven  square  leagues,  or  forty-eight  thou 
sand  acres  of  land,  to  be  located  in  the  vicinity  of 
French  Camp,  in  the  San  Joaquin  valley.  Captain 
Weber  was  the  real  party,  the  power  behind  the 
throne;  Mr.  Gulnac's  name  being  used  because  he 
was  a  Mexican  citizen,  as  only  such  could  obtain 
grants.  About  this  time  the  commercial  partnership 
was  dissolved,  the  Captain  becoming  the  successor  to 
the  business,  and  Mr.  Gulnac,  his  eldest  son,  Jose, 
and  Peter  Laesen,  with  several  vaqueros,  took  the 
cattle  belonging  to  them  and  Captain  Weber,  and 
proceeded  to  take  possession  of  the  appiied-for  grant, 
at  first  making  their  head-quarters  where  Stockton 
now  is;  but  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Hudson  Bay 
trappers  had  left  for  the  summer,  they  became 
alarmed  for  their  personal  safety  among  the  Indians 
and  moved  their  camp  up  to  the  Cosumnes  river,  so 
as  to  be  in  reach  of  Slitter's  Fort  for  protection.  Mr. 


Gulnac  visited  Captain  Sutter,  and  was  presented  by 
that  officer  with  a  swivel  gun  such  as  the  navy  used 
in  those  days  when  attacking  an  enemy  in  small 
boats,  mounting  the  swivel  in  the  bow.  This  "young 
cannon"was  to  be  used  by  Mr.  Gulnac  as  a  warning  to 
the  Indians  to  "  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come."  It 
would  make  a  "  heap  big  noise"  when  fired,  and  was 
respected  accordingly  by  the  aborigines. 

A  statement  will  probably  come  in  no  place  more 
opportune  than  here,  of  the  reason  which  caused 
Captain  Weber  to  desire  the  location  of  his  proposed 
grant  on  tho  "up  country  side  of  the  San  Joaquin 
river."  We  have  already  given  the  political  intentions 
of  those  pioneers  which  in  1843  had  assumed  so 
definite  a  form  as  to  have  caused  the  question 
to  be  discussed  among  them  of  where  the  division 
line  was  to  be  drawn  between  the  Mexican  prov 
inces  and  the  territory  to  be  taken  from  them, 
in  case  it  should  result  in  that  extreme  measure ; 
and  the  conclusion  had  been  tacitly  arrived  at 
that  the  San  Joaquin  river  and  the  bays  of  San 
Francisco,  San  Pablo  and  Suisun  were  to  form  the 
line  of  division.  It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  a 
strong  reason  for  choosing  a  locality  north  of  the 
San  Joaquin  was  to  secure  land  where  he  could 
gradually  concentrate  his  property  within  the  limits 
of  the  country  to  be  acquired.  Another  reason,  for 
selecting  this  special  locality,  was  the  facilities  it 
would  give  him  for  dealing  with  the  Hudson  Bay 
trappers,  who  made  their  head-quarters  every  winter 
at  French  Camp,  from  whom,  in  exchange  for  fur,  he 
obtained  ammunition,  blankets,  clothing,  etc.,  of  a 
better  quality  and  at  lower  figures  than  could  be 
obtained  elsewhere  at  that  time. 

The  attempt  to  settle  the  expected  grant  had  failed 
because  of  the  fears  of  Gulnac,  and  the  Captain  ob 
tained  a  passport  from  the  Alcalde  of  San  Jose,  and 
proceeded  to  visit  Slitter's  Fort,  with  a  view  of  see 
ing  the  Indian  chief,  Ha-soos,  and  making  a  treaty 
of  peace  with  him,  if  possible.  After  arriving  in  the 
country,  an  Indian  runner  was  sent  to  find  the  chief, 
and  ask  him  to  meet  the  Captain  at  a  given  time 
and  place.  A  meeting  was  arranged,  and  at  the 
appointed  time  the  two  men,  representatives  of  their 
races  in  the  country,  met.  Captain  Weber  ex 
plained  his  plans  to  the  Indian,  stating  that  he  was 
desirous  of  settling  on  land  in  the  San  Joaquin  valley; 
that  the  Americans  were  desirous  of  being  his  allies 
and  friends;  that  they  were  not  coming  to  injure  nor 
rob,  but  as  friends  to  aid  and  benefit  his  tribe;  that 
he  wished  to  settle  here  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  Spaniards,  in  case  of  trouble  between  the  Ameri 
cans  and  native  Californians,  against  whom  this  cele 
brated  chief  was  waging  an  endless  war.  The  result 
was  a  friendly  alliance  that  remained  unbroken  to  the 
end.  The  chief  advised  the  building  of  the  American 
village  at  the  point  where  it  was  located,  the  present 
site  of  Stockton,  and  agreed  to  provide  all  the  help 
necessary  in  the  tilling  of  the  soil,  and  to  furnish  a 
war  party  when  called  upon  to  defend  the  settlers' 


34 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


property  against  either  Indians  or  Mexicans.  The 
Captain  was  generous  in  his  presents,  and  a  friend 
ship  was  started  at  the  interview  that  lasted  during 
the  life  of  Ha-soos,  and  the  Captain  now  remembers 
the  Si-yak-um-na  chief  as  one  of  his  most  reliable 
and  valued  friends  of  early  days. 

The  inhabitants  of  to-day  can  little  appreciate  the 
importance  at  the  time,  and  the  immediate  advantage 
accruing  to  the  foreign  population  of  the  country 
resulting  from  that  treaty.  One  may  pass  through 
the  County  of  San  Joaquin  and  ask  the  old  settlers 
what  they  know  of  Ha-soos  and  his  connection  with 
this  country  in  early  days,  and  may  find  five  persons 
in  his  travels  that  will  remember  the  chief,  and  that 
he  was  friendly  to  the  Americans;  but  they,  with  one 
exception,  that  of  Capt.  C.  M.  Weber,  will  give  him 
no  credit  for  being  so,  supposing  that  it  was  forced 
or  indolent  friendship.  It  has  become  popular  with 
the  historian,  as  well  as  the  men  of  1849  and  later,  to 
place  the  California  Indians,  in  the  scale  of  creation, 
but  one  step  above  the  African  gorilla.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  general  rule,  there  certainly  was 
an  exception  in  favor  of  the  aborigines  occupying 
the  territory  between  the  Tuolumne  and  Mokelumne 
rivers.  These  Indians  were  divided  up  into  ranche- 
rias  or  villages,  each  village  having  its  chief  and 
name.  Consequently  there  was  a  number  of  petty 
chiefs,  but  all  acknowledge  an  indefinite  but  undis 
puted  supremacy  and  authority  in  the  chief  of  the 
Si-yak-um-nas,  Ho-za  Ha-soos,  who  had  made  him 
self  a  terror  to  the  Spanish  inhabitants  of  North 
California.  His  name  was  to  the  native  population 
what  Osceola's  was  to  the  Floridians,  except  that 
the  former  chief  was  less  brutal  than  the  latter.  He 
did  not  scalp  his  victims,  like  the  Scminole,  nor  seek 
the  midnight  massacre  of  isolated  persons. 

He  believed  that  he  and  his  people  had  been 
wronged  by  the  Spanish,  and  he  would  never  smoke 
the  pipe  of  peace  with  them.  He  would  swoop  down 
upon  the  plains  and  carry  off  their  stock,  taking  it 
to  his  stronghold  in  the  foot-hills  of  the  Sierras;  and 
if  the  missions  or  settlers  of  those  valleys  saw  fit  to 
attempt  a  rescue,  he  fought  them,  and  was  univers 
ally  victorious.  The  San  Joaquin  river  divided  his  ter 
ritory  from  the  Californians,  and  when  cast  of  that 
stream  he  was  upon  his  native  heath;  and  it  was 
rare  indeed  that  the  pursuers  followed  him  into  his 
own  country.  They  had  learned  better  in  their 
battle  on  the  banks  of  the  Stanislaus  in  1829,  when 
"  Bstanisloa,"  the  former  chief  of  the  Si-yak-um-nas, 
defeated  their  combined  San  Jose  and  Yerba  Buena 
forces. 

It  will  bo  seen  that  Ho-za  Ha-soos  was  so  circum 
stanced  as  to  receive  favorable  advances  from  a  peo 
ple  who  gave  as  one  of  their  reasons  for  desiring  his 
friendship  the  probable  hostility  that  might  in  the 
future  exist  between  them  and  the  Spanish  people  of 
the  country.  He  believed  that  he  was  strengthening 
himself  against  his  old  foe.  It  will  also  be  observed 
that  the  line  beyond  which  the  native  Californians, 


even  in  armed  parties,  found  it  dangerous  to  pass, 
was  the  San  Joaquin  river.  Beyond  this  it  was  con 
sidered  and  understood  by  them  to  be  savage  and 
inhospitable  wilds.  Ha-soos  had  made  them  respect 
that  river  as  the  practical  north  boundary  line  of  their 
territory.  Hence  the  propriety  or  policy  of  the 
foreign  population  in  selecting  this  river  as  the  south 
boundary  of  the  country  they  proposed,  under  cer 
tain  circumstances,  to  make  into  an  independent 
state,  along  the  borders  of  which  they  would  have 
a  picket  line  of  Indian  allies. 

In  this  connection  we  will  mention  two  instances 
in  which  Ha-soos  demonstrated  his  good  will  to  the 
Americans,  carrying  out,  on  his  part,  the  spirit  of 
•the  alliance  he  had  made  with  Captain  Weber  ;  and 
we  mention  these  with  some  hesitancy,  not  because 
of  any  doubt  of  the  facts,  but  because  it  is  hitherto 
unwritten  history  that  may  be  questioned.  The 
incidents  referred  to  were  related  to  us  by  Captain 
Weber,  who  says  that  when  Captain  S utter  passed 
through  the  country,  in  the  Winter  of  1844,  to  join 
and  aid  Manuel  Micheltorena  against  the  revolution 
ary  General,  Jose  Castro,  Ha-soos  joined  him  with  a 
number  of  warriors.  And  later,  when  Gen.  J.  C. 
Fremont  passed  through  the  San  Joaquin  valley 
south,  to  help  take  this  country  from  Mexico,  that 
this  chief  was  again  on  hand,  and  accompanied  him 
to  San  Jose,  to  fight  his  old  foes,  in  the  interest  of 
his  friends,  the  Americans.  Whether  he  actually 
performed  any  military  act  of  hostility  to  the  enemy 
on  either  occasion  does  not  appear,  but  that  he  was 
ready  so  to  do  was  demonstrated  by  his  presence 
with  his  warriors. 

On  the  13th  of  January,  1844,  the  Governor  of 
California  complied  with  the  petition  of  Mr.  Gulnac, 
and  issued  to  him  the  grant  of  land  known  as  "  El 
Rancho  del  Campo  de  los  Franceses,"  which  in  Eng 
lish  means  "  The  French  Camp  Ranch."  After  the 
issuing  of  the  grant,  the  next  event  worthy  of  note 
in  the  county  was  the  passage  through  it  of  Capt. 
J.  C.  Fremont,  who,  on  the  25th  of  March  of  that 
year,  camped  over  night  at  the  place  since  known 
as  the  village  of  Liberty,  on  the  south  side  of  Dry 
creek.  It  was  in  his  memorable  first  expedition  to 
the  Pacific  coast.  He  had  been  at  Sutter's  Fort  re 
cruiting  and  had  started  south  on  his  way  through 
the  San  Joaquin  valley  en  route  for  the  States.  The 
following  taken  from  the  published  history  of  his 
expedition,  will  have  peculiar  interest  to  the  residents 
of  this  county: — 

"March  25th — We  traveled  for  twenty-eight  miles 
over  the  same  delightful  country  as  yesterday,  and 
halted  in  a  beautiful  bottom  at  the  ford  of  the  Rio  de 
los  Afukelemnes,  receiving  its  name  from  another 
Indian  tribe  living  on  the  river.  The  bottoms  on  the 
stream  are  broad,  rich,  and  extremely  fertile ;  and 
the  uplands  are  shaded  with  oak  groves.  A  showy 
lupinus  of  extraordinary  beauty,  growing  four  or 
five  feet  in  height,  and  covered  with  spikes  in  bloom, 
adorned  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  filled  the  air 
with  a  light  and  grateful  perfume. 


SAN  JOAQUIN  COUNTY  FROM  1841  TO  1847. 


35 


"On  the  2.6th  we  halted  at  the  Arroyo  deists  Calaveras 
(Skull  creek), a  tributary  to  the  San  Joaquin — the  pre 
vious  two  streams  entering  the  bay  between  the  San 
Joaquin  and  Sacramento  rivers.  This  place  is  beau 
tiful,  with  open  groves  of  oak.  and  a  grassy  sward  be 
neath,  with  many  plants  in  bloom;  some  varieties  of 
which  seem  to  love  the  shade  of  the  trees,  and  grow 
there  in  close,  small  fields.  Near  the  river,  and  re 
placing  the  grass,  are  great  quantities  ofammole  (soap 
plant),  the  leaves  of  which  are  used  in  California  for 
making,  among  other  things,  mats  for  saddle  cloths. 
A  vine  with  a  small  white  flower  (melothria)  called 
here  la  yerba  buena,  and  which  from  its  abundance, 
gives  name  to  an  island  and  town  in  the  bay,  was 
to-day  very  frequent  on  our  road — sometimes  running 
on  the  ground  or  climbing  the  trees. 

"March  27th — To-day  we  traveled  steadily  and 
rapidly  up  the  valley  ;  for  with  our  wild  animals 
any  other  gait  was  impossible,  and  making  about 
four  miles  an  hour.  During  the  earlier  part  of  the 
day,  our  ride  had  been  over  a  very  level  part  of 
prairie,  separated  by  lines  and  groves  of  oak  timber, 
growing  along  dry  gullies,  which  are  filled  with 
water  in  seasons  of  rain  ;  and,  perhaps,  also  by  the 
melting  snows.  Over  much  of  this  extent,  the  vege 
tation  was  sparse;  the  surface  showing  plainly  the 
action  of  water,  which,  in  the  season  of  flood,  the 
Joaquin  spreads  over  the  valley.  At  one  o'clock  we 
came  again  among  innumerable  flowers  ;  and  a  few 
miles  further,  fields  of  the  beautiful  blue  flowering 
lupine,  which  seems  to  love  the  neighborhood  of 
water,  indicated  that  we  were  approaching  a  stream. 
We  have  found  this  beautiful  shrub  in  thickets,  some 
of  them  being  twelve  feet  in  height.  Occasionally 
three  or  four  plants  were  clustered  together,  forming 
a  grand  bouquet,  about  ninety  feet  in  circumference, 
and  ten  feet  high ;  the  whole  summit  covered  with 
spikes  of  flowers,  the  perfume  of  which  is  very  sweet 
and  grateful.  A  lover  of  natural  beauty  can  imagine 
with  what  pleasure  we  rode  among  these  flowering 
groves,  which  filled  the  air  with  a  light  and  delicate 
fragrance.  We  continued  our  road  for  about  half  a 
mile,  interspersed  through  an  open  grove  of  live- 
oaks,  which,  in  form,  were  the  most  symmetrical  and 
beautiful  we  had  yet  seen  in  the  country.  The  ends 
of  their  branches  rested  on  the  ground  forming*some- 
what  more  than  a  half  sphere  of  very  full  and  regu 
lar  figure,  with  leaves  apparently  smaller  than  usual. 
The  Californian  poppy,  of  a  rich  orange  color,  was 
numerous.  To-day,  elk  and  several  bauds  of  ante 
lope  made  their  appearance. 

"Our  road  was  now  one  continued  enjoyment;  and 
it  was  pleasant,  riding  among  this  assemblage  of 
green  pastures  with  varied  flowers  and  scattered 
groves,  and  out  of  the  warm,  green  Spring,  to  look  at 
the  rocky  and  snowy  peaks,  where  lately  we  had 
suffered  so  much.  Emerging  from  the  timber  we 
came  suddenly  upon  the  Stanislaus  river,  where  we 
hoped  to  find  a  ford,  but  the  stream  was  flowing  by, 
dark  and  deep,  swollen  by  the  mountain  snows  ;  its 
general  breadth  was  about  fifty  yards. 

"  We  traveled  about  five  miles  up  the  river,  and 
encampyd  without  being  able  to  find  a  ford.  Here 
we  made  a  largo  corral,  in  order  to  be  able  to  catch  a 
sufficient  number  of  our  wild  animals  to  relieve 
those  previously  packed. 

"  Under  the  shade  of  the  oaks,  along  the  river,  I 
noticed  erodium  cicutarium  in  bloom,  eight  or  ten 
inches  high.  This  is  the  plant  which  we  had  seen 
the  squaws  gathering  on  the  .Rio  de  los  Americanos. 
By  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley,  it  is  highly  esteemed 
lor  fattening  cattle,  which  appear  to  be  very  fond  of 


it.  Here,  where  the  soil  begins  to  be  sandy,  it 
supplies  to  a  considerable  extent  the  want  of  grass. 

"  Desirous,  as  far  as  possible,  without  delay,  to 
include  in  our  examination  the  Joaquin  river,  I 
returned  this  morning  down  the  Stanislaus,  for 
seventeen  miles,  and  again  encamped  without  having 
found  a  fording-place.  After  following  it  for  eight 
miles  further  the  next  morning,  and  finding  ourselves 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  San  Joaquin,  encamped  in  a 
handsome  oak  grove,  and,  several  cattle  being  killed, 
we  ferried  over  our  baggage  in  their  skins.  Here  our 
Indian  boy,  who  probably  had  not  much  idea  of 
where  he  was  going,  and  began  to  be  alarmed  at  the 
many  streams  we  were  putting  between  him  and  the 
village,  deserted. 

"  Thirteen  head  of  cattle  took  a  sudden  fright, 
while  we  were  driving  them  across  the  river,  and 
galloped  off.  I  remained  a  day  in  the  endeavor  to 
recover  them;  but  finding  they  had  taken  the  trail 
back  to  the  fort,  let  them  go  without  further  effort. 
Here  we  had  several  days  of  warm  and  pleasant  rain, 
which  doubtless  saved  the  crops  below." 

In  August,  18-14,  David  Keisey,  with  his  wife  and 
two  children,  a  boy  and  a  girl,  settled  at  French 
Camp,  and  built  a  tule- house.  Mr.  Gulnac,  who  was 
stopping  at  the  Cosumnes  river,  had  offered  to  give 
Mr.  Keisey  a  mile  square  of  land  if  he  would  stop  at 
that  place,  and  live  one  year;  he  turned  over  to  him 
the  "swivel"  that  Sutler  had  given  him.  Every 
night  Mr  Keisey  threw  this  piece  of  ordnance  "  into 
battery,"  and  fired  an  evening  gun;  which  he  did  to 
frighten  the  Indians,  on  the  same  principle  that  a  boy 
sometimes  whistles  as  he  is  going  through  the  woods 
after  dark.  At  that  time  there  was  only  one  other 
house  in  the  county,  also  constructed  of  tule,  occu 
pied  by  Thomas  Lindsay,  at  Stockton. 

Mr.  Keisey  remained  for  several  months  at  that 
place,  and  after  his  family  had  been  obliged  to  live 
for  two  months  on  boiled  wheat,  meat,  milk,  and 
mint  tea,  gathered  along  the  banks  of  the  creek,  he 
buried  the  swivel  and  removed  temporarily  to  San 
Jose,  where  he  first  saw  Captain  Weber.  While  at 
that  place  he  unfortunately  went  to  see  a  sick  Indian 
who  had  the  small-pox,  just  before  returning  to 
French  Camp.  After  returning  he  was  immediately 
taken  sick,  and  Mrs.  Keisey  desired  to  take  him  to 
Sutter's  Fort,  where  he  could  have  medical  assist 
ance,  not  knowing  that  he  had  the  small-pox.  When 
they  reached  Stockton,  Mr.  Lindsay  induced  them 
to  stay  over  night,  and  while  there  a  man  by  the  name 
of  James  Williams  gave  him  some  medicine  that 
caused  the  disease  to  break  out.  Lindsay  immedi 
ately  vacated  the  premises,  giving,  as  he  left,  advice 
that  has  a  twang  of  barbarism  in  it;  he  told  them  if 
the  old  man  died  to  leave  his  body  where  the  coyotes 
would  devour  it.  In  about  six  days  the  father  died, 
the  mother  and  boy  were  prostrated  with  the  same 
disease,  and  little  America,  a  girl  eleven  years  of  age, 
was  left  alone  with  her  sick  mother  and  brother,  to 
administer  to  their  wants,  while  her  dead  father  lay 
unburied  in  the  hut;  a  sad  introduction  to  the  first 
American  girl  who  ever  saw  the  place  where  Stock 
ton  now  stands,  and  a  sadder  one  to  the  first  white 


36 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


woman  that  visited  the  place;  for  the  mother  became 
blind  from  the  effects  of  the  disease,  beholding  that 
delirious,  weird  scene  of  pestilence  and  death  as  the 
last,  to  haunt  the  memory  through  the  coming  years 
of  darkness;  a  hideous  phantom,  a  scene  of  desola 
tion,  was  that  last  look  of  the  mother  upon  the  sur 
roundings  of  that  little  child  nurse. 

Some  herders  chanced  to  come  that  way,  who, 
after  considerable  hesitation,  assisted  little  America 
in  burying  her  father.  One  of  them,  Geo.  F.  Wyman, 
afterwards  became  the  husband  of  America.  The 
reason  why  they  hesitated  in  coming  to  her  assist 
ance  was  a  double  one, — they  feared  the  contagion 
and  Captain  Sutter,  who  had  said  he  would  have  any 
man  shot  who  brought  small-pox  to  the  fort,  or  went 
among  the  Indians  who  had  it.  The  father  was  bur 
ied  near  where  Col.  Thos.  R.  Moseley's  house  now 
stands,  and  in  a  few  days  the  little  nurse  was  stricken 
down  with  the  dread  disease,  but  recovered  so  as  to 
be  able  to  leave  for  Monterey  in  about  six  weeks, 
in  about  two  weeks  after  they  left,  Thomas  Lindsay 
returned  to  his  house  on  Lindsay's  Point,  in  Stock 
ton,  and  was  killed  by  the  Luck-lum-na  Indians, 
from  lone  valley,  in  Amador  county,  who  fired  the 
tule-house  with  their  victim's  body  in  it,  and  drove 
off  all  the  stock.  A  party  of  whites,  Mexicans  and 
friendly  Indians,  went  in  pursuit  of  the  band  who 
had  committed  the  depredations,  and  overtook  them 
at  the  place  called  the  "  Island,"  near  the  foot-hills, 
where  a  conflict  occurred,  resulting  in  the  burning 
of  the  Indian  rancheria,  with  what  provisions  and 
property  they  had,  the  killing  of  a  few  of  the  war 
riors  of  the  hostile  tribe,  and  the  capture  of  one 
Indian  boy  by  William  Daylor,  of  Daylor's  ranch;  one 
Mexican  by  the  name  of  Vaca,  a  member  of  the  Vaca 
family,  formerly  of  Solano  county,  was  killed  by  the 
Indians  in  the  fight.  After  this  defeat  they  retreated 
into  the  mountains,  where  they  were  followed,  but 
not  overtaken.* 


'Since  the  foregoing  was  written  in  1 879,  some  further  facts 
have  come  to  our  knowledge,  which  not  only  puts  this  matter  in 
a  different  light  but  also  demonstrates  the  difficulty  of  making 
the  first  attempt  at  writing  history  succsssful. 

D.  T.  Bird,  who,  at  one  time,  was  an  officer  in  the  California 
battalion  under  Fremont,  during  the  hostilities  that  succeeded 
the  Bear  Flag  war,  says  that  he  was  one  of  the  parties  that  pur 
sued  the  Indians  who  murdered  Lindsay  at  Stockton,  and  he 
takes  the  poetry  all  out  of  the  conclusion  given  to  that  expedi 
tion.  Instead  of  the  Luck-lum-na  Indians  of  lone  valley  being 
chastised,  they  whipped  the  pursuing  party  (about  thirty,  strong, 
half  whites  and  half  friendly  Indians),  who  were  under  the  com 
mand  of  Captain  Merrit,  of  Bear  Flag  fame.  Captain  Sutter 
organized  the  pursuing  party,  and  among  the  white  men  accom 
panying  it,  were  Captain  Merrit,  D.  T.  Bird,  Charles  Heath, 
Vaca  (a  Spaniard),  Hicks  and  Gillespie.  The  fight  was  a  short 
one  resulting  in  Vaca's  receiving  a  mortal  wound  from  an  arrow 


The  small-pox  and  the  breaking  out  of  the  Mich- 
eltorena  war,  combined,  had  depopulated  the  county. 
There  had  been,  in  the  latter  part  of  1844,  and 
Spring  of  1845,  a  serious  departure  by  the  foreign 
population  of  the  country  from  their  understood  pol 
icy,  in  their  intercourse  with  the  natives  of  Cali 
fornia;  which  was  a  policy  of  non-intervention 
between  opposing  factions  of  the  country,  that  had 
been  decided  upon  and  agreed  to  between  the  lead 
ing  men,  as  being  the  best  calculated  to  produce  the 
final  result  at  which  they  were  aiming.  Let  the 
Spanish  population  quarrel  to  their  hearts'  content, 
let  civil  war  sweep  over  the  country,  and  arniy  the 
opposing  factions  against  each  other  on  the  battle 
field;  it  helped  to  prepare  the  people  of  all  classes, 
foreign  and  native,  for  a  change;  but  in  every  emer 
gency  the  American,  the  German,  the  Englishman, 
the  immigrant,  whatever  his  native  land  was  to  hold 
himself  aloof,  reserving  his  strength  to  be  used  as 
one  man  for  the  general  good  of  all,  when  the  proper 
time  should  come  to  act.  All  over  California,  from 
Los  Angeles  to  Monterey,  and  from  Monterey  to 
Sutter's  Fort,  the  foreign  population  were  few  in 
numbers,  one  and  two,  sometimes  a  half-dozen  in  a 
place,  so  scattered  and  so  isolated  that  a  false  move 
on  the  part  of  a  few  might  prove  fatal  to  many;  H 
consequently  was  important  at  that  time  that  the 
policy  of  non-interference  should  be  pursued.  Yet. 
as  we  have  previously  mentioned,  a  serious  depart 
ure  from  that  policy  was  inaugurated  in  the  Michel- 
torena  war,  without,  apparently,  any  general  con 
sultation  or  plan  on  the  part  of  immigrants,  those  of 
each  section  or  country  marking  out  their  own  line 
of  action,  regardless  of  the  probable  consequent 
injury  that  might  result  to  those  of  a  different 
locality. 

The  first  instance  was  that  forced  upon  Capt.  C. 
M.  Weber,  consequent  from  the  loss  of  control,  by 
Micheltorena,  over  the  outlaws  called  soldiers,  whom 
he  commanded  in  1844.  The  Captain  was  in  busi 
ness  at  the  Pueblo  of  San  Jose  when  the  war  broke 
out,  and  was  acquainted  with  and  personally  friendly 
to  both  Micheltorena  and  Castro.  He  had  a  very 
large  stock  of  goods  in  the  place,  and  was  anxious 
on  account  of  it.  He  knew  that  the  soldiers  under 
Micheltorena  were  mostly  convicts,  turned  loose 
from  the  prisons  in  Mexico,  and  were  dependent 
upon  the  meager  revenue  derived  from  forced 
loans  and  plunder  for  their  pay.  His  goods 


that  entered  his  side.  In  attempting  to  draw  it  from  his  body, 
the  arrow-head  was  broken  from  the  shaft,  and  in  an  hour  the 
unfortunate  man  was  dead.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  death  they 
managed  to  hold  their  position,  when,  finding  the  enemy  too 
strong  for  them,  the  body  of  the  dead  Spaniard  was  laid  upon  a 
pile  of  brush  and  burned,  to  prevent  its  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  savages;  after  which  they  stole  away  in  the  darkness,  and 
reached  Sutter's  Fort  without  unnecessary  delay. 


SAN  JOAQUIN  COUNTY  FROM  1841  TO  1847. 


37 


would  be  a  rich  prize,  and  if  they  once  entered  San 
Jose,  they  would  be  sure  to  help  themselves  to 
what  he  had;  consequently  all  his  interests  were 
opposed  to  the  occupation  of  the  town  by  such  a 
body  of  men.  As  Micheltorena  advanced,  Jose  Gas 
tro  became  alarmed,  and,  leaving  San  Jose  to  its  fate, 
retreated  up  the  valley  towards  Oakland  with  his 
forces;  whereupon  Captain  Weber  addressed  a  com 
munication  to  the  commander  of  the  advancing 
forces,  stating  that  Castro  had  left  San  Jose,  and 
asked  him  if  he  would  not  pass  to  one  side  of  the 
pueblo,  and  not  enter  it  with  his  troops.  Michelto 
rena  replied  that  he  found  it  necessary  to  pass 
through  San  Jose  in  his  pursuit  of  Castro.  In  the 
meantime  the  Captain  received  prompt  information 
to  the  effect  that  the  Governor  had  lost  control  of 
his  soldiery,  who  insisted  on  entering  the  village  for 
plunder;  whereupon  the  Captain  caused  the  tocsin 
of  war  to  be  sounded  through  the  streets.  The 
people  assembled,  and  the  Captain  presented  the 
position  of  affairs,  and  told  them  that  he  believed, 
with  a  force  composed  of  the  citizens  and  foreigners 
in  the  place,  the  advancing  army  could  be  checked, 
and  forced  to  take  a  different  route  in  their  line  of 
march  after  Castro.  A  company  was  immediately 
formed,  placed  under  his  command,  and  moved  out 
to  meet  the  enemy,  a  handful  against  a  host.  Send 
ing  a  courier  in  advance  to  meet  Micheltorena,  advis 
ing  him  of  what  he  was  doing,  and  that  it  was 
done,  not  in  a  spirit  of  opposition  to  him  personally, 
or  the  cause  which  he  represented,  but  with  a  deter 
mination  to  protect  their  homes  from  plunder.  The 
forces  met  some  twelve  miles  out  from  the  village, 
and  for  several  days  the  entire  army,  numbering 
several  hundred,  was  held  in  check  by  this  little  band 
of  brave  men  under  Captain  Weber.  Castro,  hear 
ing  of  the  fact,  became  ashamed  of  himself,  turned 
back  from  his  retreat,  joined  the  Captain  with  his 
forces,  took  command  of  the  army,  and  forced 
Micheltorena  to  surrender,  and,  finally,  to  agree  to 
leave  California  and  return  to  Mexico.  For  the  time 
this  ended  the  war.  It  was  again  revived  by  Mich 
eltorena,  who  failed  to  comply  with  his  agreement 
when  he  learned  that  Capt.  John  A.  Sutter  could  be 
relied  upon  for  assistance.  Sutter,  wishing  to  retain 
the  old  regime  until  his  land  titles  were  perfected, 
in  December,  1844,  marched  to  the  lower  country 
with  his  deluded  followers,  being  met  on  the  way, 
at  the  residence  of  Dr.  John  Marshe,  by  J.  Alex. 
Forbes,  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  who  tried  to 
dissuade  him  from  proceeding  further  with  the 
enterprise,  but  without  avail,  telling  the  Captain  at 
the  same  time  that  in  General  Castro's  army  was  a 
large  number  of  Americans,  and  that  his  act  was  ar 
raying  the  foreign-born  population  against  each  other. 
Slitter's  reply  to  all  was  that  he  had  gone  too  far  to 
withdraw  without  discredit  to  himself.  He  pushed 
on  towards  the  south,  and  his  men,  suspecting  some 
thing  wrong,  began  to  desert  until  but  few  remained. 
Finally,  when  the  hostile  armies  stood  face  to  face,  a 


parley  was  insisted  upon,  and  it  was  found  that  the 
foreigners  were  fighting  in  the  ranks  of  both  armies; 
after  which,  Sutter  had,  practically,  no  followers, 
and  fell,  finally,  into  the  hands  of  Castro,  who,  but 
for  the  strong  intervention  of  friends,  would  have 
had  him  shot. 

This  unfortunate  proceeding  was  the  second  breach 
in  the  policy  of  non-intervention;  and  it  came  so 
near  becoming  disastrous,  that  it  called  forth  an  ex 
pression  of  disapprobation  for  the  course  pursued; 
such  a  policy  continued  would  Mexicanize  the  Amer 
icans,  not  A.mericanize  the  Mexicans.  The  result 
was  that  the  narrow  escape  demonstrated  the  neces 
sity  of  an  organized  plan  of  action,  so  that  in  future 
they  might  be  well  advised  of  all  contemplated 
movements,  and  act  together  as  a  body  and  thus 
make  themselves  felt,  instead  of  expending  their 
force  against  each  other.  With  a  view  of  accom 
plishing  this  object,  and  thus  pave  the  way  for  the 
future  segregation  of  California  from  Mexico,  a  call 
was  written,  subscribed  and  circulated.  *  *  *  * 

For  various  causes  there  was  not  as  formidable  a 
gathering  as  was  desired  at  the  time  designated,*  and 
the  meeting  only  included  those  within  easy  reach 
of  San  Jose;  there  was  consequently  nothing  of 
importance  accomplished,  and  there  was  a  failure  to 
obtain  a  general  organization;  but  the  purposes  of 
the  foreign  population  remained  unchanged,  and 
culminated,  finally,  in  the  hoisting  of  the  "  Bear 
Flag,"  which,  but  for  the  United  States  taking  the 
struggle  off  their  hands,  would  have  proved  to  be 
what  it  was  in  fact,  a  premature  move.  It  was 
entered  upon  without  general  consultation  or  ma 
tured  plan,  and  but  for  the  occupation  of  the  coun 
try  by  the  United  States,  which  occurred  a  little 
later,  would  have  proved  disastrous  to  many  for 
eigners  living  farther  south,  who  were  wholly 
unadvised  in  regard  to  the  movement.  Had  the 
organization  been  made  as  was  contemplated  by  the 
signers  of  the  instrument,  the  Bear  Flag  would  never 
have  been  raised,  but  without  the  intervention  of  the 
United  States  it  would  have  resulted  in  taking  the 
country  from  Mexico,  making  San  Joaquin  one  of  the 
frontier  counties  of  the  State. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  work  to  give  a  State 
history,  therefore  we  return  to  the  march  of  events 
in  San  Joaquin,  having  followed  those  occurrences 
outside  only  which  had  a  direct  bearing  upon  the 
history  of  this  county. 

On  the  third  day  of  April,  1845,  C.  M.  Weber 
purchased  of  Mr.  Gulnac  the  remaining  interest  in 
the  French  Camp  Grant,  Mr.  Weber  becoming  its 
sole  owner;  but  no  further  attempt  was  made  at 
settlement  until  1846,  when  he  induced  a  number  of 
settlers,  under  the  leadership  of  Napoleon  Schmidt, 
to  locate.  They  had  no  sooner  become  settled  in 
their  new  homes  than  the  war-cloud  burst,  which 
had  been  hanging  over  the  country,  and  the  settlers 

*  July  4,  1845. 


38 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


again  scattered  to  locations  where  they  would  be 
less  isolated  in  case  of  an  attack  by  the  Mexicans. 

In  November,  1846,  the  Isbel  brothers  took  up 
land  on  the  Calaveras,  that  stream  dividing  their 
ranches  or  claims;  Dr.  I.  C.  Isbel  occupying  the 
north,  and  his  brother  James  the  south  side  of 
the  "  river  of  skulls,"  where  Fremont  had  crossed 
it  in  1844.  The  doctor  erected  a  log  cabin  near  the 
river,  which. is  still  standing.  It  is  the  oldest  house 
in  the  county,  in  fact  the  oldest  in  the  San  Joaquiu 
valley,  and  should  be  preserved  as  a  relic  of  the 
past.  The  same  month  and  year,  Turner  Eider 
erected  a  cabin  on  Dry  creek,  where  the  village  of 
Liberty  was  afterwards  laid  out.  Mr.  Elder  was  a 
married  man,  and  had  brought  his  wife  and  three 
little  children  with  him  to  this  country.  On  the 
opposite,  or  north  side  of  the  creek,  and  a  little 
further  down,  his  father-in-law,  Thomas  Rhodes, 
located.  Thomas  Pyle  settled  at  what  is  now 
known  as  Staples'  Ferry,  in  the  »ame  year  and 
month,  with  his  family — a  wife  and  two  children.  It 
was  during  the  month  of  November,  1846,  that 
Samuel  Brannan  established  his  colony  on  the  Stan 
islaus,  about  one  and  one-half  miles  above  its  mouth, 
calling  the  place  "  Stanislaus  City. 

It  will  be  observed  that  during  this  year,  two  .dis 
tinct  colonies  were  established,  and  four  ranches 
taken  up  in  San  Joaquin  county,  at  the  points  where 
the  old  Spanish  trail,  between  Suttei%'s  Fort  and  San 
Jose,  crossed  the  several  streams  in  the  county. 
This  was  a  strong  demonstration  toward  settlement. 
Weber's  party  had  loft  at  the  first  notes  of  alarm  ; 
Samuel  Brannan's  colony  remained  until  the  follow 
ing  Spring,  and  then  all  left,  except  Buckland — leav 
ing  only  the  ranchers  on  the  Spanish  trail  and 
Buckland,  as  the  inhabitants  to  dispute  possession 
of  the  county  with  the  Indians.  The  five  settlers 
remaining  were  Dr.  1.  C.  Isbel,  and  his  brother, 
James,  on  the  Calaveras;  Thomas  Pyle,  on  the 
Mokclumne;  Turner  Elder,  on  Dry  creek;  and 
Buckland,  on  the  Stanislaus. 

*Dr.  Isbel  retained  his  claim  until  1848,  when  he 
sold  to  the  Hutchinson  brothers,  and  they  in  turn 
to  Mr.  Dodge. 

Thomas  Pyle  abandoned  his  place  in  1848,  and 
moved  to  Coyote  creek,  near  San  Jose,  where  he 
was  shot  through  the  head  and  killed,  about  1855, 
by  a  young  Spaniard.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Smith 
took  up  the  place,  claiming  a  grant,  and  sold  to  John 
F.,  the  brother  of  Thomas  Pyle,  and  John  W.  Laird, 
who  had  married  one  of  his  sisters.  These  parties 
sold  to  Staples,  Nichols  &  Co.,  in  February,  and 
moved  from  there  in  April,  1850.  Mr.  Laird  died 
near  Grayson,  in  May,  1878;  and  J.  F.  Pyle  is  still 
living  on  his  ranch,  near  Wclden,  on  Kerri  river, 
California. 

Turner    Elder    lived  at    Dry   creek    about    one 

*  Dr.  Isbel  is  mentioned  in  another  part  of  the  history  in  con- 
ion    witha  mob  affair   in  the   western  part  of  tl -* 

(Amador).     He  resided  in  Volcano,  in  1855. 


year,  and  then  moved  on  to  the  north  bank  of  the 
Mokelumne  river,  at  the  place  afterwards  known  as 
the  "Benedict  Ranch,"  and,  while  there,  on  the 
fifth  day  of  November,  1847,  his  wife  presented  him 
with  a  pair  of  twins,  a  boy  and  girl,  who  were  named 
John  and  Nancy.  These  were  the  second  children 
born  of  white  parents  in  the  county.  Soon  after  the 
birth  of  these  children,  on  account  of  the  unpro 
tected  position,  Mr.  Elder  abandoned  his  place  and 
joined  his  brother-in-law  Daylor,  of  the  Daylor 
ranch,  in  Sacramento  county.  He  afterwards  made 
money  in  placer  mining,  and  returned  to  Ray  county, 
Missouri,  in  1849,  where  he  now  lives.  The  children 
are  both  living;  the  girl  in  Ray  county,  as  the  wife 
of  a  Dr.  Reese;  and  the  boy,  now  married,  at  Emi 
grant's  Ditch,  in  Fresno  county,  California — his  post- 
office  address  being  "Kingsbury  Switch." 

Mr.  Buckland,  of  Stanislaus  City,  moved  from 
there  to  Stockton,  in  the  fall  of  1847.  Assisted  by 
William  Fairchilds,  he  afterwards  built  the  Buck- 
land  House,  in  San  Francisco.  Of  the  Stanislaus 
City  settlers,  the  only  ones  known  to  be  living  now 
are  Samuel  Brannan,  of  San  Francisco,  John  M. 

Horner,    near  San  Jose,    and  Nichols,  of  San 

Leandro.  » 

When,  in  the  Fall  of  1847,  Turner  Elder  left  his  log- 
house  and  claim  at  Dry  creek,  Mrs.  Christina  Pat 
terson,  his  aunt,  moved  into  it — her  husband  having 
died  of  mountain  fever  while  crossing  the  mountains 
in  1846.  She  was  soon  after  married  to  Ned  Robin 
son.  This  was  the  first  marriage  ceremony  performed 
in  the  county.  Mr.  Robinson,  in  turn,  abandoned  the 
place  when  gold  was  discovered,  in  January,  1848, 
and  in  1878  they  were  stopping  at  French  Camp,  for 
the  Winter,  on  their  way  to  the  northern  country. 

Captain  Weber,  in  the  meantime,  had  been  living 
at  San  Jose  from  1842  to  1847,  following  his  business 
of  merchandizing,  and  not  giving  personal  attention 
to  the  settlement  of  his  grant.  During  the  year 
1847  he  sold  his  stock  of  goods,  and  in  August  of 
that  year,  with  a  number  of  men,  two  hundred 
horses  and  four  thousand  cattle,  moved  to  the  San 
Joaquin,  and  founded  a  settlement  which  became 
permanent;  Stockton  being  the  point  and  result  of 
his  efforts.  In  the  Fall,  the  grant  was  surveyed  and 
sectionized  by  Jasper  O'Farrell,  through  his  deputy, 
Walter  Herron;  a  village  site  being  at  the  same  time 
laid  out  for  settlers'  homes,  which  received  the  name 
of  "Tulcburg."  Coming  events  had  not  yet  "cast 
their  shadows  before."  The  village  plat  of  Tule- 
burg,  and  the  name,  both  passed  out  of  existence  at 
the  same  time,  when,  in  1848,  after  the  gold  discov 
ery,  the  place  was  re-surveyed  and  laid  out  for  com 
mercial  purposes  by  Captain  Weber,  who  gave  it  the 
name  of  Stockton,  after  Com.  Robert  Stockton,  of  the 
United  States  navy. 

In  October,  1847,  a  company  of  overland  immi 
grants  arrived  at  the  place,  on  their  way  to  the  lower 
country.  Mr.  "Weber  pursuaded  them  to  stop  for  a 
time  and  look  over  the  valley,  to  see  if  they  would 


BIOGRAPHIC  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  SUTTER. 


39 


not  consider  it  to  their  advantage  to  remain.  W.  H. 
Fairchilds,  County  Supervisor  in  1878,  was  of  this 
party,  as  well  as  Nicholas  Gann  and  his  wife,  Ruth, 
who,  while  they  were  camping  on  the  point  where 
Weber's  house  now  stands,  in  October,  gave  birth  to 
a  son,  to  whom  they  gave  the  name  of  William. 
This  was  the  first  child  born  of  white  parents  in  the 
county.  With  the  exception  of  Mr.  Fairchilds,  the 
parties  all  decided  to  move  farther  south.  Mr. 
Nicholas  Gann  now  lives  not  far  from  Gilroy,  in 
Santa  Clara  county,  California. 

It  was  during  that  year  that  Capt.  Charles 
Imus  undertook  to  carry  out  a  "  wild  horse  scheme." 
He  selected  a  point  on  the  San  Joaquin  river,  where 
San  Joaquin  City  now  stands,  which  he  considered 
favorable,  and  then  went  to  the  mountains  west  of 
the  valley  and  commenced  cutting  timber,  to  build  a 
corral,  into  which  he  proposed  driving  wild  horses, 
and  there  to  capture  them;  when  Pico,  on  whose 
grant  he  was  cutting  the  timber,  put  a  stop  to  his 
visions  of  corraling  the  "  untamed  steeds  of  the 
desert;"  by  singing  to  him  the  pathetic  song  of 
"  Woodman,  Spare  that  Tree,"  and  the  Captain,  not 
caring  to  verify  the  old  saw  of  "  a  nod  is  na  sa  good 
as  a  kick  for  a  blind  horse,"  folded  up  his  tent  like 
the  Arab,  and  departed  into  the  lower  country. 
Captain  Imus  was  the  leader  of  the  party  that 
crossed  the  plains  in  1846,  of  which  the  Pyles,  Isbcls, 
Elders,  and  Rhodes  were  members. 

The  history  of  San  Joaquin  county,  up  to  the  close 
of  1847,  has  been  given  in  the  preceding  pages  as 
completely  as  it  is  possible  to  get  it  from  the  memory 
of  the  participants  who  still  survive.  The  only 
occupants  of  this  section  of  country,  up  to  that  time, 
had  first  been  the  Indians,  then  the  American 
trappers,  followed  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company, 
who  were  succeeded  in  turn  by  the  Americans,  who 
came  from  the  States,  with  a  view  of  making  for 
themselves  and  families  permanent  homes. 

But  a  change,  absolute  and  radical,  lay  hid  in 
the  near  future.  On  the  line  that  separated  the 
year  1847,  and  what  had  preceded  it,  from  "  the 
future  that  was  not  yet,"  stands  a  mile-post  that 
"Time,"  set  by  the  wayside,  which  marks  the 
beginning  of  a  year,  in  which  was  wrought  a 
change  as  absolute,  in  the  march  of  human  events, 
and  the  destinies  of  this  coast,  as  would  ordinarily 
have  occurred  in  the  passing  of  a  century. 


CHAPTERS. 

BIOGRAPHIC  SKETCH  OF   GENERAL    SUTTER. 

His  Nativity — Migration  to  the  American  West — Arrival  in  Cal 
ifornia — Foundation  of  Sutter's  Fort — Prosperity  and 
Wealth  of  the  Colony — Decline  and  Ultimate  Ruin — Retire 
ment  to  Hock  Farm — Extract  from  Sutter's  Diary. 

THE  following  sketch  of  the  life  and  adventures  of 
General  John  A.  Sutter  is  from  Oscar  T.  Shuck's 
"Representative  Men  of  the  Pacific."  The  facts 
were  derived  directly  from  the  famous  old  pioneer, 
and  are,  perhaps,  the  most  complete  and  accurate 
that  have  ever  been  published.  Mr.  Shuck  says: — 

"  General  John  A.  Sutter  was  born  March  1, 1803, 
in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden,  where  his  early  boy 
hood  was  passed.  His  father,  who  was  a  clergyman 
of  the  Lutheran  church,  afterwards  removed  to 
Switzerland,  and  settled  there  with  his  family.  He 
purchased  for  himself  and  heirs  the  rights  and  immu 
nities  of  Swiss  citizenship,  and  there  the  subject  of 
our  sketch  received  a  good  education,  both  civil  and 
military. 

"  Early  in  life  he  married  a  Bernese  lady,  and  was 
blessed  with  several  children.  At  the  age  of  thirty- 
one  he  determined  to  gratify  a  desire  he  had  long 
cherished  to  immigrate  to  the  United  States.  Not 
knowing  whether  or  not  he  should  settle  perma 
nently  in  the  Great  Republic,  he  concluded  to  leave 
his  family  behind  him,  and  arrived  at  New  York  in 
July,  1834.  After  visiting  several  of  the  Western 
States  he  settled  in  Missouri,  and  there  resided  for 
several  years.  During  his  residence  in  Missouri  he 
made  a  short  visit  to  New  Mexico,  where  he  met 
with  many  trappers  and  hunters  who  had  returned 
from  Upper  California,  and  their  glowing  descrip 
tions  confirmed  his  previous  impressions,  and  ex 
cited  an  ardent  desire  to  behold  and  wander  over 
the  rich  lands  and  beautiful  valleys  of  that  then 
almost  unknown  region.  Upon  returning  to  Mis 
souri  he  determined  to  reach  the  Pacific  coast  by 
joining  some  one  of  the  trapping  expeditions  of  the 
American  or  English  Fur  Companies.  But  great 
obstacles  were  to  be  surmounted,  and  long  years 
were  to  intervene  before  his  feet  would  rest  upon 
the  virgin  soil  of  California.  On  the  1st  of  April, 
1838,  he  was  enabled,  for  the  first  time,  to  connect 
himself  with  a  trapping  expedition.  On  that  day 
,he  left  Missouri  with  Captain  Tripp,  of  the  American 
Fur  Company,  and  traveled  with  his  party  to  their 
rendezvous  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.  There  he 
parted  with  the  expedition,  and  with  six  horsemen 
crossed  the  mountains,  and,  after  encountering  the 
usual  dangers  and  hardships,  arrived  at  Fort  Van 
couver,  on  the  Columbia  river. 

"Having  learned  that  there  was  no  land  communica 
tion  with  California  from  the  valleys  of  the  Columbia 
or  Willamette  in  Winter,  and  there  being  then  a  ves 
sel  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  ready  to  sail  for 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  General  Sutter  took  passage, 
hoping  to  find  at  the  islands  some  means  of  convey 
ance  to  California.  Only  one  of  the  men  who  had 
remained  with  him  thus  far  consented  to  accompany 
him  to  the  strange  land.  On  reaching  the  islands 
he  found  no  prospect  of  conveyance,  and,  after 
remaining  five  months,  as  the  only  means  of  accom 
plishing  his  purpose,  he  shipped  as  supercargo,  with 
out  pay,  on  an  English  vessel  bound  for  Sitka. 

"After  discharging  her  cargo  at  Sitka,  and,  with 
the  authority  of  the  owners,  he  directed  the  vessel 
southward,  and  sailed  down  the  coast,  encountering 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


heavy  gales.  He  was  driven  into  the  Bay  of  San 
Krancisco  in  distress,  and,  on  the  second  day  of  July, 
1839,  anchored  his  little  craft  opposite  Yerba  Buemi, 
now  San  Francisco. 

"  He  was  immediately  waited  upon  by  a  Mexican 
official  with  an  armed  force,  and  ordered  to  leave 
without  delay,  the  officer  informing  him  that  Mon 
tr  ivy  \va>  the  port  of  entry.  He  succeeded,  however, 
in  obtaining  permission  to  remain  forty- eight  hours 
to  get  supplies. 

"  A  few  days  later,  upon  arriving  at  Monterey, 
General  Sutter  waited  upon  Governor  Alvarado,  and 
communicated  to  him  his  desire  to  settle  in  Upper  Cal 
ifornia,  on  the  Sacramento.  Governor  Alvarado 
expressed  much  satisfaction  upon  learning  his  visit 
or's  wish,  particularly  when  he  understood  his  desire 
to  settle  on  the  Sacramento;  saying  that  the  Indians 
in  that  quarter  were  very  hostile,  and  would  not 
permit  any  whites  to  settle  there;  that  they  robbed 
the  inhabitants  of  San  Jose  and  the  lower  settle 
ments  of  horses  and  cattle.  He  readily  gave  Sutter 
a  passport,  with  authority  to  settle  on  any  territory 
he  should  deem  suitable  for  his  colony,  and  requested 
him  to  return  to  Monterey  one  year  from  that  time, 
when  his  Mexican  citizenship  would  be  acknowl 
edged,  and  he  would  receive  a  grant  for  the  land  he 
might  solicit.  Thereupon,  he  returned  to  Yerba 
Buena  and  chartered  a  schooner,  with  some  small 
boats,  and  started  upon  an  exploring  expedition  on 
the  Sacramento  river. 

"  Upon  inquiry  he  could  not  find  any  one  at  Yerba 
Buena  who  had  ever  seen  the  Sacramento  river,  or 
who  could  describe  to  him  where  he  should  find  its 
mouth.  The  people  of  that  place  only  -professed  to 
know  that  some  large  river  emptied  into  one  of  the 
connected  bays  lying  northerly  from  their  town, 
(ieneral  Sutter  consumed  eight  days  in  the  effort  to 
rind  the  mouth  of  the  Sacramento  river. 

"  After  ascending  the  river  to  a  point  about  ten 
miles  below  where  Sacramento  City  now  stands,  he 
encountered  the  first  large  party  of  Indians,  who 
exhibited  every  sign  of  ^hostility  save  an  actual 
attack.  There  were  about  two  hundred  of  them, 
armed  and  painted  for  war.  Fortunately  there  were 
among  them  two  who  understood  Spanish,  and  with 
whom  the  General  engaged  in  conversation.  He 
quieted  them  by  the  assurance  that  there  were  no 
Spaniards  in  his  party,  and  that  he  wished  to  settle 
in  their  country  and  trade  with  them.  He'showed 
them  his  agricultural  implements  and  commodities 
of  trade,  winch  he  had  provided  for  the  purpose, 
and  proposed  to  make  a  treaty  with  them.  Pleased 
with  these  assurances,  the  Indians  became  recon 
ciled;  the  crowd  dispersed,  and  the  two  who  spoke 
the  Spanish  language  accompanied  Sutter  and  his 
] >arty  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  Feather  river,  to 
show  him  the  country.  All  other  parties  of  Indians 
seen  fled  at  the  sight  of  the  vessel  and  boats. 

••  1'arting  with  his  two  Indian  interpreters  and 
guides  at  the  mouth  of  Feather  river,  ho  ascended 
the  latter  stream  to  a  considerable  distance,  when  a 
few  of  his  white  men  became  alarmed  at  the  sur 
rounding  dangers  and  insisted  upon  returning,  -which 
he  was  constrained  to  do. 

"  On  his  descent  he  entered  the  mouth  of  the 
American  river,  and  on  the  15th  day  of  August, 
1839,  landed  at  the  point  on  the  south  bank  of  that 
stream,  where  he  afterwards  established  his  tannery, 
within  the  present  limits  of  Sacramento.  On  the 
following  morning,  after  landing  all  his  effects,  he 
informed  the  discontented  whites  that  all  who 
wished  to  return  to  Yerba  Buena  could  do  so; 


that  the  Kanakas  were  willing  to  remain,  and  that 
he  had  resolved  to  do  so,  if  alone.  Three  of  the 
whites  determined  to  leave,  and  he  put  them  in  pos 
session  of  the  schooner,  with  instructions  to  deliver 
the  vessel  to  her  owners.  They  set  sail  for  Yerba 
Buena  the  same  day. 

"Three  weeks  thereafter  General  Sutter  removed 
to  the  spot  upon  which  he  afterwards  erected  FORT 
SUTTER.  In  the  early  days  of  the  settlement  he 
encountered  many  troubles  with  the  Indians,  who 
organized  secret  expeditions,  as  he  afterwards 
learned,  to  destroy  him  and  his  party,  but  he  con 
trived  to  defeat  and  frustrate  all  their  machinations, 
and  those  of  the  Indians  who  were  at  first  his  great 
est  enemies,  came  to  be  his  best  and  most  steadfast 
friends.  He  now  devoted  himself  energetically  to 
agriculture,  and  became  very  wealthy  and  pros 
perous. 

"  In  the  Fall  of  the  year  1839,  he  purchased  of 
Senor  Martinez  three  hundred  head  of  cattle,  thirty 
horses,  and  thirty  mares.  During  the  Fall  eight 
more  white  men  joined  his  colony.  When  he  com 
menced  the  improvements  that  resulted  in  the  erec 
tion  of  Sutter's  Fort  and  his  establishment  there,  he 
had  much  trouble  in  procuring  suitable  lumber  and 
timber.  He  floated  some  down  the  American  river 
from  the  mountains,  and  was  compelled  to  send  to 
Bodega,  on  the  sea-coast,  a  distance  of  several  hun 
dred  miles. 

"  In  August,  1840,  Sutter  was  joined  by  the  five 
men  who  had  crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains  with  him, 
and  whom  he  had  left  in  Oregon.  His  colony  now 
numbered  twenty-five  men,  seventeen  whites  and 
eight  Kanakas.  During  the  Fall  of  that  year  the 
Mokelumne  Indians  became  troublesome,  by  stealing 
the  live-stock  of  the  settlers,  and  compelled  General 
Sutter,  by  their  acts  and  menaces,  to  make  open  war 
against  them.  He  marched  with  his  forces  thirty 
miles,  in  the  night  time,  to  the  camp  of  the  Indians, 
whore  they  were  concentrating  large  forces  for  a 
movement  against  him,  some  two  hundred  warriors, 
and  attacked  them  with  such  great  effect  that  they 
retreated,  and  being  hotly  pursued,  they  sued  for 
peace,  which  was  readily  granted,  and  over  after 
wards  mutually  maintained. 

"  Shortly  after  this  encounter,  Sutter  purchased 
one  thousand  more  head  of  cattle,  and  seventy-five 
horses  and  mules.  His  colony  continued  to  increase 
fast,  by  the  addition  of  every  foreigner  who  came 
into  the  country;  they  sought  his  place  as  one  of 
security.  The  trappers  he  furnished  with  supplies, 
and  purchased  their  furs;  the  mechanics  and  laborers 
he  either  employed  or  procured  them  work. 

"  In  June,  1841,  he  visited  Monterey,  the  capital, 
where  he  was  declared  a  Mexican  citizen,  and 
received  from  Governor  Alvarado  a  grant  for  his 
land,  under  the  name  of  Now  Helvetia,  a  survey  of 
which  he  had  caused  to  be  made  before  that  time. 
Thereupon  he  was  honored  with  a  commission  as 
'  represendente  del  Govierno  en  las  fronter  as  del 
norte  y  encargado  de  la  justicia.' 

"Soon  after  his  return  to  his  settlement  he  was 
visited  by  Captain  Ringgold,  of  the  United  States 
Exploring  Expedition  under  Commodore  Wilkes,  and 
about  the  same  time  by  Alexander  Rotcheff,  Gov 
ernor  of  the  Russian  Possessions,  Ross  and  Bodega, 
who  offered  to  sell  to  General  Sutter  the  Russian 
Possessions,  settlements,  and  ranches  at  those  places. 

"  The  terms  were  such  as  induced  him  to  make  the 
purchase,  forthirty  thousand  dollars.  The  live-stock 
consisted  of  two  thousand  cattle,  over  one  thousand 
horses,  fifty  mules,  and  two  thousand  sheep,  the 


BIOGRAPHIC  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  SUTTER. 


41 


greater  part  of  which  were  driven  to  New  Helvetia. 
This  increase  of  resources,  together  with  the  natural 
increase  of  his  stock,  enabled  him  the  more  rapidly 

o  advance  his  settlement  and  improvements. 
"  In  the  year  1844  he  petitioned  Governor  Michel- 

orena  for  the  grant  or  purchase  of  the  sobrante,  or 
surplus,  over  the  first  eleven  leagues  of  the  land 
within  the  bounds  of  the  survey  accompanying 
IheAlvarado  grant,  which  the  Governor  agreed  to 
let  him  have;  but,  for  causes  growing  out  of  existing 
political  troubles,  t!ie  grant  was  not  finally  executed 
until  the  5th  of  February,  1845;  during  which  time 
he  had  rendered  valuable  military  services  and  ad 
vanced  to  the  Government  large  amounts  of  property 

nd  outlays,  exceeding  eight  thousand  dollars,  to 
enable  it  to  suppress  the  Castro  rebellion;  in  consid 
eration  of  all  which  he  acquired  by  purchase  and 
personal  services  the  lands  called  the  Sobrante,  or 
surplus. 

"  At  that  time  he  also  secured  from  Governor 
Micheltorena  the  commission  of '  Commandante  mili- 
tar  de  las  fronteras  del  norte  y  encargado  do  la 
justicia.'  After  this  time  the  war  between  the 
United  States  and  Mexico  came  on,  and  although 
General  Sutter  was  an  officer  under  the  Mexican 
Government,  and  bound  to  it  by  his  allegiance,  yet, 
upon  all  occasions,  such  was  his  respect  towards  the 
citizens  and  institutions  of  the  United  States,  that 
whenever  any  party  of  American  citizens,  civil  or 
military  service,  visited  him, his  unbounded  hospitali 
ties  were  uniformly  and  cordially  extended  to  them; 
and  when  the  country  surrendered  to  the  American 
forces,  the  General,  who  had  been  for  some  time  con 
vinced  of  the  instability  of  the  Mexican  Government, 
upon  request,  did,  on  the  llth  of  July,  1846,  hoist 
the  American  flag  with  a  good  heart,  accompanied 
with  a  salute  of  artillery  from  the  guns  at  the  fort. 
Soon  after  this  Lieutenant  Missoon,  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  came  up  and  organized  a  garrison  for 
Sutler's  Fort,  principally  out  of  his  former  forces  of 
whites  and  Indians,  and  gave  to  General  Sutter  the 
command,  which  he  maintained  until  peace  returned. 
Ho  was  then  appointed  by  Commodore  Stockton 
Alcalde  of  the  district,  and  by  General  Kearney 
Indian  Agent,  with  a  salary  of  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  a  year;  but  a  single  trip  in  discharge  of 
his  duty  as  Indian  Agent  cost  him  one  thousand  six 
hundred  dollars,  and  he  resigned  the  office. 

•'General  Sutter  was  now  in  the  full  tide  of  pros 
perity.  •  His  settlement  continued  to  grow  and  his 
property  to  accumulate,  until  the  latter  part  of 
January,  1848.  He  had  then  completed  his  estab 
lishment  at  the  fort ;  had  performed  all  the  condi 
tions  of  his  grants  of  land;  had,at  an  expense  of  at  least 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  cut  a  race  of  three 
miles  in  length,  and  nearly  completed  a  flouring-mill 
near  the  present  town  of  Brighton  ;  had  expended 
towards  the  erection  of  a  saw-mill,  near  the  town  of 
Coloma,  about  ten  thousand  dollars;  had  sown  over  a 
thousand  acres  of  land  in  wheat  which  promised  a  yield 
of  forty  thousand  bushels,  and  had  made  preparations 
for  other  crops;  was  then  the  owner  of  eight  thou 
sand  head  of  cattle,  over  two  thousand  horses  and 
mules,  over  two  thousand  sheep,  and  ono  thousand 
head  of  hogs,  and  was  in  the  undisturbed,  undisputed 
and  quiet  possession  of  the  extensive  lands  granted 
by  the  Mexican  Government.  But  a  sad  change  was 
about  to  take  place  in  the  affairs  of  the  old  pioneer  ; 
a  grand  event  was  about  to  transpire,  which,  while  it 
would  delight  and  electrify  the  world  at  large,  was 
destined  to  check  the  gi*owth  of  the  settlement  at 
Suiter's  Fort.  General  Sutter's  mills  were  soon  to 
6 


cease  operations;  his  laborers  and  mechanics  were  soon 
to  desert  him  ;  his  possessions,  his  riches,  his  hopes 
were  soon  to  be  scattered  and  destroyed  before  the 
impetuous  charge  of  the  gold-hunters.  The  immedi 
ate  effect  was  that  Sutter  was  deserted  by  all  his 
mechanics  and  laborers,  white,  Kanaka  and  Indian. 
The  mills  thus  deserted  became  a  dead  loss;  he  could 
not  hire  labor  to  further  plant  or  mature  his  crops, 
or  reap  but  a  small  part  after  the  grain  had  ripened. 
Few  hands  were  willing  to  work  for  even  an  ounce  a 
day,  as  the  industrious  could  make  more  than  that 
in  the  mines.  Consequent  of  the  gold  discovery 
there  was  an  immense  immigration,  composed  of  all 
classes  of  men,  many  of  whom  seemed  to  have  no  idea 
of  the  rights  of  property.  The  treaty  between  the 
United  States  and  Mexico  guaranteed  to  the  Mexican 
who  should  remain  in  the  country  a  protection  of  his 
property,  and  Sutter  regarded  himself  as  doubly 
entitled  to  that  protection,  either  as  a  Mexican  or  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  that  he  held  a 
strong  claim  upon  his  country's  justice.  His  property 
was  respected  for  a  season ;  but  when  the  great  flood 
of  immigration,  which  poured  into  the  country  in 
1849-'50,  found  that  money  could  be  made  by  other 
means  than  mining,  many  of  the  new-comers  forcibly 
entered  upon  his  land,  and  commenced  cutting  his 
wood,  under  the  plea  that  it  was  vacant  and  unappro 
priated  land  of  the  United  States.  Up -to  the  first  of 
January,  1852,  the  settlers  had  occupied  all  his  lands 
capable  of  settlement  or  appropriation,  and  the  other 
class  had  stolen  all  his  horses,  mules,  cattle,  sheep 
and  hogs,  save  a  small  portion  used  and  sold  by  him 
self.  One  party  of  five  men,  during  the  high  waters 
of  1849-'50,  when  his  cattle  were  partly  surrounded 
by  water  near  the  Sacramento  river,  killed  and  sold 
enough  to  amount  to  sixty  thousand  dollars. 

"Having  seen  his  power  decline  and  his  riches 
take  wings,  General  Sutter  removed  to  the  west  bank 
of  Feather  river,  and  took  up  his  residence  at  Hock 
farm.  Here,  in  the  midst  of  his  family,  who  had 
recently  arrived  from  Europe,  he  led  the  quiet  life  of 
a  farmer  in  the  county  that  bears  his  name." 

The  following  verbatim  copy  of  notes  in  General 
Sutters  own  handwriting,  we  insert,  notwithstanding 
there  are  some  repetitions  of  facts  given  in  the  former 
part  of  this  chapter: — 

[The  following  rough  notes  of  narrative,  in  the 
handwriting  of  the  venerable  General  Sutter,  the 
discoverer  of  gold  in  California,  were  found  amongst 
the  papers  of  an  eminent  citizen  of  this  State,  re 
cently  deceased,  through  the  kindly  courtesy  of  whoso 
widow  we  are  enabled  to  give  them  to  the  public.  As 
a  relation  of  incidents  in  the  life  of  a  man  held  in 
respect  by  every  Californian,  these  hasty  and  imper 
fect  memoranda  will,  it  is  believed,  have  a  double  in 
terest  and  a  lasting  value.  We  have  thought  it  best 
to  preserve  as  nearly  as  was  practicable,  the  quaint 
phraseology,  erroneous  orthography,  and  imperfect 
punctuation  of  the  manuscript;  giving,  in  our  judg 
ment,  an  added  charm  to  the  narrative. — San  Fran- 
c-isco  Argonaut.'] 

"Left  the  State  of  Missouri  (where  1  has  resided 
for  a  many  years)  on  the  1th  a  April,  1838,  and 
travelled  with  the  party  of  Men  under  CaptTripps,  of 
the  Amer.  fur  Compy,  to  their  Rendezvous  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains  (Wind  River  Valley)  from  there  I 
travelled  with  6  brave  Men  to  Oregon,  as  1  consid 
ered  myself  not  strong  enough  to  cross  the  Sierra 
Nevada  and  go  direct  to  California  (which  was  my 
intention  from  my  first  Start  on  having  got  some 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


informations  from  a  Gent'n  in  New  Mexico,  who  has 
been  in  California. 

"Under  a  good  Many  Dangers  and  other  troubles  1 
have  passed  the  Different  forts  or  trading  posts  of 
the  Hudsons  Bay  Compy.  and  arrived  at  the  Mission 
at  the  Dalls  on  Columbia  Eiver.  From  this  place  I 
crossed  right  strait  through  thick  &  thin,  and 
arrived  to  the  great  astonishment  of  the  inhabitants. 
I  arrived  in  7  days  in  the  Valley  of  the  Willamette, 
while  others  with  good  guides  arrived  only  in  17  days 
previous  my  Crossing.  At  fort  Vancouver  I  has  been 
very  hospitably  received  and  invited  to  pass  the 
Winter  with  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Company,  but  as 
a  Vessel  of  the  Compy  was  ready  to  sail  for  the 
Sandwich  Islands,!  took  a  passage  in  her, in  hopes  to 
get  Soon  a  Passage  from  there  to  California,  but  5 
long  Months  I  had  to  wait  to  find  an  Opportunity  to 
leave,  but  not  direct  to  California,  except  far  out  of 
my  Way  to  the  Russian  American  Colonies  on  the 
North  West  Cost,  to  Sitka  the  Residence  of  the 
Gov'r.  (Lat.  57)  I  remained  one  Month  there  and 
delivered  the  Cargo  of  the  Brig  Clementine,  as  1  had 
Charge  of  the  Vessel,  and  then  sailed  down  the  Coast 
in  heavy  Gales,  and  entered  in  Distress  in  the  Port  of 
San  Francisco,  on  the  2d  of  July,  1839.  An  Officer 
and  15  Soldiers  came  on  board  and  ordered  me  out, 
saying  that  Monterey  is  the  Port  of  entry,  &  at  last 
1  could  obtain  48  hours  to  get  provisions  (as  we 
were  starving)  and  some  repairings  done  on  the  Brig. 
"In  Monterey  I  arranged  my  affairs  with  the  Cos- 
turn  House,  and  presented  myself  to  the  Govr  Alva- 
rado,  and  told  him  my  intention  to  Settle  hero  in  this 
Country,  and  that  I  have  brought  with  me  5  White 
Men  8  Kanacas  (two  of  them  married)  3  of  the 
Whitemen  were  Mechanics,  he  was  very  glad  to  hear 
that,  and  particularly  when  I  told  him,  that  I  intend 
to  Settle  in  the  interior,  on  banks  of  the  the  river 
Sacramento,  because  the  Indians  then  at  this  time 
would  not  allow  white  M^n  and  particularly  of  the 
Spanish  Origin  to  come  near  them,  and  was  very 
hostile,  and  stole  the  horses  from  the  inhabitants 
near  San  Jose.  I  got  a  General  passport  for  my  small 
Colony  and  permission  to  select  a  Territory  where 
ever  I  would  find  it  convenient,  and  to  come  in  one 
Years  time  again  in  Monterey  to  get  my  Citizenship 
and  the  title  of  the  Land,  which  I  have  done  so,  and 
not  only  this,  1  received  a  high  civil  Office. 

"When  I  left  Yerbabuena  (now  San  Francisco)  after 

having  leaved  the  Brig  and  dispatched  her  back  to 

theS.  1. 1  bought  several  small  Boats  (Launches)  and 

Chartered  the  Schooner  '"Isabella"  for  my  Exploring 

Journey  to  the  inland  Rivers  and  particularly  to  find 

the  Mouth  of  the  River  Sacramento,  as  I  could  find 

Nobody  who  could  give  me  information,  only  that 

they  Knew  some  very  large  Rivers  are  in  the  interior. 

"  It  took  me  eight   days   before  I  could  find  the 

entrance  of  the  Sacramento,  as  it  is  very  deceiving 

and  very  easy  to  pass  by,  how  it  happened  to  several 

Officers  of  the  Navy  afterwards  which  refused  to 

take    a  pilot.     About  10   miles   below   Sacramento 

City  I  fell  in  with  the  first  Indians  which  was  all 

armed  &  painted  &  looked  very   hostile,  they   was 

about  200  Men,  as  some  of  them  understood  a  little 

Spanish  I  could  make  a  Kind  of  treaty  with  them, 

and  the  two  which  understood  Spanish  came  with 

me,  and  made  me  a  little  better  acquainted  with  the 

Country,     all  other  Indians  on  the  up  River  hided 

themselves  in   the   Bushes,  and  on  the    Mouth   of 

Feather  River  they  runned  all  away   so  soon   they 

discovered  us.  I  was  examining  the  Country  a  little 

further  up  with  a  Boat,  while  the  larger  Crafts  let 

go  their  Ankers,  on  my  return,  all  the  white  Men 


came  to  me  and  asked  me,  how  much  longer  I  in 
tended  to  travell  with  them  in  such  a  Wilderness. 
"  The  following  Morning  I  gave  Orders  to  return, 
and  entered  in  the  American  River,  landed  at  the 
farmer  Tannery  on  the  12th,  Augt.  1839.  Gave 
Orders  to  get  every  thing  on  Shore,  pitch  the  tents 
and  mount  the  3  Cannons,  called  the  white  Men,  and 
told  them  that  all  those  which  are  not  contented  could 
leave  on  board  the  Isabella,  next  Morning,  and  that  I 
would  settle  with  them  imediately,  and  remain 
alone  with  the  Canaca's,  of  6  Men  3  remained,  and  3 
of  them  I  gave  passage  to  Yerbabuena. 

"  The  Indians  was  first  troublesome,  and  came  fre 
quently  and  would  it  not  have  been  for  the  Cannons 
they  would  have  Killed  us  for  the  sake  of  my  prop 
erty,  which  they  liked  very  much,  and  this  intention 
they  had  very  often,  how  they  confessed  to  me  after 
wards,  when  on  good  terms.  I  had  a  largo  Bull  Dog 
which  saved  my  life  3  times,  when  they  came  slyly 
near  the  house  in  the  Night,  he  got  hold  of  them 
and  marked  most  severely,  in  a  short  time  removed 
my  Camps  on  the  very  spot  where  now  the  Ruins 
of  Sutters  fort  stands,  made  acquaintance  with  a 
few  Indians  which  came  to  work  for  a  short  time 
making  Adobes,  and  the  Canacas  was  building  3 
grass  houses,  like  it  is  customary  on  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  Before  I  came  up  here,  1  purchassed  Cattle 
&  Horses  on  the  Rancho  of  Sofior  Martinez,  and  had 
great  difficulties  &  trouble  to  get  them  up,  and  re 
ceived  thorn  at  least  on  the  22d  October  1839.  Not 
less  than  8  Men,  wanted  to  be  in  the  party,  as  they 
was  afraid  of  the  Indians,  and  had  good  reasons  to 
be  so. 

"  Before  I  got  the  Cattle  we  was  hunting  Deer  & 
Elk  etc  and  so  afterwards  to  safe  the  Cattle  as  I  had 
then  only  about  500  head,  50  horses  &  a  manada  of 
25  mares.  One  Year  that  is  in  the  fall  1840,  I  bought 
1000  head  of  Cattle  of  Don  Antonio  Sufiol  and  many 
horses  more  of  Don  Joaquin  Gomez  and  others.  In 
the  fall  1839  I  have  built  an  Adobe  house  covered 
with  Tule  and  two  other  small  buildings  which  in  the 
middle  of  the  fort,  they  was  afterwards  destroyed 
by  fire.  At  the  same  time  wo  cut  a  Road  through 
the  Woods  where  the  City  of  Sacramento  stand. then 
we  made  the  New^Embarcadcro,  where  the  old  Zink- 
houso  stands  now.  After  this  it  was  time  to  make  a 
Garden,  and  to  sow  some  Wheat  &c  we  broke  up  the 
soil  with  poor  California  ploughs,  I  had  a  few  Califor- 
nians  employed  as  Baqueros,  and  2  of  them  making 
Cal.  Carts  &  stocking  the  plougs  etc. 

''In  the  Spring  1840,  the  Indians  began  to  be 
troublesome  all  around  me,  Killing  and  Wounding 
Cattle  stealing  horses,  and  threatening  to  attack  us 
on  Mass,  I  was  obliged  to  make  Capaigns  against 
them  and  punish  them  severely,  a  little  later  about  2 
a  300  was  aproching  and  got  United  on  Cosumno 
River,  but  I  was  not  waiting  for  them,  left  a  small 
Garrison  at  home,  Canons  &  other  Arms  loaded,  and 
left  with  6  brave  men  &  2  Baquero's  in  the  night  and 
took  them  by  surprise  at  Day  light,  the  fighting  was 
a  little  hard,  but  after  having  lost  about  30  men, 
they  was  willing  to  make  a  treaty  with  me,  and 
after  this  lecon  they  behalved  very  well,  and  became 
my  best  friends  and  Soldiers,  with  which  I  has  been 
assisted  to  conquer  the  whole  Sacramento  and  a  part 
of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley. 

"At  the  time  the  Communication  with  the  Bay  was 
very  long  and  dangerous,  particularly  in  open  Boats, 
it  is  a  great  Wonder  that  we  got  not  swamped  a 
many  times,  all  time  with  an  Indian  Crew  and  a 
Canaca  at  the  helm.  Once  it  took  me  (in  December 
1839.)  16  days  to  go  down  to  Yerba  buena  and  to 


BIOGRAPHIC  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  SUITER. 


return,  1  went  down  again  on  the  22d  Xber  39.  to 
Yerba  buena  and  on  account  of  the  inclemency  of 
the  Weather  and  the  strong  current  in  the  River  I 
need  a  whole  month  (17  days  coming  up)  and  noarhT 
all  the  provisions  spoiled. 

"On  the  23d  Augt,  1841.  Capt.  Ringold  of  Coma- 
dore  Wilksc  Exploring  Squadron,  arrived  on  the 
Embarcadero,  piloted  by  one  of  the  Launches 
Indian  crew,  without  this  they  would  not  have 
found  so  easy  the  entrance  of  the  Sacramento.  They 
had  6  Whaleboats  &  1  Launch  7  Officers  and  about 
50  men  in  all,  I  was  very  glad  indeed  to  see  them, 
sent  immediately  saddled  horses  for  the  Officers,  and 
my  Clerk  with  an  invitation  to  come  and  sec  me,  at 
their  arrival  I  fired  a  salut,  and  furnished  them 
what  they  needed,  they  was  right  surprised  to  find 
me  up  here  in  this  Wilderness,  it  made  a  very  good 
impression  upon  the  Indians  to  see  so  many  whites 
are  coming  to  see  me,  they  surveyed  the  River  so  far 
as  the  Bates. 

"September  4th  1841.  Arrived  the  Russian  Govr 
Mr.  Alexander  Rottiheff  on  board  the  Schooner  Sac 
ramento,  and  offered  me  their  whole  Establishment 
at  Bodega  &  Ross  for  sale,  and  invited  me  to  come 
right  off  with  him,  as  there  is  a  Russian  Vessel  at 
Bodega,  and  some  Officers  withplein  power,  to  trans 
act  this  business  with  me,  and  particularly  they 
would  give  me  the  preference,  as  they  became  all 
acquainted  with  me,  during  a  months  stay  at  Sitka. 
I  left  and  went  with  him  down  to  the  Bay  in  Com 
pany  with  Capt.  Ringold's  Expedition,  what  for  a 
fleet  we  thought  then,  is  on  the  River.  Arriving  at 
Bodega,  we  came  very  soon  to  terms,  from  there  we 
went  to  fort  Ross  where  they  showed  me  everything 
and  returned  to  Bodega  again,  and  before  the  Vessel 
sailed  we  dined  on  board  the  Helena,  and  closed  the 
bargain  for  f 30, 000,  which  has  been  paid.  And  other 
property,  was  a  separate  account  which  has  been 
first  paid. 

"On  the  28th  of  September  I  dispatched  a  number  of 
men  and  my  Clerk  by  Land  to  Bodega,  to  receive 
the  Cattle,  Horses,  Mules  &  Sheep,  to  bring  them  up 
to  Sutler's  fort,  called  then  New  Helvetia,  by  crossing 
the  Sacramento  they  lost  me  from  about  2000  head 
about  100,  which  drowned  in  the  River,  but  of  most 
of  them  we  could  safe  the  hides,  our  Cal.  Banknotes 
at  the  time. 

"March  6, 1842.  Captain  Fremont  arrived  at  the 
port  with  Kit  Carson,  told  me  that  ho  was  an 
officer  of  the  U.  S.  and  left  a  party  behind  in  Dis 
tress  and  on  foot,  the  few  surviving  Mules  was 
packed  only  with  the  most  necessary,  1  received  him 
politely  and  his  Company  likewise  as  an  old  acquaint 
ance,  the  next  Morning  I  furnished  them  with 
fresh  horses,  &  a  Vaquero  with  a  pack  Mule  loaded 
with  Necessary  Supplies  for  his  Men.  Capt.  Fre 
mont  found  in  my  Establishment  every  thing  what 
he  needed,  that  he  could  travell  without  Delay,  he 
could  have  not  found  it  so  by  a  Spaniard,  perhaps 
by  a  great  Many  and  with  loosing  a  great  deal  of 
time.  I  sold  him  about  60  Mules  &  about  25  horses, 
and  fat  young  Steers  or  Beef  Cattle,  all  the  Mules  & 
horses  got  Shoed,  on  the  23d  March,  all  was  ready 
and  on  the  24th  he  left  with  his  party  for  the  U. 
States. 

"As  an  officer  of  the  Govt.  it  was  my  duty  to 
report  to  the  Govt.  that  Capt.  Fremont  arrived, 
Genl.  Micheltorena  dispatched  Lieut.  Col.  Telles 
(afterwards  Gov.  of  Sinalo)  with  Capt.,  Lieut.,  and 
25  Dragoons,  to  inquire  what  Captain  Fremonts 
business  was  here;  but  he  was  en  route  as  the  arrive 
only  on  the  27th,  from  this  time  on  Exploring, 


Hunting  &  Trapping  parties  has  been  started,  at 
the  same  time  Agricultural  &  Mechanical  business 
was  progressing  from  Year  to  year,  and  more  No 
tice  has  been  taken,  of  my  establishment,  it  became 
even  a  fame,  and  some  early  Distinguished  Travellers 
like  Doctor  Sandells,  Wasnosensky  &  others,  Cap 
tains  of  Trading  Vessels  &  Super  Cargos,  &  even 
Californians  (after  the  Indians  was  subdued)  came 
and  paid  me  a  visit,  and  was  astonished  to  see 
what  for  Work  of  all  kinds  has  been  done.  Small 
Emigrant  parties  arrived,  and  brought  me  some  very 
valuable  Men,  with  one  of  those  was  Major  Bidwell 
(he  was  about  4  Years  in  my  employ).  Major  Reading 
&  Major  Hensley  with  11  other  brave  men  arrived 
alone,  both  of  these  Gentlemen  has  been  2  Years  in 
my  employ,  with  these  parties  excellent  Mechanics 
arrived  which  was  all  employed  by  me,  likewise 
good  farmers,  we  made  i mediately  Amer.  ploughs 
was  made  in  my  Shops  and  all  kind  of  work  done, 
every  year  the  Russians  was  bound  to  furnish  me 
with  good  iron  &  Steel  &  files,  Articles  which  could 
not  be  got  here  likewise  Indian  Beeds  and  the  most 
important  of  all  was  100  Ib  of  fine  Rifle  &  100  Ib  of 
Canon  powder  and  several  100  Ib  of  Lead  (every 
year)  with  these  I  was  careful  like  with  Gold. 

"June  3d  1846.  I  left  in  company  of  Major  Read 
ing,  and  most  all  of  the  Men  in  my  employ,  for  a 
Campaign  with  the  Mukelemney  Indians,  which  has 
been  engaged  by  Castro  and  his  Officers  to  revolu 
tionize  all  the  Indians  against  me,  to  Kill  all  the 
foreigners,  burn  their  houses,  and  Wheat  fields  etc. 
These  Mukelemney  Indians  had  great  promessess 
and  some  of  them  were  finely  dressed  and  equiped, 
and  those  came  apparently  on  a  friendly  visit  to  the 
fort  and  Vicinity  and  long  Conversations  with  the 
influential  Men  of  the  Indians,  and  one  Night  a 
Number  of  them  entered  in  my  Potrero  (a  kind  of 
closed  pasture)  and  was  Ketching  horses  to  drive 
the  whole  Cavallada  away  with  them,  the  Sentinel 
at  the  fort  heard  the  distant  Noise  of  these  Horses, 
and  gave  due  notice,  &  imediately  I  left  with  about 
6  well  armed  Men  and  attacked  them,  but  they 
could  make  their  escape  in  the  Woods  (where  Sac. 
City  stands  now)  and  so  I  left  a  guard  with  the 
horses.  As  we  had  to  cross  the  Mukelemney  River 
on  rafts,  one  of  these  rafts  capsized  with  10  Rifles, 
and  6  prs  of  Pistols,  a  good  supply  of  Amunition, 
and  the  clothing  of  about  24  Men,  and  Major 
Reading  &  another  Man  nearly  drowned. 

"June  16th  1846.  Merritt  &  Kit  Carson  arrived 
with  News  of  Sonoma  beeing  occupied  by  the  Amer 
icans,  and  the  same  evening  arrived  as  prissoners 
Genl.  Vallejo,  Don  Salvador  Vallejo,  Lt.  Col.  Prudon 
&  M.  Loese,  and  given  under  my  charge  and  Care,  I 
have  treated  them  with  kindness  and  so  good  as  I 
could,  which  was  reported  to  Fremont,  and  he  then 
told  me,  that  prissoners  ought  not  to  be  treated  so, 
then  1  told  him,  if  it  is  not  right  how  I  treat  them, 
to  give  them  in  charge  of  somebody  else. 

"Capt.  Montgomery  did  send  an  Amer.  flag  by 
Lieut.  Revere  than  in  Command  of  Sonoma,  and 
some  dispatches  to  Fremont,  1  received  the  Order  to 
hiss  the  flag  by  Sunrise  from  Lt.  Revere,  long  time 
before  daybreak,  I  got  ready  with  loading  the 
Canons  and  when  it  was  day  the  roaring  of  the 
Canons  got  the  people  all  stirring.  Some  them  made 
long  faces,  as  they  thought  if  the  Bear  flag  would 
remain  there  would  be  a  better  chance  to  rob  and 
plunder.  Capt.  Fremont  received  Orders  to  proceed 
to  Monterey  with  his  forces,  Capt.  Montgomery 
provided  for  the  upper  Country,  established  Garri 
sons  in  all  important  places,  Yerba  buena,  Sonoma, 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


San  Jose,  and  fort  Sacramento.  Lieut.  Missroon 
camo  to  organize  our  Garrison  better  and  more 
Numbers  of  white  Men  and  Indians  of  my  former 
Soldiers,  and  gave  mo  the  Command  of  this  Fort. 
The  Indians  have  not  yet  received  their  pay  yet  for 
their  services,  only  each  one  a  shirt  and  a  pre.  of 
pants,  &  abt.  12  men  got  Coats.  So  went  the  War  on  : 
in  California.  Capt.  Fremont  was  nearly  all  time 
engaged  in  the  lower  Country  and  made  himself 
Governor,  until  Genl.  Kearney  arrived,  when  an 
other  Revolution  took  place.  And  Fremont^  for  : 
disobeying  Orders  was  made  prissoner  by  Genl. 
Kearney,  who  took  him  afterwards  with  him  to  the 
U.  States  by  Land  across  the  Mountains.  After  the 
War  I  was  anxious  that  Business  should  go  on  like 
before,  and  on  the  28lh  May,  1847;  Marshall  & 
Gingery,  two  Millwrights,  I  employed  to  survey  the 
large  Millraise  for  the  Flour  Mill  at  Brighton. 

"May  13th,  1847.  Mr.  Marshall  commenced  the 
great  work  of  the  large  Millraise.  with  ploughs  and 
scrapers. 

"  July  20th,  1847.  Got  all  the  necessary  timber 
and  frame  of  the  millbuilding. 

"  Augt.  25th.  Capt  Hart  of  the  Mormon  Battaillon 
arrived,  with  a  good  many  of  his  Men  on  their 
Way  to  great  Salt  Lake,  they  had  Orders  for  Govt. 
Horses,  which  I  delivered  to  them,  (War  Horses) 
not  paid  for  yet.  They  bought  provisions  and 
got  Blacksmith  work  done.  I  employed  about 
Eighty  Men  of  them,  some  as  Mechanics,  some  as 
laborers,  on  the  Mill  and  Millraise  at  Brighton,  some 
as  laborers  at  the  Sawmill  at  Columa. 

"Augt.  28th.  1847.  Marshall  moved,  with  P. 
Wisners  family  and  the  working  hands  to  Columa. 
and  began  to  work  briskly  on  the  sawmill. 

"  Septr.  10th.  Mr.  Sam'l  Brannan  returned  from 
the  great  Salt  Lake,  and  announced  a  largo  Emigra 
tion  by  land.  On  tho  19th  the  Garrison  was 
removed,  Liout't  Per  Lee  took  her  down  to  San 
fran  cisco. 

"  Novr.  1th.  Getting  with  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
and  with  breaking  wagons  the  four  Runs  of  Mill 
stones,  to  tho  Mill  Sit  (Brighton)  from  the  Mountains. 

"Decembr.  22.  Received  about  2000  fruit  trees 
with  great  expenses  from  Fort  Ross,  Napa  Valley 
and  other  places,  which  was  given  in  Care  of  men 
who  called  themselves  Gardeners,  and  nearly  all  of 
the  trees  was  neglected  by  them  and  died. 

"January  28th,  1848.  Marshall  arrived  in  the  eve 
ning,  it  was  raining  very  heavy,  but  he  told  me  that 
he  came  on  important  business,  after  wo  was  alone 
in  a  private  Room  he  showed  me  tho  first  Specimens 
of  Gold,  that  is  he  was  not  certain  if  it  was  Gold  or 
not,  but  ho  thought  it  might  be;  immediately  I  made 
the  proof  and  found  that  it  was  Gold,  I  told  him 
even  that  most  of  all  is  23  Carat  Gold;  he  wished 
that  I  should  come  up  with  him  immediately,  but  L 
told  him  that  I  have  to  give  first  my  orders  to  the 
people  in  all  my  factories  and  shops. 

"February  1th.  Left  for  the  Sawmill  attended  by 
a  Baquero-  (Olimpio)  was  absent  2d,  3d,  4th,  &  5th, 
I  examined  myself  everything  and  picked  up  a  few 
Specimens  of  Gold  myself  in  the  tail  race  of  tho 
Sawmill,  this  Gold  and  others  which  Marshall  and 
some  of  the  other  laborers  gave  to  me  (it  was  found 
while  in  my  employ  and  Wages)  I  told  them  that  I 
would  arinirgotmade-of  it  so  soon  as  the  Goldsmith 
would  be  here.  1  had  a  talk  with  my  employed 
people  all  at  the  Sawmill,  1  told  them  that  as  they 
do  know  now  that  this  Metal  is  Gold,  I  wished  that 
they  would  do  me  the  great  favor  and  keep  it  secret 
only  6  weeks,  because  my  large  Flour  Mill  at  Brighton 


would  have  been  in  Operation  in  such  a  time,  which 
undertaking  would  have  been  a  fortune  to  me.  and 
unfortunately  the  people  would  not  keep  it  secret, 
and  so  I  lost  on  this  Mill  at  the  lowest  calculation 
about  §25,000. 

"  March  7th.  The  first  party  of  Mormons,  em 
ployed  by  me  left  for  washing  and  digging  Gold  and 
very  soon  all  followed,  and  left  mo  only  the  sick  and 
the  lame  behind.  And  at  this  time  1  could  say  that 
every  body  left  me  from  the  Clerk  to  tho  Cook.  What 
for  great  Damages  I  had  to  suffer  in  my  tannery  which 
was  just  doing  a  profitable  and  extensive  business, 
and  the  Vatts  was  left  filled  and  a  quantity  of  half 
finished  leather  was  spoiled  likewise  a  large  quantity 
of  raw  hides  collected  by  the  farmers  and  of  my  own 
killing.  The  same  thing  was  in  every  branch  of 
business  which  I  carried  on  at  the  time.  I  began  to 
harvest  my  wheat,  while  others  was  digging  and 
washing  Gold,  but  even  the  Indians  could  not  be 
kceped  longer  at  Work,  they  was  impatient  to  run 
to  the  mines,  and  other  Indians  had  informed  them 
of  the  Gold  and  its  value;  and  so  I  had  to  leave 
more  as  §  of  my  harvest  in  the  fields. 

"  April  18th,  1848,  more  curious  people  arrived. 
bound  for  tho  Mountains.  I  left  for  Columa,  in 
Company  with  Major  P.  B.  Reading  and  Mr.  Kembel 
(Editor  of  the  Alta-C alifornid)  we  wore  absent  4 
Days,  wo  was  prospecting  and  found  Silver  and 
iron  or  in  abundance. 

"  April  28th.  A  great  many  people  more  went  up 
to  tho  Mountains.  This  day  the  Saw  mill  was  in 
Opei-ation  and  the  first  Lumber  has  been  sawed  in 
the  whole  upper  Country. 

"  May  1th.  Saml  Brannan  was  building  a  store  at 
Natoma,  Mormon  Islands.,  and  have  done  a  very 
large  and  heavy  business. 

"  May  15th.  Paid  of  all  the  Mormons  which  has 
been  employed  by  me,  in  building  these  Mills  and 
other  Mechanical  trades,  all  of  them  made  their  pile, 
and  some  of  them  became  rich  &  wealthy,  but  all  of 
them  was  bound  to  the  great  Salt  Lake,  and  spent 
there  their  fortunes  to  tho  honor  and  Glory  of  tho 
Lord  ! 

"  May  19th.  Tho  great  Rush  from  San  Francisco 
arrived  at  tho  fort,  all  my  friends  and  acquaintances 
filled  up  tho  houses  and  the  whole  fort,  I  had  only  a 
little  Indian  boy,  to  make  them  roasted  Ripps,  etc. 
as  my  Cooks  left  me  like  every  body  else,  the  Mer 
chants,  Doctors,  Lawyers,  Sea  Captains,  Merchants, 
etc.  all  came  up  and  did  not  know  what  to  do,  all 
was  in  a  Confusion,  all  left  thoir  wives  and  families 
in  San  Francisco,  and  those  which  had  none  locked 
their  Doors,  abandoned  their  houses,  offered  them 
for  sale  cheap,  a  few  hundred  Dollars  House  &  Lot 
(Lots  which  arc  worth  now  $100,000  and  more) 
some  of  these  men  were  just  like  greazy.  Some  of 
the  Merchants  has  been  the  most  prudentost  of  the 
whole,  visited  tho  Minos  and  returned  immediately 
and  began  to  do  a  very  profitable  business,  and  soon 
Vessels  came  from  every  where  with  all  Kind  of 
Merchandize,  the  whole  old  thrash  which  was  laying 
for  Years  unsold,  on  the  Coasts  of  South  &  Central 
America,  Mexico,  Sandwich  Islands  etc.  all  found  a 
good  market  here. 

"Mr.  Brannan  was  erecting  a  very  large  Wai'ehouse, 
and  have  done  an  immense  business,  connected  with 
Howard  &  Green;  S.  Francisco.  - 

"  May  21th.  Saml  Kyburg  errected  or  established 
the  first  Hotel  in  the  fort  in  the  larger  building,  and 
made  a  great  deal  of  Money.  A  great  Many  traders 
deposited  a  great  deal  of  goods  in  my  Store  (an 
Indian  was  the  Key  Keeper  and  performed  very 


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BIOGRAPHIC  SKETCH  OF  GENERAL  SUTTER. 


45 


well)  afterwards  every  little  Shanty  became  a  Ware 
house  and  Store,  the  fort  was  then  a  veritable 
Bazaar.  As  white  people  would  not  be  employed  at 
the  Time  I  had  a  few  good  Indians  attending  to  the 
Ferry  boat,  and  every  night  came  up,  and  delivered 
the  received  Money  for  ferryage  to  me,  after  deduc 
tion  for  a  lew  bottles  of  brandy,  for  the  whole  of 
them,  perhaps  some  white  people  at  the  time  would 
not  have  acted  so  honestly. 

'•  May  25th.  The  travelling  to  the  Mines  was 
increasing  from  day  to  day,  and  no  more  Notice  was 
taken,  as  the  people  arrived  from  South  America. 
Mexico,  Sandwich  Islands,  Oregon  etc.  All  the  Ships 
Crews,  and  Soldiers  deserted.  In  the  beginning  of 
July,  Col.  Mason  our  Military  Governor,  with  Capt 
Sherman  (Secretary  of  State)  Capt.  Folsom  Quar 
trmstr,  and  an  Escort  of  which  some  deserted,  and 
some  other  Gentlemen,  travelled  in  Company  with 
the  Governor. 

"  As  we  wanted  to  celebrate  the  4th  of  July  we 
invited  the  Governor  and  his  suite  to  remain  with 
us,  and  he  accepted.  Kyburg  gave  us  a  good  Diner 
every  thing  was  pretty  well  arranged.  Pinkett  was 
the  Orator.  It  was  well  done  enough  for  such  a  new 
Country  and  in  such  an  excitement  and  Confusion. 
And  from  this  time  on  you  know  how  every  thing- 
was  going  on  here.  One  thing  is  certain  that  the 
people  looked  on  my  property  as  their  own,  and  in 
the  Winter  of  1849  to  1850.  A  great  Number  of 
horses  has  been  stolen  from  me,  whole  Manadas  of 
MM  res  driven  away  and  taken  to  Oregon  etc.  Nearly 
my  whole  Stock  of  Cattle  has  been  Killed,  several 
thousands  and  left  me  only  a  very  small  Quantity. 
The  same  has  been  done  with  my  large  stock  of 
Hogs,  which  was  running  like  ever  under  nobodies 
care  and  so  it  was  easy  to  steal  them,  I  had  not  an 
Idea  that  people  could  be  so  mean,  and  that  they 
would  do  a  Wholesale  business  in  Stealing. 

"On  the  Upper  Sacramento,  that  is,  from  the  Buttcs 
downward  to  the  point  or  mputh  of  feather  Eiver. 
there  was  most  all  of  my  Stock  running  and  during 
the  Overflow  the  Cattle  was  in  a  many  bands  on 
high  spots  like  Islands,  there  was  a  fine  chance  to 
approach  them  in  small  Boats  and  shoot  them,  this 
business  has  been  very  successfully  done  by  one 
party  of  5  Men  (partners)  which  had  besides  hired 
people,  and  Boats  Crew's  which  transported  the  bed' 
to  the  Market  at  Sacramento  City  and  furnished 
that  City  with  my  own  beef,  and  because  these  Men 
was  nearly  alone,  on  account  of  the  Overflow,  and 
Monopolized  the  Market. 

"  In  the  Spring  of  1850,  these  5  men  divided  their 
Spoil  of  $60,000  clear  profits  made  of  Cattle,  all  of 
them  left  for  the  Atlantic  State;  one  of  them 
returned  again  in  the  Winter  from  1850  to  51,  hired 
a  new  band  of  Robers  to  follow  the  same  business 
and  kill  of  the  balance  of  the  few  that  was  left.  My 
Baqueros  found  out  this  Nest  of  thiefs  in  ther  Camp 
butchering  just  some  head  of  my  Cattle,  on  their 
return  they  informed,  me  what  they  have  seen,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  same  Camp  they  saw  some 
more  cows  shot  dead,  which  the  Rascal  then  butch 
ered.  Immediately  I  did  send  to  Nicolaus  for  the 
Sheriff  (Jas  Hopkins)  as  then  at  the  time  we  had 
laws  in  force?!?  after  all  was  stolen  and  destroyed 
the  Sheriff  arrived  at  Hock  farm  I  furnished  him  a 
Posse  of  my  employed  Men.  they  proceeded  over 
on  the  Sacramento  to  where  the  thiefs  were  en 
camped,  as  the  Sheriff  wanted  to  arrest  them  they 
just  jumped  in  their  Boats  and  off  they  went,  the 
Sheriff  threatened  them  to  fire  at  them,  but  they 
was  all,  and  laughing  they  went  at  large. 


"One  day  my  Son  was  riding  after  Stock  a  few  miles 
below  Hock  farm,  he  found  a  Man  (his  name  was 
Owens)  butchering  one  of  our  finest  milch  Cows  (of 
Durham  stock  of  Chile,  which  cost  $300.)  He  told 
the  Man  that  he  could  not  take  the  Meat,  that  he 
would  go  home  and  get  people,  and  so  he  has  done, 
and  he  got  people  and  a  Wagon  and  returned  to  the 
Spot,  but  Owens  found  it  good  to  clear  out.  Two 
brothers  of  this  Man,  was  respectable  Merchants  in 
Lexington,.  Mo.  and  afterwards  in  Westport  well 
acquainted  with  me,  he  came  one  day  in  my  house 
and  brought  me  their  compliments,  I  received  him 
well,  and  afterwards  turned  out  to  be  a  thief.  How 
many  of  this  kind  came  to  California  which  loosed 
their  little  honor  by  crossing  the  Istmus  or  the  plains. 
I  had  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  speculations,  but 
stuck  by  the  plough,  but  by  paying  such  high  Wages, 
and  particularly  under  Kyburg'  management,  I  have 
done  this  business  with  a  heavy  loss  as  the  produce 
had  no  more  the  Value  like  before,  and  from  the  time 
on  Kyburg  left  I  curtailed  my  business  considerable, 
and  so  far  that  I  do  all  at  present  with  my  family 
and  a  few  Indian  Servants.  I  did  not  speculate,  only 
occupied  my  land,  in  the  hope  that  it  would  be  before 
long  decided  and  in  my  favor  by  the  U.  S.  Land  Com 
mission;  but  now  already  3  years  &  two  months  have 
elapsed,  and  I  am  waiting  now  very  anxiously  for 
the  Decision,  which  will  revive  or  bring  me  to  the 
untimely  grave. 

"  All  the  other  Circumstances  you  know  all  your 
self,  perhaps  I  have  repeated  many  things  which  I 
wrote  in  the  3  first  sheets,  because  I  had  them  not 
to  see  what  I  wrote,  and  as  it  is  now  s.everal  months 
I  must  have  forgotten,  well  it  is  only  a  kind  of  mem 
orandum,  and  not  a  History  at  all,  Only  to  remember 
you  on  the  different  periods  when  such  and  such 
things  happened. 

"  I  need  not  mention  again,  that  all  the  Visitors  has 
all  ways  been  hospitably  received  and  treated.  That 
all  the  sick  and  wounded  found  always  Medical  As 
sistance,  Gratis,  as  I  had  nearly  all  the  time  a  Physi 
cian  in  my  employ.  The  Assistance  to  the  Emi 
grants  that  is  all  well  known.  I  dont  need  to  write 
anything  about  this. 

"  I  think  now  from  all  this  you  can  form  some  facts, 
and  that  you  can  mention  how  thousands  and  thou 
sands  made  their  fortunes  from  this  Gold  Discovery 
produced  through  my  industry  and  energy,  (some 
wise  merchants  and  others  in  San  francisco  called 
the  building  of  this  Sawmill,  another  of  Sutler's 
folly)  and  this  folly  saved  not  only  the  Mercantile 
World  from  bankruptcy,  but  even  our  General  Govt. 
but  for  me  it  has  turned  out  a  folly,  then  without 
having  discovered  the  Gold,  I  would  have  become  the 
richest  wealthiest  man  on  the  Pacific  Shore. 

J.  A.  SUTTER." 

James  C.  Ward,  who  visited  Gen.  Sutter  in  1848, 
says  of  him  : — 

"  A  Swiss  by  birth,  he  held  during  the  reign  of 
Charles  X.  the  rank  of  captain  in  the  French  army. 
He  purchased  the  buildings  at  Ross,  just  north  of 
Bodega,  of  the  Russians,  and  as  he  proposed  to  set 
tle  the  wilderness  to  the  north  of  the  Bay  of  San 
Francisco  with  European  immigrants,  the  Mexican 
Government  made  him  a  grant  of  eleven  leagues  of 
land  on  the  Sacramento  river.  After  landing  he 
camped,  surrounded  by  hostile  savages,  in  the  open 
plain  where  the  fort  was  afterward  built,  and  the 
next  morning,  after  dressing  in  full  uniform,  he  went, 
accompanied  by  his  Indian  servant,  both  well  armed, 
to  the  Indian  village  in  the  woods  near  by.  The 


46 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


savages  were  informed  through  the  interpreter  that 
he  came  to  them  as  a  friend,  and  if  they  would  help 
him  a  little  with  their  labor,  he  would  make  them 

presents. 

"The  Indians  were  set  to  work  to  make  adobes, 
of  which  the  fort  was  built.  It  is  a  parallelogram 
in  form,  with  two  bastions.  In  the  middle  of  the 
square  is  a  building  two  stories  high,  containing  four 
rooms,  and  a  counting-room  upstairs.  A  black 
smith  shop,  mill  for  grinding  corn,  scrape  manufac 
tory  and  dwelling  are  around  it,  built  against  the 
walls  of  the  fort.  At  one  time  he  had  a  well-drilled 
force  of  thirty  Indians  within  its  walls,  with  guards 
posted  night  and  day  for  its  defense.  No  one  reached 
it  without  being  fed  and  lodged. 

"  1  passed  the  evening  of  my  arrival,  after  supper, 
in  bis  company.  His  manners  arc  polished,  and  the 
impression  he  makes  on  every  one  is  very  favorable. 
In  figure  he  is  of  medium  height,  rather  stout,  but 
well  made.  His  head  is  round,  features  regular,  with 
smiling  and  agreeable  expression;  complexion 
healthy  and  roseate.  He  wears  his  hair  cut  close, 
and  his  moustache  trimmed  short,  a  la  militaire.  He 
dressed  very  neatly  in  frock  coat,  pantaloons  and  cap 
of  blue,  and  with  his  gold-headed  malacca  in  hand, 
you  would  rather  suppose  him  prepared  for  a  saunter 
on  the  Boulevards  than  a  consultation  with  Simplon, 
his  Indian  alcalde,  about  hands  required  for  the  day's 
work,  or  ox-teams  to  be  dispatched  here  and  there." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    KING'S    ORPHAN. 

His  Observations  in  the  Sacramento  Valley  in  1843 — Indications 
of  Gold — Life  at  Sutler's  Fort — Indian  Gourmands — Won 
derful  Fertility  of  the  Land. 

IN  1843  a  young  Swedish  scholar  visited  Sutter's 
Fort,  and  made  observations  which  are  now  highly 
interesting.  He  had  been  educated  at  a  Government 
institution,  and,  on  that  account,  was  known  as  one 
of  the  "  King's  Orphans."  One  of  the  requirements 
of  the  school  was  that  the  pupil,  after  receiving  a 
gratuitous  education,  should  travel  in  foreign  lands, 
write  out  his  observations  and  discoveries,  and  de 
posit  them  in  the  library  of  the  institution.  In  pur 
suance  of  that  duty,  the  young  Swede  found  his  way 
to  California,  made  drawings  of  the  Golden  Gate, 
the  town  of  Yerba  Buena,  and  the  old  Presidio,  vis 
ited  and  described  Sutter's  Fort,  and,  on  his  way 
home,  died  at  New  Orleans.  His  papers  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Col.  T.  B.  Thorpe,  who  reported  them  to 
the  Associated  Pioneers  of  the  Territorial  Days  of 
California.  While  examining  the  country  surround 
ing  Sutler's  Fort,  in  1843,  the  "  Orphan  "  wrote  : — 

"The  Californias  arc  rich  in  minerals.  Gold,  sil 
ver,  lead,  oxide  of  iron,  manganese,  and  copper  ore 
are  met  with  throughout  the  country,  the  precious 
metals  being  the  most  abundant." 

Describing  Sutter's  establishment,  the  Swedish 
traveler  said  : — 

"  It  has  more  the  appearance  of  a  fort  than  a  farm 
ing  establishment.  It  is  protected  by  a  wall  ten  feet 
high,  made  of  adobes,  or  sun-dried  brick,  having  a 
turret  with  embrasures  and  loop-holes  for  fire-arms. 
Twenty-four  pieces  of  cannon,  of  different  sizes,  can 
be  brought  to  defend  the  walls.  Against  the  walls 


on  the  inside  are  erected  the  store-houses  oi  the  es 
tablishment  ;  also,  a  distillery  to  make  spirits  from 
the  wheat  and  grapes,  together  with  shops  for  coop 
ers,  blacksmiths,  saddlers,  gi'anaiie«,  and  huts  for  the 
laborers.  At  the  gate- way  is  always  stationed  a  ser 
vant,  armed  as  a  sentinel.  1  arrived  at  the  estab 
lishment  in  the  morning,  just  as  the  people  were  be 
ing  assembled  for  labor  by  the  discordant  notes  of  a 
Mexican  drum.  I  found  Captain  Sutter  busily  em 
ployed  in  distributing  orders  for  the  day.  He  re 
ceived  me  with  great  hospitality,  and  made  me  feel 
on  the  instant,  perfectly  at  home  under  his  roof.  The 
magical  sound  of  the  drum  had  gathered  together 
several  hundred  Indians,  who  flocked  to  their  morn 
ing  meal  preparatory  to  the  labors  of  the  day,  reap 
ing  wheat.  The  morning  meal  over,  they  filed  off  to 
the  field  in  a  kind  of  military  order,  armed  with  a 
sickle  and  hook. 

"  Breakfast  was  by  this  time  announced  for  the 
family,  which  was  served  up  in  an  out-house  adjoin 
ing  the  kitchen.  It  consisted  of  wholesome  corn- 
bread,  eggs,  ham,  an  excellent  piece  of  venison,  and 
coffee.  In  the  rear  of  the  fort  is  a  large  pond,  the 
borders  of  which  are  planted  with  willows  and  other 
trees.  This  pond  furnishes  water  for  domestic  use, 
and  for  irrigating  the  garden.  The  want  of  rain  is 
the  greatest  evil  that  befalls  the  country.  In  the 
front  of  the  fort  there  are  inclosures  for  horses  and 
cattle,  and  places  to  deposit  corn  and  wheat.  The 
manner  of  threshing  was  conducted  on  a  most  patri 
archal  plan,  the  grain  being  strewn  upon  the  floor 
and  then  trodden  out  by  horses  or  cattle,  which  causes 
it  to  bo  much  broken  and  mixed  with  the  earth,  and 
almost  impossible  to  clean. 

"The  raising  of  wheat,  corn,  horses,  and  cattle, 
constitutes  the  principal  business  of  Captain  Sutter  ; 
but  he  has  realized  considerable  income  from  the  sal 
mon  fisheries  of  the  rivers,  the  fish  being  uncqualed 
in  flavor,  and  found  in  the  greatest  abundance.  He 
also  organized  extensive  hunting  and  trapping  expe 
ditions  for  the  skins  of  the  beaver,  otter,  elk,  deer, 
and  antelope,  but  in  this  he  was  greatly  interfered 
with  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  who  sent  their 
hunters  upon  his  grounds.  Ho  complained  to  the 
proper  authorities,  but  they  paid  no  attention  to  the 
matter.  His  enemies,  not  content  with  thus  injur 
ing  him,  informed  the  suspicious  Mexican  Govern 
ment  that  Captain  Sutter  was  concocting  revolu 
tionary  plans,  and  that  he  encouraged  deserters  and 
other  disorderly  persons  to  live  at  his  settlement. 
Captain  Sutter  replied  to  these  charges  by  stating 
that  he  had  received  the  grant  of  his  lands  on  condi 
tion  that  he  should  obtain  settlers,  the  principal  por 
tion  of  whom  he  expected  from  Europe.  To  make 
amends,  he  had  encouraged  all  the  stragglers  in  the 
country  to  flock  to  his  central  position,  and  they  be 
ing  chiefly  unmarried  men,  and  some  rather  lalwess 
spirits  from  the  mountains,  they  soon  formed  a  very 
independent  set  of  men,  and  were  quite  competent 
to  defend  themselves. 

"  The  Government  at  Monterey  was  not  satisfied 
with  this  explanation,  and  urged  on  by  envious  neigh 
bors,  it  was  prompted  to  send  to  Captain  Sutter  a 
committee  of  investigation.  The  Captain  was  so  en 
raged  at  the  indignity  that  he  treated  the  committee 
with  great  contempt,  and  said  he  could  defend  him 
self  against  any  force  that  might  be  employed  against 
him.  Whereupon  the  Government  at  Monterey 
threatened  to  send  a  military  force,  but  thought  bet 
ter  of  the  matter  when  they  learned  the  character 
of  the  men  Sutter  had  about  him,  and  the  Russian 
armament  he  had  mounted  on  the  walls  of  the  fort; 


BUTTER'S  FORT  IN  1846. 


47 


but  they  annoyed  him  with  lawsuits,  and,  after  a 
great  deal  of  difficulty,  he  was  acquitted  of  any 
treasonable  designs  against  the  Government. 

"  The  Hudson  Bay  Company  having  destroyed  his 
trade  in  i'urs,  he  retaliated  upon  them  by  erecting  a 
large  distillery,  with  the  product  of  which  ho  se 
cretly  purchased  from  the  hunters  of  the  Company 
the  greater  part  of  their  furs,  and  managed  to  make 
more  by  the  operation  than  if  he  had  kept  up  a  large 
hunting  establishment  of  his  own. 

';  Mr.  Sinclair,  a  partner  with  Captain  Sutter  in 
farming  pursuits,  and  a  Mr.  Grimes,  have  large  and 
productive  farms  on  the  American  Fork.  Mr.  Sin 
clair  is  from  Scotland,  is  a  very  interesting  gentle 
man  in  conversation,  and  possesses  great  enterprise 
in  business.  He  was  a  hunter  for  many  years  among 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  acting  as  a  clerk  to  one  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company's  expeditions.  Ho  treated  me 
to  a  rural  breakfast,  and,  in  accordance  with  his  old 
habits,  broiled  his  meat  on  a  ramrod  stuck  up  be 
fore  the  fire.  The  limpid  and  beautiful  river  near 
which  his  home  is  situated,  is  made  doubly  attractive 
when  compared  with  the  sultry  .plains  in  the  vicinity, 
upon  which  good  water  is  not  always  to  be  ob 
tained."  . 

The  "  Orphan  "  explains  the  process  of  Indian  sig 
nal-fires: — 

"  A  hole  is  dug  in  the  ground  much  wider  at  the 
bottom  than  at  the  top;  this  hole  is  filled  with  com 
bustibles  and  set  on  fire;  once  well  ignited  the  hole 
is  nearly  closed  at  the  opening.  By  this  means  the 
smoke  rises  to  a  considerable  height  in  a  column,  and 
thus  information  is  conveyed  to  different  tribes  of  the 
approach  of  an  enemy  or  friend,  and  whether  they 
are  coming  in  largo  or  small  bodies." 

The  gluttonous  habits  of  the  Indians  are  described: 

"  The  Indians  that  constituted  the  crew  of  the 
schooner,  having  been  rather  stinted  of  food  for  a 
day  or  two,  determined  on  a  feast  as  a  recompense 
for  their  previous  fasting.  They  presented  on  that 
occasion  a  spectacle  I  had  never  before  witnessed  of 
disgusting  sensual  indulgence,  the  effect  of  which  on 
their  conduct,  struck  me  as  being  exceedingly 
strange.  The  moat  of  the  heifer,  most  rudely  cooked, 
was  oaten  in  a  voracious  manner.  After  gorging 
themselves  they  would  lie  down  and  sleep  for  a  while, 
and  get  up  and  eat  again.  They  repeated  this  glut 
tony  until  they  actually  lost  their  senses,  and  pre 
sented  in  their  conduct  all  the  phenomena  peculiar 
to  an  over-indulgence  in  spirituous  liquors.  They 
cried  and  laughed  by  turns,  rolled  upon  the  ground, 
dozed,  and  then  sprang  up  in  a  state  of  delirium. 
The  following  morning  they  were  all  wretchedly 
sick,  and  had  the  expression  peculiar  to  drunken 
men  recovering  their  reason  after  a  debauch." 

The  great  fertility  of  the  soil  in  parts  of  the  Sac 
ramento  valley  is  referred  to  as  follows  : — 

"  Vegetables  of  all  kinds  can  be  raised  in  the  great 
est  abundance,  frequently  two  or  three  crops  a  year. 
Wormwood  and  wild  mustard  abound  as  weeds.  Oats 
grow  wild,  and  the  cultivated  grow  to  an  enormous 
height.  Wheat  crops  sown  in  the  Fall,  early  the  fol 
lowing  year  have  yielded  one  hundred  and  fourteen 
bushels  to  the  acre.  At  the  Mission  of  St.  Joseph  it 
was  ascertained  that  the  yield  was  one  hundred  and 
twenty  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  the  spontaneous  crop 
the  following  year  was  sixty  bushels  to  the  acre. 
The  wheat  of  Taos  has  six  distinct  heads.  Clover 
and  the  grasses  are  extraordinarily  fine  and  pro 
ductive.  Indian  flax  grows  wild  all  over  the  coun 
try.  Horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs  thrive  well,  and 


are  possessed  in  greater  or  less  numbers  by  all   the 
inhabitants,  and  are  tended  by  herdsmen." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

BUTTER'S    FORT    IN    1846. 

Aspect  of  Sacramento  Valley — Sinclair's  Ranch — A  Lady  Pion 
eer — Captain  Sutter  at  Home — The  Fort  Described — Condi 
tion  and  Occupation  of  the  Indians — Farm  Products  and 
Prices — Dinner  with  the  Pioneer — New  Helvetia. 

THE  following  interesting  and  accurate  description 
of  Sutler's  Fort,  before  the  gold  discovery,  is  from 
Edwin  Bryant's  work,  "  What  I  Saw  in  Calfforuia," 
published  in  1849.  Mr.  Bryant,  with  a  party  of  nine 
persons,  left  Independence,  Missouri,  on  the  1st  of 
May,  1846,  and  reached  Sutter's  Fort  about  midsum 
mer,  when  he  took  the  following  observations  : — 

"  Sept.  1,  1846.  A  clear,  pleasant  morning.  We 
took  a  south  course  down  the  valley,  and  at  4  o'clock 
p.  M.  reached  the  residence  of  John  Sinclair,  Esq., 
on  the  Rio  de  los  Americanos,  about  two  miles  east 
of  Sutter's  Fort.  The  valley  of  the  Sacramento,  as  far 
as  we  have  traveled  down  it,  is  from  thirty  to  forty 
miles  in  width,  from  the  foot  of  the  low  benches  of 
the  Sierra  Nevada  to  the  elevated  range  of  hills  on 
the  western  side.  The  composition  of  the  soil  ap 
pears  to  be  such  as  to  render  it  highly  productive, 
with  proper  cultivation,  of  the  small  grains.  The 
ground  is  trodden  up  by  immense  herds  of  cattle 
and  horses,  which  grazed  here  early  in  the  Spring, 
when  it  was  wet  and  apparently  miry.  We  passed 
through  large  evergreen  oak  groves,  some  of  them 
miles  in  width.  Game  is  very  abundant.  We  fre 
quently  saw  deer  feeding  quietly  one  or  two  hundred 
yards  from  us,  and  large  flocks  of  antelopes. 

"Mr.  Sinclair,  with  a  number  of  horses  and  In 
dians,  was  engaged  in  threshing  wheat.  His  crop 
this  year,  he  informed  me,  would  be  about  three 
thousand  bushels.  The  soil  of  his  rancho,  situated 
in  the  bottom  of  the  Rio  de  los  Americanos,  just 
above  its  junction  with  the  Sacramento,  is  highly 
fertile.  His  wheat-fields  are  secured  against  the 
numerous  herds  of  cattle  and  horses,  which  consti 
tute  the  largest  item  in  the  husbandry  of  this  coun 
ty  by  ditches  about  five  feet  in  depth,  and  four  or 
five  feet  over  at  the  surface.  The  dwelling-house 
and  outhouses  of  Mr.  Sinclair  are  all  constructed 
after  American  models,  and  present  a  most  com 
fortable  and  neat  appearance.  It  was  a  pleasant 
scene,  after  having  traveled  many  months  in  the 
wilderness,  to  survey  this  abode  of  apparent  thrift 
and  enjoyment,  resembling  so  nearly  those  we  had 
left  in  the  far-off  country  behind  us. 

"In  searching  for  the  ford  over  the  Rio  de  los 
Americanos,  in  order  to  proceed  on  to  Sutter's  Fort, 
I  saw  a  lady  of  a  graceful,  though  fragile  figure, 
dressed  in  the  costume  of  our  own  countrywomen. 
She  was  giving  some  directions  to  her  female  ser 
vants,  and  did  not  discover  me  until  I  spoke  to  her, 
and  inquired  the  position  of  the  ford.  Her  pale  and 
delicate,  but  handsome  and  expressive  countenance, 
indicated  much  surprise,  produced  by  my  sudden 
and  unexpected  salutation.  But,  collecting  herself, 
she  replied  to  my  inquiry  in  vernacular  English,  and 
the  sounds  of  her  voice,  speaking  our  own  lano-uao-e 
and  her  civilized  appearance,  were  highly  pleasino-. 
This  lady,  1  presume,  was  Mrs.  Sinclair;  but  I  never 
saw  her  afterwards. 

"  Crossing  the  Rio  do  los  Americanos,  the  waters 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


of  which,  at  this  season,  are  quite  shallow  at  the 
ford,  we  proceeded  over  a  well- beaten  road  to  Sut 
ler's  Fort,  arriving  there  when  the  sun  was  about 
an  hour  and  a  half  high.  Riding  up  to  the  front 
gate,  I  saw  two  Indian  sentinels  pacing  to  and  fro 
before  it,  and  several  Americans,  or  foreigners  (as  all 
who  are  not  Californians  by  birth  are  here  called), 
sitting  in  the  gateway,  dressed  in  buckskin  panta 
loons  and  blue  sailor  shirts,  with  white  stars  worked 
on  the  collars.  I  inquired  if  Captain  Sutter  was  in 
the  fort.  A  very  small  man,  with  a  peculiarly  sharp 
red  face  and  a  most  voluble  tongue,  gave  the  re 
sponse.  He  was  probably  a  corporal.  He  said,  in 
Mibstanco*  that  perhaps  I  was  not  aware  of  the 
great  changes  which  had  recently  taken  place  in 
California; — that  the  fort  belonged  to  the  United 
States,  and  that  Captain  Sutter,  although  he  was  in 
the  fort,  had  no  control  over  it.  He  was  going  into 
a  minute  history  of  the  complicated  circumstances 
and  events  which  had  produced  this  result,  Avhen  I 
reminded  him  that  we  were  too  much  fatigued  to 
listen  to  a  long  discourse,  but  if  Captain  Sutter  was 
inside  the  walls,  and  could  conveniently  step  to  the 
gate  a  moment,  I  would  be  glad  to  see  him.  A  lazy- 
iooking  Indian  with  a  ruminating  countenance,  after 
some  time  spent  in  parleying,  was  dispatched  with 
my  message  to  Captain  Sutter. 

"Captain  S.  soon  came  to  the  gate,  and  saluted  us 
with  much  gentlemanly  courtesy  and  friendly  cordi 
ality.     He  said  that  events  had   transpired    in    the 
country,  which,  to  his  deep  regret,  had  so  far  de 
prived  him  of  the  control  of  his  own  property,  that   ! 
lie  did  not  feel  authorized  to  invite  us  inside  of  the    J 
walls  to  remain.     The  fort,  he   said,  was   occupied    i 
by  soldiers  under  the  pay  of  the  United  States,  and 
commanded   by  Mr.  Kern.     I  replied   to  him  that,    ! 
although  it  would  be  something  of  a  novelty  to  sleep    ' 
under  a  roof,  after  our  late  nomadic  life,  it  was  a 
matter  of  small  consideration.     If  he  would  supply 
us  with  some  meat,  a  little  salt,  and  such  vegetables 
as  he  might  have,  we  neither  asked  nor  desired  more 
from  his  hospitality,  which  we  all  knew  was  liberal, 
to  the  highest  degree  of  generosity. 

"A  servant  was  immediately  dispatched  with 
orders  to  furnish  us  with  a  supply  of  beef,  salt,  mel 
ons,  onions,  and  tomatoes,  for  which  no  compensa 
tion  would  be  received.  We  proceeded  immediately 
to  a  grove  of  live-oak  timber,  about  two  miles  west 
of  the  fort,  and  encamped  within  a  half  a  mile  of  the 
Sacramento  river.  * 

"  He  [Captain  Sutter],  planted  himself  on  the  spot 
where  his  fort  now  stands,  then  a  savage  wilderness,  | 
and  in  the  midst  of  numerous  and  hostile  tribes  of 
Indians.  With  the  small  party  of  men  which  he  ! 
originally  brought  with  him,  he  succeeded  in  defend 
ing  himself  against  the  Indians,  until  he  constructed 
his  first  defensive  building.  He  told  me  that,  sev 
eral  times  being  hemmed  in  by  his  assailants,  he 
had  subsisted  for  many  days  upon  grass  alone. 
There  is  a  grass  in  this  valley  which  the  Indians 
cat.  that  is  pleasant  to  the  taste,  and  nutritious. 
He  succeeded  by  degrees  in  reducing  the  Indians  to 
obedience,  and  by  means  of  their  labor  erected  the 
spacious  fortification  which  now  belongs  to  him. 

''The  fort  is  a  parallelogram,  about -five  hundred 
feet  in  length,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  breadth. 
The  walls  are  constructed  of  adobes  or  sun-dried 
bricks.  The  main  building,  or  residence,  stands  near 
the  center  of  the  area,  or  court,  inclosed  by  the 
walls.  A  row  of  shops,  store-rooms,  and  barracks, 
:>re  inclosed  within,  and  lino  the  walls  on  every  side. 
Bastions  project  from  the  angles,  and  ordnance, 


mounted  in  which,  sweep  the  walls.  The  principal 
gates  on  the  east  and  the  south  are  also  defended 
by  heavy  artillery,  through  port-holes  pierced  in  the 
walls.  At  this  time  the  fort  is  manned  by  about 
fifty  well-disciplined  Indians,  and  ten  or  twelve 
white  men,  all  under  the  pay  of  the  United  States. 
These  Indians  are  well  clothed  and  fed.  The  gar 
rison  is  under  the  command  of  Mr.  Kern,  the  artist 
of  Captain  Fremont's  exploring  expedition. 

"  The  number  of  laboring  Indians  employed  by 
Captain  Sutter  during  the  seasons  of  sowing  and 
harvest,  is  from  two  to  three  hundred.  Some  of 
these  are  clothed  in  shirts  and  blankets,  but  a  lai'ge 
portion  of  them  are  entirely  naked.  They  are  paid 
so  much  per  day  for  their  labor,  in  such  articles  of 
merchandise  as  they  may  select  from  the  store. 
Cotton  cloth  and  handkerchiefs  are  what  they  most 
freely  purchase.  Common  brown  cotton  cloth  sells 
at  one  dollar  per  yard.  A  tin  coin  issued  by  Captain 
Sutter  circulates  among  them,  upon  which  is  stamped 
the  number  of  days  that  the  holder  has  labored. 
These  stamps  indicate  the  value  in  merchandise  to 
which  the  laborer  or  holder  is  entitled. 

"They  are  inveterate  gamblers,  and  those  who 
have  been  so  fcfrtunate  as  to  obtain  clothing,  fre 
quently  stake  and  part  with  every  rag  upon  their 
backs.  The  game  which  they  most  generally  play 
is  carried  on  as  follows:  Any  number  which  may  be 
concerned  in  it  seat  themselves  cross-legged  on  the 
ground,  in  a  circle.  They  are  then  divided  into  two 
parties,  each  of  which  has  two  champions  or  players. 
A  ball,  or  some  small  article,  is  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  players  on  one  side,  which  they  transfer  from 
hand  to  hand  with  such  sleight  and  dexterity  that 
it  is  nearly  impossible  to  detect  the  changes.  When 
the  players  holding  the  balls  make  a  particular 
motion  with  their  hands,  the  antagonist  players 
guess  in  which  hand  the  balls  arc  at  the  time.  If 
the  guess  is  wrong,  ib  counts  one  in  favor  of  the 
playing  party.  If  the  guess  is  right,  then  it  counts 
one  in  favor  of  the  guessing  party,  and  the  balls  are 
transferred  to  them.  The  count  of  the  game  is 
kept  with  sticks.  During  the  progress  of  the  game, 
all  concerned  keep  up  a  continual  monotonous  grunt 
ing,  with  a  movement  of  their  bodies  to  keep  time 
with  their  grunts.  The  articles  which  are  staked 
on  the  game  are  placed  in  the  center  of  the  ring. 

"  The  laboring  or  field  Indians  about  the  fort  arc 
fed  upon  the  offal  of  slaughtered  animals,  and  upon 
the  bran  sifted  from  the  ground  wheat.  This  is 
boiled  in  large  iron  kettles.  It  is  then  placed  i/\ 
wooden  troughs  standing  in  the  court,  around  which 
the  several  messes  seat  themselves,  and  scoop  out 
with  their  hands  this  poor  fodder.  Bad  as  it  is, 
they  eat  it  with  an  apparent  high  relish;  and  no 
doubt  it  is  more  palatable- and  more  healthy  than 
the  acorn  mush,  or  afole,  which  constitutes  the  prin 
cipal  food  of  these  Indians  in  their  wild  state. 

"  The  wheat  crop  of  Captain  Sutter,  the  present 
year  [1846],  is  about  eight  thousand  bushels.  The 
season  has  not  been  a  favorable  one.  The  average 
yield  to  the  acre,  Captain  S.  estimated  at  twenty- 
five  bushels.  In  favorable  seasons  this  yield  is 
doubled;  and  if  we  can  believe  the  statements  often 
made  upon  respectable  authority,  it  is  sometimes 
([uadrupled.  *****  The  wheat-fields  of 
<  'aptain  S.  are  secured  against  the  cattle  and  horses 
by  ditches.  Agriculture,  among  the  native  Califor 
nians,  is  in  a  very  primitive  state,  and  although  Cap 
tain  S.  has  introduced  some  American  implements, 
st  ill  his  ground  is  but  imperfectly  cultivated.  *  *  ' 

"  Wheat  is  selling  at  the  fort  at  two  dollars  and 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  DONNER  PARTY. 


49 


fifty  cents  per  fanegu,  rather  more  than  two  bushels 
English  measure.  It  brings  the  same  price  when 
delivered  i*t  San  Francisco,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Bay  of  San  Francisco.  It  is  transported  from  the 
Sacramento  valley  to  a  market  in  launches  of  about 
fifty  tons  burden.  Unbolted  flour  sells  at  eight  dol 
lars  per  one  hundred  pounds.  The  reason  of  this 
high  price  is  the  scarcity  of  flouring-mills  in  the 
country.  The  mills  which  are  now  going  up  in 
various  places  will  reduce  the  price  of  flour,  and 
probably  they  will  soon  be  able  to  grind  all  the 
wheat  raised  in  the  country.  The  streams  of  Cali 
fornia  afford  excellent  water-power,  but  the  flour 
consumed  by  Captain  Sutter  is  ground  by  a  very 
ordinary  horse-mill. 

"I  saw  near  the  fort  a  small  patch  of  hemp,  which 
had  been  sown  as  an  experiment,  in  the  spring,  and 
had  not  been  irrigated.  I  never  saw  a  ranker 
growth  of  hemp  in  Kentucky.  Yegctables  of  several 
kinds  appeared  to  be  abundant,  and  in  perfection. 
********* 

"Captain  Slitter's  dining-room  and  his  table  fur 
niture  do  not  present  a  very  luxurious  appearance. 
The  room  is  unfurnished,  with  the  exception  of  a 
common  deal  table  standing  in  the  center,  and  some 
benches,  which  are  substitutes  for  chairs.  The 
table,  when  spread,  presented  a  correspondingly 
primitive  simplicity  of  aspect  and  of  viands.  The 
first  course  consisted  of  good  soup,  served  to  each 
guest,  in  a  china  bowl,  with  silver  spoons.  The 
bowls,  after  they  had  been  used  for  this  purpose, 
were  taken  away  and  cleaned  by  the  Indian  servant, 
and  were  afterwards  used  as  tumblers  or  goblets, 
from  which  we  drank  our  water.  The  next  course 
consisted  of  two  dishes  of  meat,  one  roasted  and  one 
fried,  and  both  highly  seasoned  with  onions.  Bread, 
cheese,  butter,  and  melons,  constituted  the  dessert. 
********* 

"Such  has  been  the  extortion  of  the  Government 
in  the  way  of  import  duties,  that  few  supplies  which 
arc  included  even  among  the  most  ordinary  elegan 
cies  of  life,  have  ever  reached  the  inhabitants,  and 
for  these  they  have  been  compelled  to  pay  prices 
that  would  be  astonishing  to  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  or  of  Europe,  and  such  as  have  impoverished 
the  population.  As  a  general  fact,  they  cannot  be 
obtained  at  any  price,  and  hence  those  who  have 
the  ability  to  purchase  are  compelled  to  forego  their 
use  from  necessity. 

"The  site  of  the  town  of  Nueva  Helvetia,  which 
has  been  laid  out  by  Captain  Sutter,  is  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  from  the  Sacramento.  It  is  on  an  eleva 
tion  of  the  plain,  and  not  subject  to  overflow  when 
the  waters  of  the  river  are  at  their  highest  known 
point.  There  are  now  but  three  or  four  small  houses 
in  this  town,  but  I  have  little  doubt  that  it  will  soon 
become  a  place  of  importance. 

"Near  the  Embai-cadero  of  New  Helvetia  is  a  large 
Indian  'sweat-house,'  or  temescal,  an  appendage  of 
most  of  the  rancherias." 


ess — f-'  © 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE   DONNER  PARTY. 

Scene  of  the  Tragedy — Organization  and  Composition  of  the 
Party — Election  of  George  Donner  as  Captain — Hastings' 
Cut-off — Ascent  of  the  Mountains — Arrival  at  Donner  Lake 
— Snow-storms — Construction  of  Cabins — "Forlorn  Hope 
Party  " — Captain  Reasin  P.  Tucker's  Relief  Party — James 
F.  Reed's  Relief  Party— "Starved  Camp  "—Third  Relief 
Party — Heroism  and  Devotion  of  Mrs.  George  Donner — 
Fourth  Relief  Party — The  Survivors. 

THREE  miles  from  Truckee,  and  resting  in  the 
green  lap  of  the  Sierras,  lies  one  of  the  loveliest 
sheets  of  water  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Tall  mountain 
peaks  are  reflected  in  its  clear  waters,  revealing  a 
picture  of  extreme  loveliness  and  quiet  peace.  Yet 
this  peaceful  scene  was  the  amphitheatre  of  the  most 
tragic  event  in  the  annals  of  early  California.  "  The 
Donner  Party"  was  organized  in  Sangamon  county, 
Illinois,  by  George  and  Jacob  Donner  and  James  F. 
Reed,  in  the  Spring  of  1846.  In  April,  1846,  the 
party  set  out  from  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  by  the 
first  week  in  May  had  reached  Independence,  Mis 
souri,  where  the  party  was  increased  until  the  train 
numbered  about  two  or  three  hundred  wagons,  the 
Donner  family  numbering  sixteen;  the  Reed  family, 
seven;  the  Graves  family,  twelve;  the  Murphy  family, 
thirteen;  these  were  the  principal  families  of  the 
Donner  party  proper.  At  Independence,  provisions 
were  laid  in  for  the  trip,  and  the  line  of  journey  taken 
up.  In  the  occasional  glimpses  we  have  of  the  party, 
features  of  but  little  interest  present  themselves, 
beyond  the  ordinary  experience  of  pioneer  life.  A 
letter  from  Mrs.  George  Donner,  written  near  the 
junction  of  the  North  and  South  Platte,  dated  June 
16, 1846,  reports  a  favorable  journey  of  four  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  from  Independence,  Missouri,  with 
no  forebodings  of  the  terrible  disasters  so  soon  to 
burst  upon  them.  At  Fort  Laramie  a  portion  of  the 
party  celebrated  the  Fourth  of  July.  Thereafter 
the  train  passed,  unmolested,  upon  its  journey. 
George  Donner  was  elected  captain  of  the  train  at 
the  Little  Sandy  river,  on  the  20th  of  July,  1846, 
from  which  act  it  took  the  name  of  "The  Donner 
Party." 

At  Fort  Bridger,  then  a  mere  trading  post,  the 
fatal  choice  was  made  of  the  route  that  led  to  such 
fearful  disasters  and  tragic  death.  A  new  route,  via 
Salt  Lake,  known  as  Hastings'  Cut-off,  was  recom 
mended  to  the  party  as  shortening  the  distance  by 
three  hundred  miles.  After  due  deliberation,  the 
Donner  party,  of  eighty-seven  souls  (three  having 
died)  were  induced  to  separate  from  the  larger  por 
tion  of  the  train  (which  afterwards  arrived  in  Cali 
fornia  in  safety)  and  commenced  their  journey  by 
way  of  Hastings'  Cut-off.  They  reached  Weber 
river,  near  the  head  of  the  canon,  in  safety.  From 
this  point,  in  their  journey,  to  Salt  Lake,  almost 
insurmountable  difficulties  were  encountered,  and 
instead  of  reaching  Salt  Lake  in  one  week,  as  antici 
pated,  over  thirty  days  of  perilous  travel  were  con 
sumed  in  making  the  trip — most  precious  time  in 


50 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


view  of  the  dangers  imminent  in  the  rapidly  ap 
proaching  storms  of  Winter.  The  story  of  their 
trials  and  sufferings,  in  their  journey  to  the  fatal 
camp  at  Donner  lake,  is  terrible;  nature  and  stern 
necessity  seemed  arrayed  against  them.  On  the 
19th  of  October,  near  the  present  site  of  Wadsworth, 
Nevada,  the  destitute  company  were  happily  repro- 
visioned  by  C.  T.  Stan  ton;  furnished  with  food  and 
mules,  together  with  two  Indian  vaqueros,  by  Cap 
tain  Sutter,  without  compensation. 

At  the  present  site  of  Eeno  it  was  concluded  to 
rest.  Three  or  four  days'  time  was  lost.  This  was 
the  fatal  act.  The  storm-clouds  were  already  brew 
ing  upon  the  mountains,  only  a  few  miles  distant. 
The  ascent  was  ominous.  Thick  and  thicker  grew 
the  clouds,  outstripping  in  threatening  battalions 
the  now  eager  feet  of  the  alarmed  emigrants,  until, 
at  Prosser  creek,  three  miles  below  Truckee,  October 
28,  1846,  a  month  earlier  than  usual,  the  storm  set 
in,  and  they  found  themselves  in  six  inches  of  newly- 
fallen  snow.  On  the  summit  it  was  already  from  two 
to  five  feet  deep.  The  party,  in  much  confusion, 
finally  reached  Donner  lake  in  disordered  fragments. 
Frequent  and  desperate  attempts  were  made  to  cross 
the  mountain  tops,  but  at  last,  baffled  and  despairing, 
they  returned  to  camp  at  the  lake.  The  storm  now 
descended  in  all  its  pitiless  fury  upon  the  ill-fated 
emigrants.  Its  dreadful  import  was  well  understood, 
as  laden  with  omens  of  suffering  and  death.  With 
slight  interruptions,  the  storm  continued  for  several 
days.  The  animals  were  literally  buried  alive  and 
frozen  in  the  drifts.  Meat  was  hastily  prepared  from 
their  frozen  carcasses,  and  cabins  rudely  built.  One, 
the  Schallenberger  cabin,  erected  November,  1844, 
was  already  standing,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  be 
low  the  lake.  This  the  Breen  family  appropriated. 
The  Murphys  erected  one  three  hundred  yards  from 
the  lake,  marked  by  a  large  stone  twelve  feet  high. 
The  Graves  family  built  theirs  near  Donner  creek, 
three-quarters  of  a  mile  further  down  the  stream, 
the  three  forming  the  apexes  of  a  triangle;  the 
Breen  and  Murphy  cabins  were  distant  from  each 
other  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards.  The  Don 
ner  brothers,  with  their  families,  hastily  constructed 
a  brush  shed  in  Alder  Creek  valley,  six  or  seven 
miles  from  the  lake.  Their  provisions  were  speedily 
consumed,  and  stai-vation,  with  all  its  grim  attend 
ant  horrors,  stared  the  poor  emigrants  in  the  face. 
Day  by  day,  with  aching  hearts  and  paralyzed  ener 
gies,  they  awaited,  amid  the  beating  storms  of  the 
Sierras,  the  dread  revelation  of  the  morrow,  "hoping 
against  hope  "  for  some  welcome  sign. 

On  the  sixteenth  day  of  December,  1846,  a  party 
of  seventeen  were  enrolled  to  attempt  the  hazardous 
journey  over  the  mountains,  to  press  into  the  valley 
beyond  for  relief.  Two  returned,  and  the  remaining 
fifteen  pressed  on,  including  Mary  Graves  and  her 
sister;  Mrs.  Sarah  Fosdick,  and  several  other  women, 
the  heroic  C.  T.  Stanton  and  the  noble  F.  W.  Graves 
(who  left  his  wife  and  seven  children  at  the  lakes 


to  await  in  vain  his  return)  being  the  leaders.  This 
was  the  "  Forlorn  Hope  Party,"  over  whose  dreadful 
sufferings  and  disaster  we  must  throw  a  veil.  A  de 
tailed  account  of  this  party  is  given  from  the  graphic 
pen  of  C.  F.  McGlashan,  and  lately  published  in  book 
form  from  the  press  of  Crowley  &  McGlashan,  pro 
prietors  of  the  Truckee  Republican,  to  which  we  take 
pleasure  in  referring  the  reader.  Death  in  its  most 
awful  form  reduced  the  wretched  company  to  seven— 
t\\o  men  and  five  women — when  suddenly  tracks 
were  discovered  imprinted  in  the  snow.  "  Can  any 
one  imagine,"  says  Mary  Graves  in  her  recital,  "  the 
joy  these  foot-prints  gave  us  ?  We  ran  as  fast  as  Our 
strength  would  carry  us."  Turning  a  sharp  point 
they  suddenly  came  upon  an  Indian  rancheria.  The 
acorn-bread  offered  them  by  the  kind  and  awe- 
stricken  savages  was  eagerly  devoured.  But  on  they 
pressed  with  their  Indian  guides,  only  to  repeat  their 
dreadful  sufferings,  until  at  last,  one  evening  about 
the  last  of  January,  Mr.  Eddy,  with  his  Indian  guide, 
preceding  the  party  fifteen  miles,  reached  Johnson's 
ranch,  on  Bear  river,  the  first  settlement  on  the 
western  slope  of  the  Sierras,  when  relief  was  sent 
back  as  soon  as  possible  and  the  remaining  six  sur 
vivors  were  brought  in  next  day.  It  had  been  thir 
ty-two  days  since  they  left  Donner  lake.  .  No  tongue 
can  tell,  no  pen  portray,  the  awful  suffering,  the  ter 
rible  and  appalling  straits,  as  well  as  the  noble  deeds 
of  heroism  that  characterized  this  march  of  death. 
The  eternal  mountains,  whose  granite  faces  bore  wit 
ness  to  their  sufferings,  are  fit  monuments  to  mark 
the  last  resting-place  of  Charles  T.  Stanton,  that  cul 
tured,  heroic  soul,  who  groped  his  way  through  the 
blinding  snow  of  the  Sierras  to  immortality.  The 
divinest  encomium — "  He  gave  his  life  as  a  ransom 
for  many" — is  his  epitaph,  foreshadowed  in  his  own 
noble  words,  "  I  will  bring  aid  to  these  famishing 
people  or  lay  down  my  life.'1'1 

Nothing  could  be  done,  in  the  meantime,  for  the 
relief  of  the  sufferers  at  Donner  lake,  without 
securing  help  from  Fort  Sutter,  which  was  speedily 
accomplished  by  John  Ehodes.  In  a  week,  six  men, 
fully  provisioned,  with  Captain  Reasin  P.  Tucker  at 
their  head,  reached  Johnson's  ranch,  and  in  ten  or 
twelve  days'  time,  with  provisions,  mules,  etc.,  the 
first  relief  party  started  for  the  scene  at  Donner  lake. 
It  was  a  fearful  undertaking,  but  on  the  morning  of 
the  19th  of  February,  1847,  the  above  party  began 
the  descent  of  the  gorge  leading  to  Donner  lake. 

We  have  purposely  thrown  a  veil  over  the  dread 
ful  sufferings  of  the  stricken  band  left  in  their 
wretched  hovels  at  Donner  lake.  Reduced  to  the 
verge  of  starvation,  many  died  (including  numerous 
children,  seven  of  whom  were  nursing  babes)  who, 
in  this  dreadful  state  of  necessity,  were  summarily 
disposed  of.  Rawhides,  moccasins,  strings,  etc., 
were  eaten.  But  relief  was  now  close  at  hand  for 
the  poor,  stricken  sufferers.  On  the  evening  of  the 
19th  of  February,  1847,  the  stillness  of  death  that 
had  settled  upon  the  scene  was  broken  by  pro- 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD. 


51 


longed  shouts.  In  an  instant  the  painfully  sensitive 
ears  of  the  despairing  watchers  caught  the  welcome 
sound.  Captain  Tucker,  with  his  relief  party,  had 
at  last  arrived  upon  the  scene.  Every  face  was 
bathed  in  tears,  and  the  strongest  men  of  the  relief 
party  melted  at  the  appalling  sight,  sat  down,  and 
wept  with  the  rest.  But  time  was  precious,  as  storms 
were  imminent.  The  return  party  was  quickly  gath 
ered.  Twenty-three  members  started,  among  them 
several  women  and  children.  Of  this  number  two  were 
compelled  to  return,  and  three  perished  on  the  jour 
ney.  Many  hardships  and  privations  were  expe 
rienced,  and  their  provisions  were  soon  entirely 
exhausted.  Death  once  more  stared  them  in  the 
face,  and  despair  settled  upon  them.  But  assistance 
was  near  at  hand.  James  F.  Reed,  who  had  pre 
ceded  the  Donner  party  by  some  months,  suddenly 
appeared  with  the  second  relief  party,  on  the 
25th  of  February,  1847.  The  joy  of  the  meeting 
was  indescribable,  especially  between  the  family  and 
the  long-absent  father.  Re-provisioned,  the  party 
pressed  on,  and  gained  their  destination  after  severe 
suffering,  with  eighteen  members,  only  three  having 
perished.  Reed  continued  his  journey  to  the  cabins 
at  Donner  lake.  There  the  scene  was  simply  inde 
scribable;  starvation  and  disease  were  fast  claiming 
their  victims.  March  1st  (according  to  Breen's 
diary)  Reed  and  his  party  arrived  at  the  camp. 
Proceeding  directly  to  his  cabin,  he  was  espied  by 
his  little  daughter  (who,  with  her  sister,  was  carried 
back  by  the  previous  party)  and  immediately  recog 
nized  with  a  cry  of  joy.  Provisions  were  carefully 
dealt  out  to  the  famishing  people,  and  immediate 
steps  were  taken  for  the  return.  Seventeen  com 
prised  this  party.  Half-starved  and  completely 
exhausted,  they  were  compelled  to  camp  in  the 
midst  of  a  furious  storm,  in  which  Mr.  Reed  barely 
escaped  with  his  life.  This  was  "  Starved  Camp," 
and  from  this  point  Mr.  Reed,  with  his  two  little 
children  and  another  person,  struggled  ahead  to 
obtain  hasty  relief,  if  possible. . 

On  the  second  day  after  leaving  "  Starved 
Camp,"  Mr.  Reed  and  the  three  companions  w.ere 
overtaken  by  Cady  and  Stone,  and  on  the  night  of 
the  third  day,  reached  Woodworth's  camp,  at  Bear 
valley,  in  safety.  The  horrors  of  "  Starved  Camp  " 
beggar  all  description,  indeed,  require  none.  The 
third  relief  party,  composed  of  John  Stark,  Howard 
Oakley,  and  Charles  Stone,  were  nearing  the  rescue, 
while  W.  H.  Foster  and  W.  H.  Eddy  (rescued  by  a 
former  party)  were  bent  on  the  same  mission. 
These,  with  Hiram  Miller,  set  out  from  Woodworth's 
camp  on  the  following  morning  after  Reed's  arrival. 
The  eleven  were  duly  reached,  but  were  in  a  starving 
condition,  and  nine  of  the  eleven  were  unable  to 
walk.  By  the  noble  resolution  and  herculean 
efforts  of  John  Stark,  a  part  of  the  number  were 
borne  and  urged  onward  to  their  destination,  while 
the  other  portion  was  compelled  to  remain  and 
await  another  relief  party.  When  the  third  relief 


party,  under  Foster  and  Eddy,  arrived  at  Donner 
lake,  the  sole  survivors  of  Alder  creek  were  George 
Donner,  the  captain  of  the  company,  and  his  heroic 
and  faithful  wife,  whose  devotion  to  her  dying 
husband  caused  her  own  death  during  the  last  and 
fearful  days  of  waiting  for  the  fourth  relief.  George 
Donner  knew  he  was  dying,  and  urged  his  wife  to 
save  her  life,  and  go  with  her  little  ones,  with  the 
third  relief,  but  she  refused.  Nothing  was  more 
heart-rending  than  her  sad  parting  with  her  beloved 
little  ones,  who  wound  their  childish  arms  lovingly 
around  her  neck  and  besought  her  with  mingled 
tears  and  kisses  to  join  them.  But  duty  prevailed 
over  affection,  and  she  retraced  the  weary  distance 
to  die  with  him  whom  she  had  promised  to  love  and 
honor  to  the  end.  Such  scenes  of  anguish  are  seldom 
witnessed  on  this  sorrowing  earth,  and  such  acts  of 
triumphant  devotion  are  among  her  most  golden 
deeds.  The  snowy  cerements  of  Donner  lake 
enshrouded  in  its  stilly  whiteness  no  purer  life,  no 
nobler  heart  than  Mrs.  George  Donner's.  The 
terrible  recitals  that  close  this  awful  tragedy  we 
willingly  omit. 

The  third  relief  party  rescued  four  of  the  last  five 
survivors;  the  fourth  and  last  relief  party  rescued 
the  last  survivor,  Lewis  Keseberg,  on  the  7th  of 
April,  1847.  Ninety  names  are  given  as  members  of 
the  Donner  party.  Of  these  forty-two  perished,  six 
did  not  live  to  reach  the  mountains,  and  forty-eight 
survived.  Twenty-six,  and  possibly  tAventy-eight, 
out  of  the  forty-eight  survivors  are  living  to-day — 
several  residing  in  San  Jose,  Calistoga,  Los  Gatos, 
Marysville,  and  in  Oregon. 

Thus  ends  this  narrative  of  horrors,  without  a 
parallel  in  the  annals  of  American  history,  of  appall 
ing  disasters,  fearful  sufferings,  heroic  fortitude,  self- 
denial  and  heroism. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD. 

Early  Reports  and  Discoveries — Marshall's  Great  Discovery  at 
Gutter's  Mill — His  Account  of  the  Event — Views  of  the 
Newspapers  of  that  Time  —  Political  and  Social  Revolu 
tion — Great  Rush  to  the  Mines — Results — General  Suiter's 
Account  of  the  Gold  Discovery — Building  of  Saw-Mill. 

FROM  the  first  discovery  of  California  by  the  Span 
iards  the  impression  prevailed  that  the  country  was 
rich  in  silver,  gold,  and  precious  stones.  When  set 
ting  out  on  his  northern  expedition,  the  object  of 
Cortez  was  to  find  another  country  like  M.exico,  in 
habited  by  a  semi-civilized  people,  whose  rich  treas 
ures  he  might  appropriate;  and  afterwards  there 
existed  among  the  inhabitants  of  New  Spain  a  strong 
belief  in  the  great  riches  of  the  new  province,  both 
in  gold  and  precious  stones.  The  first  published 
report  of  gold  in  California  is  found  in  Hakluyt's 
account  of  Sir  Francis  Drake's  expedition  to  this  coast 
in  1579.  The  historian  of  the  voyage  says:  "There 
is  no  part  of  the  earth  here  to  be  taken  up  wherein 
there  is  not  a  reasonable  quantity  of  gold  or  silver." 


52 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


It  is  not  related  that  any  of  Drake's  men  penetrated 
into  the  interior  of  the  country  or  made  any  search 
for  these  metals;  and,  since  neither  gold  nor  silver 
is  found  in  the  neighborhood  of  Drake's  or  San  Fran 
cisco  bay,  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  this  statement 
was  a  falsehood,  uttered  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
importance  to  Drake's  supposed  discovery. 

There  is  no  further  account  of  gold  or  silver  dis 
coveries  for  two  hundred  and  twenty-three  years, 
until  1802,  when  it  is  said  that  silver  was  found  at 
Alizal,  in  Monterey  county,  but  the  mine  never  pro 
duced  anything  of  consequence.  Manfras  says  that 
gold  was  found  in  San  Diego  county  in  1828;  but  as 
the  discovery  had  not  been  heard  of  by  Alexander 
Forbes,  the  historian  of  California,  in  1835,  it  could 
not  have  been  of  any  importance.  On  the  contrary, 
Forbes,  in  his  book  of  that  date,  says:  "No  min 
erals  of  particular  importance  have  yet  been  found 
in  Upper  California,  nor  any  ores  of  metals."  In 
another  place,  referring  to  Hijar's  migration  to  Cali 
fornia  in  1833,  he  says:  "  There  were  goldsmiths  in 
the  party  proceeding  to  a  country  where  no  gold 
existed."  Mr.  Forbes  was  then  the  British  Vice- 
Consul  at  Monterey,  and  was  doing  all  in  his  power 
to  interest  the  English  Government  in  the  country; 
it  is  therefore  certain  that  up  to  that  time — 1835 — 
no  mineral  discoveries  of  any  consequence  had  been 
made  in  the  province. 

The  first  mine  to  produce  any  noticeable  amount 
of  precious  metal  was  the  gold  placers  in  the  canon 
of  the  San  Francisquito  creek,  forty-five  miles  north 
west  of  Los  Angeles.  It  was  discovered  about  the 
year  1838,  and  was  worked  continuously  for  ten 
years,  when  it  was  deserted  for  the  richer  discov 
eries  in  the  Sacramento  basin.  Its  total  yield  was 
probably  not  over  sixty  thousand  dollars  or  about 
six  thousand  dollars  a  year. 

In  1842,  James  D.  Dana,  the  geologist  and  miner 
alogist  with  Wilkes'  Exploring  Expedition,  traveled 
from  the  northern  frontier  through  the  Sacramento 
luisin  to  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco,  and  afterwards 
published  a  work  in  which  he  said:  "  The  gold  rocks 
and  veins  of  quartz  were  observed  by  the  author  in 
1842,  near  the  Umpqua  river,  in  southern  Oregon, 
and  pebbles  from  similar  rocks  were  met  with  along 
the  shores  of  the  Sacramento,  in  California,  and  the 
resemblance  to  other  gold  districts  was  remarked; 
but  there  was  no  opportunity  of  exploring  the 
country  at  the  time."  Mr.  Dana's  professional 
knowledge  enabled  him  to  perceive  certain  indica 
tions  of  gold,  but  no  practical  discoveries  were  made. 

On  the  4th  of  May,  184IJ,  Thomas  O.  Larkin,  then 
United  States  Consul  at  Monterey,  wrote  to  the  Sec 
retary  of  State  as  follows:  "There  is  said  to  be 
black  lead  in  the  country  at  San  Fernando,  near 
San  Pedro.  By  washing  the  sand  in  a  plate,  any 
person  can  obtain  from  one  to  five  dollars  per  day  of 
gold  that  brings  seventeen  dollars  per  ounce  in  Boston. 
The  gold  has  been  gathered  for  two  or  three  years, 
though  but  few  persons  have  the  patience  to  look  for 


it.  On  the  south-west  end  of  the  Island  of  Catalina 
there  is  a  silver  mine  from  which  silver  has  been 
extracted.  There  is  no  doubt  that  gold,  silver, 
quicksilver,  copper,  lead,  sulphur  and  coal  mines 
are  to  be  found  all  over  California,  and  it  is  equally 
doubtful  whether,  under  their  present  owners,  they 
will  ever  be  worked."  Till  May,  1846,  no  productive 
mines  were  in  operation,  except  the  one  on  San 
Francisquito  creek,  in  what  is  now  Los  Angeles 
county. 

It  was  reserved  for  James  W.  Marshall  to  make 
the  great  discovery,  on  the  19th  of  January,  1848, 
at  Suttev's  mill,  on  the  South  Fork  of  the  American 
river,  near  the  present  town  of  Coloma,  in  El  Dorado 
county. 

No  account  of  the  memorable  event  can  be  so 
interesting  as  that  of  Mr.  Marshall  himself,  who  in 
a  letter  of  January  28,  1856,  says: — 

"Towards  the  end  of  August,  1847,  Captain  Sut- 
ter  and  I  formed  a  copartnership  to  build  and  run  a 
saw-mill  upon  a  site  selected  by  myself  (since  known 
as  Coloma).  We  employed  P.  L.  Weimer  and  fam 
ily,  to  remove  from  the  fort  (Suiter's  Fort)  to  the 
mill-site  to  cook  and  labor  for  us.  Nearly  the  first 
work  done  was  the  building  of  a  double  log  cabin, 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  mill-site.  We  commenced 
the  mill  about  Christmas.  Some  of  the  mill  hands 
wanted  a  cabin  near  the  mill.  This  was  built,  and 
I  went  to  the  fort  to  superintend  the  construction  of 
the  mill  irons,  leaving  orders  to  cut  a  narrow  ditch 
where  the  race  was  to  be  made.  Upon  my  return, 
in  January,  1848,  I  found  the  ditch  cut  as  directed, 
and  those  who  were  working  on  the  same  were 
doing  so  at  a  great  disadvantage,  expending  their 
labor  upon  the  head  of  the  race  instead  of  the  foot. 

"I  immediately  changed  the  course  of  things,  and 
upon  the  19th  of  the  same  month,  January,  dis 
covered  the  gold  near  the  lower  end  of  the  race, 
about  two  hundred  yards  below  the  mill.  William 
Scott  was  the  second  man  to  see  the  metal.  He  was 
at  work  at  a  carpenter's  bench  near  the  mill.  I 
showed  the  gold  to  him.  Alexander  Stephens. 
James  Brown,  Henry  Biglcr,  and  William  Johnston, 
were  likewise  working  in  front  of  the  mill,  framing 
the  upper  story.  They  were  called  up  next,  and,  of 
course,  saw  the  precious  metal.  P.  L.  Weimer  and 
Charles  Bennett  were  at  the  old  double  log  cabin 
(where  Hastings  &  Co.  afterwards  kept  a  store), 
and,  in  my  opinion,  at  least  half  a  mile  distant. 

"In  the  meantime  we  put  in  some  wheat  and  peas, 
nearly  five  acres,  across  the  river.  In  February,  the 
Captain  (Captain  Sutter)  came  to  the  mountains  for 
the  first  time.  Then  we  consummated  a  treaty 
with  the  Indians,  which  had  been  previously  nego 
tiated.  The  tenor  of  this  was  that  we  were  to  pay 
them  two  hundred  dollars  yearly  in  .goods,  at  Yerba 
Buena  prices,  for  the  joint  possession  and  occupation 
of  the  land  with  them;  they  agreeing  not  to  kill  our 
stock,  viz.:  horses,  cattle,  hogs  or  sheep,  nor  burn 
the  grass  within  the  limits  fixed  by  the  treaty.  At 
the  same  time,  Captain  Sutter,  myself,  and  Isaac 
Humphrey,  entered  into  a  copartnership  to  dig  gold. 
A  short  time  afterwards,  P.  L.  Weimer  moved  away 
from  the  mill,  and  was  away  two  or  three  months, 
when  he  returned.  With  all  the  events  that  sub 
sequently  occurred,  you  and  the  public  are  well  in 
formed." 


TOMPSON  4.  YVf-sr  PUB 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD. 


53 


The  following  additional  particulars  of  the  dis 
covery  appeared  in  the  Coloma  Argus  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  year  1855,  and  were  evidently  derived 
from  Weimer  himself: — 

"That  James  W.  Marshall  picked  up  the  first 
piece  of  gold,  is  beyond  doubt.  Peter  L.  Wimmer 
(Weimer),  who  resides  in  this  place,  states  positively 
that  Mr.  Marshall  picked  up  the  gold  in  his  presence; 
they  both  saw  it,  and  each  spoke  at  the  same  time, 
'What's  that  yellow  stuff?'  Marshall  being  a  step 
in  advance  picked  it  up.  This  first  piece  of  gold 
is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Wimmer,  and  weighs 
six  penny-weights,  eleven  grains.  The  piece  was 
given  to  her  by  Marshall  himself.  *  *  *  The 
dam  was  finished  early  in  January,  the  frame  for 
the  mill  also  erected,  and  the  flume  and  bulk-head 
completed.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Marshall  and 
Wimmer  adopted  the  plan  of  raising  the  gate  during 
the  night  to  wash  out  sand  from  the  mill-race,  clos 
ing  it  during  the  day,  when  work  would  be  con 
tinued  wilh  shovels,  etc.  Early  in  February — the 
exact  clay  is  not  remembered — in  the  morning,  after 
shutting  off  the  water,  Marshall  and  Wimmer  walked 
down  the  race  together  to  see  what  the  water  had 
accomplished  during  the  night.  Having  gone  about 
twenty  yards  below  the  mill,  they  both  saw  the 
piece  of  gold  mentioned,  and  Marshall  picked  it  up. 
After  an  examination,  the  gold  was  taken  to  the 
cabin  of  Wimmer,  and  Mrs.  Wimmer  instructed  to 
boil  it  in  saleratus  water;  but,  she  being  engaged  in 
making  soap,  pitched  the  piece  in  the  soap-kettle, 
where  it  was  boiled  all  day  and  all  night.  The  fol 
lowing  morning  the  strange  piece  of  stuff  was  fished 
out  of  the  soap,  all  the  brighter  for  the  boiling  it 
had  received.  Discussion  now  commenced,  and  all 
expressed  the  opinion  that  perhaps  the  yellow  sub 
stance  might  be  gold.  Little  was  said  on  the  sub 
ject;  but  every  one  each  morning  searched  in  the 
race  for  more,  and  every  day  found  several  small 
scales.  The  Indians  also  picked  up  many  small 
thin  pieces,  and  carried  them  always  to  Mrs.  Wimmer. 

"About  three  weeks  after  the  first  piece  was  ob 
tained,  Marshall  took  the  fine  gold,  amounting  to 
between  two  and  three  ounces,  and  went  below  to 
have  the  strange  metal  tested.  On  his  return,  he 
informed  Wimmer  that  the  stuff  was  gold.  All 
hands  now  began  to  search  for  the  'root  of  all  evil.' 
Shortly  after  Captain  Sutter  came  to  Coloma,  when 
he  and  Marshall  assembled  the  Indians,  and  bought 
of  them  a  large  tract  of  country  about  Coloma,  in 
exchange  for  a  lot  of  beads  and  a  few  cotton  hand 
kerchiefs.  They,  under  color  of  this  Indian  title, 
required  one-third  of  all  the  gold  dug  on  their 
domain,  and  collected  at  this  rate  until  the  Fall  of 
1848,  when  a  mining  party  from  Oregon  declined 
paying  'tithes,'  as  they  called  it. 

"During  February,  1848,  Marshall  and  Wimmor 
Avcnt  down  the  river  to  Mormon  Island,  and  there 
found  scales  of  gold  on  the  rocks.  Some  weeks  later 
they  sent  a  Mr.  Henderson,  Sydney  Willis,  and  Mr. 
Fifield,  Mormons,  down  there  to  dig,  telling  them 
that  that  place  was  better  than  Coloma.  These 
were  the  first  miners  at  Mormon  Island." 

In  a  little  work  entitled  "  Mining  in  the  Pacific 
States,"  published  by  H.  II.  Bancroft  &  Co.,  in  1861, 
Mr.  John  S.  Hittell  presents  the  following  interest 
ing  facts  concerning  the  great  discovery: — 

"Marshall  was  a  man  of  an  active,  enthusiastic 
mind,  and  he  at  once  attached  great  importance  to 


his  discovery.  His  ideas,  however,  were  vague;  he 
knew  nothing  about  gold-mining;  he  did  not  know 
how  to  take  advantage  of  what  he  had  found.  Only 
an  experienced  gold-miner  could  understand  the 
importance  of  the  discovery,  and  make  it  of  practical 
value  to  all  the  world.  That  gold-miner,  fortu 
nately,  was  near  at  hand;  his  name  was  Isaac  Hum 
phrey.  He  was  residing  in  the  town  of  San  Fran 
cisco,  in  the  month  of  February,  when  a  Mr.  Bennett, 
one  of  the  party  employed  at  Marshall's  mill,  went 
down  to  that  place  with  some  of  the  dust  to  have  it 
tested;  for  it  was  still  a  matter  of  doubt  whether 
this  yellow  metal  really  was  gold.  Bennett  told  his 
errand  to  a  friend  whom  he  met  in  San  Francisco, 
and  this  friend  introduced  him  to  Humphrey,  who 
had  been  a  gold-miner  in  Georgia,  and  was  therefore 
competent  to  pass  an  opinion  upon  the  stuff.  Hum 
phrey  looked  at  the  dust,  pronounced  it  gold,  at  the 
first  glance,  and  expressed  a  belief  that  the  diggings 
must  be  rich.  He  made  inquiries  about  the  place 
where  the  gold  was  found,  and  subsequent  inquiries 
about  the  trustworthiness  of  Mr.  Bennett,  and  on 
the  7th  of  March  he  was  at  the  mill.  He  tried 
to  induce  several  of  his  friends  in  San  Francisco  to 
go  with  him;  they  all  thought  his  expedition  a  fool 
ish  one,  and  he  had  to  go  alone.  He  found  that 
there  was  some  talk  about  the  gold,  and  persons 
would  occasionally  go  about  looking  for  pieces  of  it; 
but  no  one  was  engaged  in  mining,  and  the  work  of 
the  mill  was  going  on  as  usual.  On  the  8th  he 
went  out  prospecting  with  a  pan,  and  satisfied  him 
self  that  the  country  in  that  vicinity  was  rich  in 
gold.  He  then  made  a  rocker  and  commenced  the 
business  of  washing  gold;  and  thus  began  the  busi 
ness  of  mining  in  California.  Others  saw  how  he 
did  it,  followed  his  example,  found  that  the  work 
was  profitable,  and  abandoned  all  other  occupations. 
The  news  of  their  success  spread,  people  flocked  to 
the  place,  learned  how  to  use  the  rocker,  discovered 
new  diggings,  and,  in  the  course  of  a  few  months, 
the  country  had  been  overturned  by  a  social  and 
industrial  revolution. 

"Mr.  Humphrey  had  not  been  at  work  more  than 
three  or  four  days  before  a  Frenchman,  called  Bap- 
tiste,  who  had  been  a  gold-miner  in  Mexico  for  many 
years,  came  to  the  mill,  and  he  agreed  with  Hum 
phrey  that  California  was  very  rich  in  gold.  He, 
too,  went  to  work,  and  being  an  excellent  prospector, 
he  was  of  great  service  in  teaching  the  new-comers 
the  principles  of  prospecting  and  mining  for  gold, 
principles  not  abstruse,  yet  not  likely  to  suggest 
themselves,  at  first  thought,  to  men  entirely  igno 
rant  of  the  business.  Baptiste  had  been  employed 
by  Captain  Sutter  to  saw  timber  with  a  whip-saw, 
and  had  been  at  work  for  two  years  at  a  place,  since 
called  Weber,  about  ten  miles  eastward  from  Coloma. 
When  he  saw  the  diggings  at  the  latter  place,  he  at 
once  said  there  were  rich  mines  where  he  had  been 
sawing,  and  he  expressed  surprise  that  it  had  never 
occurred  to  him  before,  so  experienced  in  gold-min 
ing  as  he  was;  but  afterwards  he  said  it  had  been 
so  ordered  by  Providence,  that  the  gold  might  not 
be  discovered  until  California  should  be  in  the  hands 
of  the  Americans. 

"About  the  middle  of  March,  P.  B.  Reading,  an 
American,  now  a  prominent  and  wealthy  citizen  of 
the  State,  then  the  owner  of  a  large  ranch  on  the 
western  bank  of  the  Sacramento  river,  near  where 
it  issues  from  the  mountains,  came  to  Coloma,  and 
after  looking  about  at  the  diggings,  said  that  if  simi 
larity  in  the  appearance  of  the  country  could  be 
taken  as  a  guide,  there  must  be  gold  in  the  hills 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


near  his  ranch;  and  he  went  off,  declaring  his  in 
tention  to  go  back  and  make  an  examination  of 
them.  John  Bid  well,  another  American,  now  a 
wealthy  and  influential  citizen,  then  residing  on  his 
ranch  on  the  bank  of  Feather  river,  came  to  Coloma 
about  a  week  later,  and  he  said  there  must  be  gold 
near  his  ranch,  and  he  went  off  with  expressions 
similar  to  those  used  by  Reading.  In  a  few  weeks 
news  came  that  Reading  had  found  diggings  near 
Clear  creek,  at  the  head  of  the  Sacramento  valley, 
and  was  at  work  there  with  his  Indians;  and  not 
long  after,  it  was  reported  that  Bidvvell  was  at  work 
with  his  Indians  on  a  rich  bar  of  Feather  river, 
since  called  Bidwell's  Bar." 

Although  there  were  two  newspapers,  the  Cali 
fornian  and  Star,  published  in  San  Francisco,  the}7 
do  not  seem  to  have  been  either  very  credulous  or 
very  enterprising.  They  did  not  hear  of  the  dis 
covery  till  some  weeks  after  the  great  event;  or,  if 
they  did  hear  of  it,  they  did  not  credit  the  report. 
The  first  published  notice  of  the  gold  discovery  ap 
peared  in  the  California*  on  the  fifteenth  of  March, 
nearly  two  months  after  the  event,  and  was  as  fol 
lows: — 

"GOLD  MINE  FOUND. — In  the  newly-made  race- 
way  of  the  saw-mill  recently  erected  by  Captain 
Sutter,  on  the  American  fork,  gold  has  been  found 
in  considerable  quantities.  One  person  brought 
thirty  dollars'  worth  to  New  Helvetia,  gathered 
there  in  a  short  time.  California,  no  doubt,  is  rich 
in  mineral  wealth;  great  chances  here  for  scientific 
capitalists.  Gold  has  been  found  in  almost  every 
part  of  the  country." 

Three  days  afterwards  the  Star  made  the  follow 
ing  brief  allusion  to  the  subject: — 

"We  were  informed  a  few  days  since  that  a  very 
valuable  silver  mine  was  situated  in  the  vicinity  of 
this  place,  and  again,  that  its  locality  was  known. 
Mines  of  quicksilver  are  being  found  all  over  the 
country.  Gold  has  been  discovered  in  the  northern 
Sacramento  district,  about  forty  miles  above  Sutter's 
Fort.  Rich  mines  of  copper  are  said  to  exist  north 
of  these  bays." 

The  Star  of  March  25th  says:  "So  great  is  the 
quantity  of  gold  taken  from  the  new  mines  recently 
found  at  New  Helvetia,  that  it  has  become  an  article 
of  traffic  in  that  vicinity." 

It  was  three  months  after  Marshall's  discovery, 
before  the  San  Francisco  papers  announced  that 
gold-mining  had  become  a  regular  and  profitable 
business.  The  Californian  of  April  26th  says: 

"GOLD  MINKS  OF  THE  SACRAMENTO. — From  a  gen 
tleman  just  from  the  gold  region,  we  learn  that  many 
new  discoveries  have  very  recently  been  made,  and 
it  is  fully  ascertained  that  a  large  extent  of  country 
abounds  with  that  precious  mineral.  Seven  men,  with 
picks  and  spades,  gathered  nine  thousand  six' hun 
dred  dollars  within  fifteen  days.  Many  persons  are 
settling  on  the  lands  with  the  view  of  holding  pre 
emptions,  but  as  yet  every  person  takes  the  right  to 
gather  all  he  can,  without  any  regard  to  claims. 
Ihe  largest  piece  yet  found  is  worth  six  dollars." 

The  Star  of  April  1,  1848,  contained  an  elaborate 
article  on  the  resources  of  California,  giving  due 
credence  and  importance  to  the  great  event  which 


was  so   soon   to   vitalize   the   sluggish   province,  in 
which  the  writer  said: — 

"It  would  be  utterly  impossible  at  present  to  make 
a  correct  estimate  of  the  mineral  wealth  of  Cali 
fornia.  Popular  attention  has  been  but  lately 
directed  to  it.  But  the  discoveries  that  have  already 
been  made  will  warrant  us  in  the  assertion  that 
California  is  one  of  the  richest  mineral  countries  in 
the  world.  Gold,  silver,  quicksilver,  iron,  copper, 
lead,  sulphur,  saltpetre,  and  other  mines  of  great 
value  have  already  been  found.  We  saw,  a  few  daya 
ago,  a  beautiful  specimen  of  gold  from  the  mine 
newly  discovered  on  the  American  fork.  From  all 
accounts  the  mine  is  immensely  rich,  and  already 
we  learn  the  gold  from  it,  collected  at  random  and 
without  any  trouble,  has  become  an  article  of 
trade  at  the  upper  settlements.  This  precious  metal 
abounds  in  this  country.  We  have  heard  of  several 
other  newly-discovered  mines  of  gold,  but  as  these 
reports  are  not  yet  authenticated  we  shall  pass  over 
them.  However,  it  is  well  known  that  there  is  a 
placer  of  gold  a  few  miles  from  the  ciudad  de  Los 
Angeles,  and  another  on  the  San  Joaquin." 

The  Californian  of  August  14,  1848,  contained  an 
article  descriptive  of  the  process  and  implements  of 
gold-mining  at  that  time,  and  having  related  the 
particulars  of  the  discovery  at  Sutter's  mill,  the 
writer  continues: — 

"It  soon  began  to  attract  attention,  and  some 
persons  discovered  gold  in  the  river  below,  and  for 
some  distance  above  the  mill,  in  large  quantities; 
so  much  so  that  persons  who  only  gave  credit  to 
one-third  of  what  was  said  about  it  left  their  homes 
and  went  to  work  in  the  mines.  It  was  the  work 
of  but  a  few  weeks  to  bring  almost  the  entire  popu 
lation  of  the  Territory  together,  to  pick  up  the 
precious  metal.  The  result  has  been  that  in  less 
than  four  months,  a  total  revolution  has  been  effected 
in  the  prospects  and  fate  of  Alta  California.  Then, 
the  capital  was  in  the  hands  of  a  few  individuals 
engaged  in  trade  and  speculation;  now,  labor  has 
got  the  upper  hand  of  capital,  and  the  laboring  men 
hold  the  great  mass  of  the  wealth  of  the  country — 
the  gold. 

"  There  are  now  about  four  thousand  white  per 
sons,  besides  a  number  of  Indians,  engaged  in  the 
mines;  and  from  the  fact  that  no  capital  is  required, 
they  are  working  in  companies,  on  equal  shares,  or 
alone,  with  their  baskets.  In  one  part  of  the  mine, 
called  the  dry-diggings,  no  other  implement  is  nec 
essary  than  an  ordinary  sheath-knife,  to  pick  the 
gold  from  the  rocks.  In  other  parts,  where  the 
gold  is  washed  out,  the  machinery  is  very  simple, 
being  an  ordinary  trough  made  of  plank,  round  on 
the  bottom,  about  ten  feet  long,  and  two  feet  wide 
at  the  top,  with  a  riddle,  or  sieve,  at  one  end,  to 
catch  the  larger  gravel,  and  three  or  four  small  burs 
across  the  bottom,  about  half  an  inch  high,  to  keep 
the  gold  from  going  out  with  the  dirt  and  water  at 
the  lower  end.  This  machine  is  set  upon  rockers, 
which  give  a  half-rotary  motion  to  the  water  and 
dirt  inside.  But  far  the  largest  number  use  nothing 
but  a  large  tin-pan,  or  an  Indian  basket,  into  which 
they  place  the  dirt,  and  shake  it  about  until  the  gold 
gets  to  the  bottom,  and  the  dirt  is  carried  over  the 
side  in  the  shape  of  muddy  water.  It  is  necessary, 
in  some  cases,  to  have  a  crowbar,  pick,  or  shovel; 
but  a  great  deal  is  taken  up  with  large  horns,  shaped 
spoon -fashion  at  the  large  end. 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD. 


55 


"From  the  fact  that  no  capital  is  necessary,  a  fair 
competition  in  labor,  without  the  influence  of  capital, 
men  who  were  only  able  to  procure  one  month's 
provisions  have  now  thousands  of  dollars  of  the 
precious  metal.  The  laboring  class  have  now  become 
the  capitalists  of  the  country. 

"  As  to  the  richness  of  the  mines,  were  we  to  set 
down  half  the  truth,  it  would  be  looked  upon  in 
other  countries  as  a  Sinbad  story,  or  the  history  of 
Aladdin's  lamp.  Many  persons  have  collected  in 
one  day,  of  the  finest  grade  of  gold,  from  three  to 
eight  hundred  dollars,  and  for  many  days  together 
averaged  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars.  Although  this  is  not  universal,  yet  the 
general  average  is  so  well  settled,  that  when  a  man 
with  his  pan  or  basket  does  not  easily  gather  from  thir 
ty  to  forty  dollars  in  a  day,  he  moves  to  another  place; 
so  that  taking  the  general  average,  including  the 
time  spent  in  moving  from  place  to  place  and  in 
looking  for  better  diggings,  we  are  of  the  opinion 
that  we  may  safely  set  down  an  ounce  of  pure  gold, 
or  sixteen  dollars  per  day,  to  the  man.  Suppose 
there  are  four  thousand  persons  at  work,  they  will 
add  to  the  aggregate  wealth  of  the  Territory  about 
four  thousand  ounces,  or  sixty-four  thousand  dollars 
a  day. 

«  Four  months  ago,  flour  was  sold  in  this  market 
(San  Francisco)  for  four  dollars  per  hundred;  now  it 
is  sixteen.  Beef  cattle  were  then  six;  now  they  are 
thirty.  Ready-made  clothing,  groceries,  and  other 
goods,  have  not  risen  in  the  same  proportion,  but  are 
at  least  double  their  former  cost.  If  we  make  bread 
and  meat  the  standard  by  which  to  determine  the 
value  of  gold,  then  it  is  worth  only  one-fourth  of 
what  it  is  elsewhere.  But  if  gold  and  silver  be  the 
standard,  then  the  bread  and  meat  is  worth  four 
times  what  it  was.  But,  the  relative  value  of  the 
grain-gold,  compared  with  gold  and  silver  coin,  can 
only  be  changed  by  the  action  of  Government;  for, 
however  abundant  the  gold  may  be,  it  must  produce 
its  relative  value  in  coin;  and,  while  a  five-dollar 
gold-piece  will  be  received  at  the  Treasury  as  five 
dollars,  so  long  must  an  ounce  of  gold  be  worth 
sixteen  dollars. 

"  As  to  the  future  hopes  of  California,  her  course 
is  onward,  with  a  Vapidity  that  will  astonish  the 
world.  Her  unparalleled  gold  mines,  silver  mines,  iron 
ore,  and  lead,  with  the  best  climate  in  the  world, 
and  the  richest  soil,  will  make  it  the  garden-spot  of 
creation.' 

The  Californian,  of  September  23,  1848,  gives  the 
following  graphic  account  of  the  grand  rush  to  the 
gold  mines: — 

"  It  would  seem  that  but  little  doubt  was  enter 
tained  of  its  being  the  Simon-pure  stuff;  for  operations 
immediately  ceased  at  the  mill,  and  all  hands  com 
menced  searching  for  gold.  It  was  soon  found  that 
gold  abounded  all  along  the  American  fork,  for  a 
distance  of  thirty  miles.  But  little  credit  however 
was  given  the  report,  though  occasionally  a  solitary 
gold-hunter  might  be  seen  stealing  down  to  the 
launch,  with  a  pick  and  shovel,  more  that  half- 
ashamed  of  his  credulity.  Sometime  during  the 
month  of  May  a  number  of  credible  persons  arrived 
in  town  from  the  scene  of  operations,  bringing  spec 
imens  of  the  ore,  and  stating  that  those  engaged  in 
collecting  the  precious  metal  were  making  from  three 
to  ten  dollars  per  day.  Then  commenced  the  grand 
rush.  The  inhabitants  throughout  the  Territory 
were  in  a  commotion.  Large  companies  of  men, 
women,  and  children  could  be  seen  on  every  road 


leading  to  the  mines;  their  wagons  loaded  down 
with  tools  for  digging,  provisions,  etc.  Launch  after 
launch  left  the  wharves  of  our  city  (San  Francisco) 
crowded  with  passengers  and  freight,  for  the  Sacra 
mento.  Mechanical  operations  of  every  kind  ceased. 
Whole  streets,  that  were  but  a  week  before  alive 
with  a  busy  population,  were  entirely  deserted,  and 
the  place  wore  the  appearance  of  a  city  that  had 
been  suddenly  visited  by  a  devastating  plague.  To 
cap  the  climax,  the  newspapers  were  obliged  to  stop 
printing,  for  want  of  readers. 

"  Meantime,  our  mercantile  friends  were  doing  an 
unwonted  stroke  of  business.  Every  arrival  from 
the  mining  district  brought  more  or  less  gold-dust, 
the  major  part  of  which  immediately  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  merchants,  for  goods.  Immense  quan 
tities  of  merchandise  were  conveyed  to  the  mines, 
until  it  became  a  matter  of  astonishment  where  so 
much  could  be  disposed  of.  During  the  first  eight 
weeks  of  the  golden  times,  the  receipts  at  this  place 
(San  Francisco)  in  gold-dust  amounted  to  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  For  the  eight 
weeks  ending  at  this  date  (Sept.  23,  1848),  they 
were  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  number  of 
persons  now  engaged  in  gold -hunting  will  probably 
exceed  six  thousand,  including  Indians,  and  one 
ounce  per  day  is  the  lowest  average  we  can  put  for 
each  person,  while  many  collect  their  hundreds  of 
dollars  for  a  number  of  days  in  succession,  and 
instances  have  been  known  where  one  individual  has 
collected  from  fifteen  hundred  to  eighteen  hundred 
dollars  worth  of  pure  gold  in  one  day.  Explorations 
have  been  progressing,  and  it  is  now  fully  ascertained 
that  gold  exists  on  both  sides  of  the  Sierra  JSevada, 
from  latitude  forty-one  degrees  north,  as  far  south 
as  the  head-waters  of  the  San  Joaquin  river,  a  dis 
tance  of  four  hundred  miles  in  length  and  one 
hundred  in  breadth.  Farther  than  this  has  not  been 
explored;  but  from  the  nature  of  the  country  beyond 
the  sources  of  the  San  Joaquin,  we  doubt  not  gold 
will  also  be  found  therein  equal  abundance.  The  gold 
region  already  known  is  sufficiently  extensive  to 
give  profitable  employment  to  one  hundred  thousand 
persons  for  generations  to  come.  The  ore  is  in  a 
virgin  state,  disseminated  in  small  doses,  and  is 
found  in  three  distinct  deposits — in  sand  and  gravel 
beds,  in  decomposed  granite,  and  intermingled  with 
a  kind  of  slate." 

In  April,  1848,  Mr.  Jonas  Spect,  an  enterprising 
pioneer,  gave  the  following  interesting  account  of 
gold  discoveries: — 

"  Up  to  this  time  there  had  been  little  excite 
ment  about  the  gold  diggings;  but  at  Knight's 
Landing  we  were  overtaken  by  Spaniards,  who  were 
on  their  way  to  Sutter's  mill  to  dig  gold,  and  they 
reported  stories  of  fabulously  rich  diggings.  After 
discussing  the  matter,  we  changed  our  course  to  the 
gold  mines  and  hurried  on,  arriving  at  the  mill  on 
the  thirtieth  day  of  April.  It  was  true  that  several 
rich  strikes  had  been  made,  but  the  miners  then  at 
work  did  not  average  two  and  a  half  dollars  per 
day.  Marshall  and  Sutter  claimed  the  land  and 
rented  the  mines.  Every  one  supposed  gold  was 
confined  to  that  particular  locality.  We  did  not 
engage  in  mining,  and  concluded  to  resume  our 
journey  across  the  plains.  On  our  return  trip  we 
learned  that  gold  had  been  found  on  Mormon  Island. 
But  we  took  no  further  notice  of  gold,  and  on  the 
12th  of  May  arrived  at  Johnson's  ranch.  We 
found  one  man  there  waiting  our  arrival,  but  we 
expected  many  others  in  a  short  time.  We  waited 


56 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


until  about  the  2.">th,  when  we  learned  that 
there  was  another  rush  to  the  mines,  and  then 
vanished  all  prospect  of  any  company  crossing  the 
mountains  that  Summer.  My  partner  left  for  the 
American  river,  and  I  proposed  to  Johnson  that  we 
should  prospect  for  gold  on  Bear  river.  We  went 
some  distance  up  the  stream  and  spent  three  days  in 
the  search  without  any  satisfactory  result,  1  then 
suggested  to  Johnson  that  he  should  send  his  Indian 
with  me, -and  I  would  prospect  the  Yuba  river,  as 
that  stream  was  about  the  size  of  the  South  Fork  of 
the  American  river.  We  prepared  the  outfit,  and 
on  the  1st  of  June,  we  struck  the  Yuba  near  Long 
Bar.  After  a  good  deal  of  prospecting.  I  succeeded 
in  raising  '  color.'  That  night  I  camped  in  Timbuc- 
too  ravine,  a  little  above  where  we  first  found  the 
gold.  The  next  day,  June  2d,  I  continued  pros 
pecting  up  the  stream,  finding  a  little  gold,  but 
not  enough  to  pay.  The  Indian  was  well  acquainted. 
and  he  piloted  me  up  to  the  location  of  Rose's  Bar. 
where  we  met  a  large  number  of  Indians,  all  entirely 
nude  and  eating  clover.  I  prospected  on  the  bar, 
and  found  some  gold,  but  not  sufficient  to  be  remu 
nerative.  Greatly  -discouraged,  I  started  on  my 
return  home.  When  I  arrived  at  a  point  on  the 
Vuba  river,  a  little  above  Timbuctoo  ravine,  I  washed 
some  of  the  dirt  and  found  three  lumps  of  gold 
worth  about  seven  dollars.  I  pitched  my  tent  here 
on  the  night  of  June  2d,  and  sent  the  Indian  home 
for  supplies.  In  about  a  week  I  moved  down  on  the 
creek,  and  remained  there  until  November  20th, 
when  I  left  the  mines  forever.  June  3d,  the  next  day 
after  the  location  of  my  camp,  Michael  C.  Nye  and 
William  Foster  came  up  the  creek  prospecting  for 
gold." 

The  discovery  of  gold  on  the  American  river  led 
Mr.  Nye  and  party  to  start  out  on  a  prospecting 
trip.  In  the  Summer — the  exact  date  is  not  known — 
they  found  paying  diggings  on  Dry  creek,  near  its 
junction  with  the  Yuba,  and  commenced  working  on 
an  extensive  scale.  The  discoveries  by  Mr.  Spect 
and  Mr.  Nye's  company  were  nearly  contqmpora- 
neous,  and  as  the  parties  started  from  different  local 
ities,  and  without  any  knowledge  of  the  acts  of  the 
other. -due  credit  should  be  given  to  each. 

•  JKNERAL  BUTTER'S  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  GOLD  DISCOVERY. 

The  following  extracts  are  from  an  article  com 
municated,  in  his  own  handwriting,  by  General 
Sutter  to  Hutchinys1  California  Magazine  for  Novem 
ber,  1857.  As  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  great 
event  referred  to,  and  as  the  personal  narrative  of 
one  of  the  chief  actors  in  the  golden  drama,  it  is  one 
of  the  most  interesting  records  of  the  time.  General- 
Suiter  says: — 

"  It  was  in  the  first  of  January,  1848,  when  the 
gold  was  discovered  at  Coloma,  where  I  was  build 
ing  a  saw-mill.  The  contractor  and  builder  of  this 
mill  was  James  W:  Marshall,  from  New  Jersey.  In 
the  Fall  of  1847,  after  the  mill-site  had  been  located. 
1  sent  up  to  this  place  Mr.  P.  L.  Wimmcr,  with  his 
family,  and  a  number  of  laborers  from  the  disbanded 
Mormon  Battalion;  and  a  little  later  I  engaged  Mr. 
Bennett,  from  Oregon,  to  assist  Mr.  Marshall  in  the 
mechanical  labors  of  the  mill.  Mr.  Wimmer  had 
the  team  in  charge,  aseisted  by  his  young  sons  to  do 
the  teaming,  and  Mrs.  Wimmer  did  the  cooking  for 
all  hands. 


"I  was.. very  much  in  need  of  a  saw-mill  to  iret 
lumber  to  finish  my  flooring-mill,  of  four  run  of 
stones,  at  Brighton,  which  was  commenced  at  the 
same  time,  and  was  rapidly  progressing;  likewise, 
for  other  buildings,  fences,  etc.,  for  the  small  village 
of  Yerba  Buena,  now  San  Francisco.  In  the  City 
Hotel  (the  only  one)  this  enterprise  \vas  unkindly 
called  'another  folly  of  Sutler's;'  as  my  first  settle 
ment  at  the  old  fort,  near  Sacramento  City,  was 
called  by  a  good  many  'a  folly  of  his,'  and  they 
Avcre  about  right  in  that,  because  1  had  the  best 
chances  to  get  some  of  the  finest  locations  near  the 
settlements;  and  even  well-stocked  ranches  had 
been  offered  me  on  the  most  reasonable  conditions. 
But  I  refused  all  these  good  offers,  and  preferred  to 
explore  the  wilderness,  and  select  a  territory  on  the 
banks  of  the  Sacramento. 

"  It  was  a  rainy  afternoon  when  Mr.  Marshall 
arrived  at  rny  office,  in  the  fort,  very  wet.  I  was 
somewhat  surprised  to  see  him,  as  ne  was  down  a 
few  days  previous,  when  I  sent  up  to  Coloma  a  num 
ber  .of  teams  with  provisions,  mill  irons,  etc.  He 
told  me  then  that  he  had  some  important  and  inter 
esting  news  which  he  wished  to  communicate  secretly 
to  me,  and  wished  me  to  go  with  him  to  a  place 
where  we  should  not  be  disturbed,  and  where  no 
listeners  could  come  and  hear  what  we  had  to  say. 
I  went  with  him  to  my  private  rooms;  he  requested 
me  to  lock  the  door;  I  complied,  but  told  him  at  the 
same  time  that  nobody  was  in  the  house  except  the 
clerk,  who  was  in  his  office  in  a  different  part  of  the 
house. 

"  After  requesting  of  me  something  which  he 
wanted,  which  my  servants  brought  and  then  left 
the  room,  1  forgot  to  lock  the  door,  and  it  happened 
that  the  door  was  opened  b}^  the  clerk  just  at  the 
moment  when  Marshall  took  a  rag  from  his  pocket, 
showing  me  the  yellow  metal.  He  had  about  two 
ounces  of  it;  but  how  quick  .Mr.  Marshall  put  the 
yellow  metal  in  his  pocket  again,  can  hardly  be 
described.  The  clerk  came  to  see  me  on  business, 
and  excused  himself  for  interrupting  me;  and  as 
soon  as  he  had  left,  1  was  told, '  Now,  lock  the  door. 
Didn't  I  tell  you  that  we  might  have  listeners?'  I 
told  him  he  need  fear  nothing  about  that,  as  it  was 
not  the  habit  of  this  gentleman';  but  I  could  hardly 
convince  him  that  he  need  not  be  suspicious. 

"  Then  Mr.  Marshall  began  to  show  me  this  metal, 
which  consisted  of  small  pieces  and  specimens,  some 
of  them  worth  a  few  dollars.  He  told  me  that  he 
had  expressed  his  opinion  to  the  laborers  at  the  mill 
that  this  might  be  gold;  but  some  of  them  laughed 
at  him  and  called  him  a  crazy  man,  and  could  not 
believe  such  a  thing. 

"After  having  proved  the  metal  with  aqua  forth 
which  I  found  in  my  apothecary  shop,  likewise  witt 
other  experiments,  and  read  the  long  article  'Gold,' 
in  the  Encyclopedia  Americana,  I  declared  this  to  be 
gold  of  the  finest  quality,  of  at  least  twenty-thrc 
carats.  After  this  Mr.  Marshall  had  no  more  rest  01 
patience,  and  wanted  me  to  start  with  him  imm( 
diately  for  Coloma;  but  1  told  him  I  could  not 
leave,  as  it  was  late  in  the  evening,  and  nearly 
supper-time,  and  that  it  would  be  better  for  him  tc 
remain  with  me  till  the  next  morning,  and  I  woulc 
then  travel  with  him.  But  this  would  not  do;  h< 
asked  me  only,  '  Will  you  come  to-morrow  ?' 
told  him  yes,  and  off  ho  started  for  Coloma,  in  th< 
heaviest  rain,  although  already  very  wet,  taking 
nothing  to  eat.  I  took  this  news,  very  easy,  like 
all  other  occurrences,  good  or  bad,  but  thought 
great  deal  during  the  night  about  the  consequence 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  GOLD. 


57 


which  might  follow  such  u  discovery.  1  gave  all 
the  necessary  orders  to  my  numerous  laborers,  and 
left  the  next  morning  at  seven  o'clock,  accompanied 
bv  an  Indian  soldier  and  a  vaquero,  in  a  heavy  rain, 
for  Coloma.  About  half-way  on  the  road,  I  saw  at 
a  distance  a  human  being  crawling  out  from  the 
brushwood.  1  asked  the  Indian  who  it  was.  He 
told  me,  '  the  same  man  who  was  with  you  last 
evening.'  When  I  came  nearer  I  found  it  was  Mar 
shall,  very  wet.  I  told  him  he  would  have  done 
better  to  remain  with  me  at  the  fort,  than  to  pass 
such  an  ugly  night  here;  but  he  told  me  that  he  went 
to  Coloma,  fifty-four  miles,  took  his  other  horse  and 
came  half-way  to  meet  me.  Then  we  rode  #p  to  the 
new  El  Dorado. 

"In  the  afternoon,  the  weather  was  clearing  up, 
and  we  made  a  prospecting  promenade.  The  next 
morning,  we  went  to  the  tail-race  of  the  mill, 
through  which  the  water  was  running  during  the 
night,  to  clear  out  the  gravel  which  had  been  made 
loose  for  the  purpose  of  widening  the  race;  and 
after  the  water  was  out  of  the  race,  we  went  in  to 
search  for  gold.  This  was  done  every  morning.  Small 
pieces  of  gold  could  be  seen  remaining  on  the  surface 
of  the  clean-washed  bed-rock.  1  went  into  the  race  and 
picked  up  several  pieces  of  this  gold;  several  of  the 
laborers  gave  me  some  which  they  had  picked  up, 
and  from  Marshall  I  received  a  part.  I  told  them  I 
would  get  a  ring  made  of  this  gold  as  soon  as  it 
could  be  done  in  California;  and  I  have  had  a  Heavy 
ring  made,  with  my  family's  coat-of-arms  engraved 
on  the  outside,  and  on  the  inside  of  the  ring  is 
engraved:  '  the  first  gold  discovered  in  January, 
1848.'  Now  if  Mrs.  AVimmer  possesses  a  piece  which 
had  been  found  earlier  than  mine,  Mr.  Marshall  can 
tell,  as  it  was  probably  received  from  him.  I  think 
Mr.  Marshall  could  have  hardly  known  himself  which 
was  exactly  the  first  little  piece,  among  the  whole. 

'•The  next  day  1  went  with  Mr.  Marshall  on  a 
prospecting  tour  in  the  vicinity  of  Coloma,  and  the 
following  morning  I  left  for  Sacramento.  Before  my 
departure,  I  had  a  conversation  with  all  hands;  I 
told  them  I  would  consider  it  a  great  favor  if  they 
would  keep  this  discovery  secret  only  for  six  weeks, 
so  that  I  could  finish  my  large  flour-mill  at  Brighton, 
which  had  cost  me  already  about  twenty-four  or 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  The  people  up  there 
promised  to  keep  it  secret  so  long.  On  my  way 
home,  instead  of  feeling  happy  and  contented,  1 
was  very  unhappy,  and  could  not  see  that  it 
would  benefit  me  much;  and  I  was  perfectly  right 
in  thinking  so,  as  it  came  just  precisely  as  I 
expected.  I  thought,  at  the  same  time  that  it 
could  hardly  be  kept  secret  for  six  weeks;  and 
in  that  1  was  not  mistaken,  for,  about  two  weeks 
later,  after  my  return,  1  sent  up  several  teams,  in 
charge  of  a  white  man,  as  the  teamsters  were  Indian 
boj's.  This  man  Avas  acquainted  with  all  hands  up 
there,  and  Mrs.  Wimmer  told  him  the  whole  secret ; 
likewise  the  young  sons  of  Mrs.  Wimmer  told  him 
that  they  had  gold,  and  that  they  would  let  him  have 
some,  too;  and  so  ho  obtained  a  few  dollars'  worth  of 
it,  as  a  present.  As  soon  as  this. man  arrived  at  the 
fort,  he  went  to  a  small  store  in  one  of  my  outside 
buildings,  kept  by  Mr.  Smith,  a  partner  of  Samuel 
Brannan,  and  asked  for  a  bottle  of  brandy,  for  which 
he  would  pay  the  cash.  After  having  the  bottle  he 
paid  with  these  small  pieces  of  gold.  Smith  was 
astonished,  and  asked  if  he  meant  to  insult  him.  The 
teamster  told  him  to  go  and  ask  me  about  it.  Smith 
came  in,  in  great  haste  to  see  me,  and  I  told  him  at 
once  the  truth— what  could  I  do?  I  had  to  tell  him 
8 


all  about  it.  He  reported  it  to  Mr.  S.  Brannan,  who 
came  up  immediately  to  get  all  possible  information, 
when  he  returned  and  sent  up  large  supplies  of  goods, 
leased  a  larger  house  from  me,  and  commenced  a 
very  large  and  profitable  business.  Soon  he  opened 
a  branch  house  at  Mormon  Island. 

"  So  soon  as  the  secret  was  out,  my  laborers  began 
to  leave  me,  in  small  parties  at  first,  but  then  all  left, 
from  the  clerk  to  the  cook,  and  I  was  in  great  dis 
tress.  Only  a  few  mechanics  remained  to  finish  some 
necessary  work  which  they  had  commenced,  and 
about  eight  invalids,  who  continued  slowly  to  work 
a  few  teams,  to  scrape  out  the  mill-race  at  Brighton. 
The  Mormons  did  not  like  to  leave  my  mill  unfin 
ished;  but  they  got  the  gold-fever,  like  everybody 
else.  After  they  had  made  their  piles  they  left  for 
the  Great  Salt  Lake.  So  long  as  these  people  have 
been  employed  by  me,  they  have  behaved  very  well 
and  were  industrious  and  faithful  laborers;  and  when 
settling  their  accounts,  there  was  not  one  of  them 
wrho  was  not  contented  and  satisfied. 

"Then  the  people  commenced  rushing  up  from  San 
Francisco  and  other  parts  of  California,  in  May,  1848. 
In  the  former  village  (San  Francisco,)  only  five  men 
were  left  to  take  care  of  the  women  and  children. 
The  single  men  locked  their  doors  and  left  for  '  Sut- 
ter's  Fort,'  and  from  thence  to  the  El  Dorado.  For 
some  time  the  people  in  Monterey  and  further  south, 
would  not  believe  the  news  of  the  gold  discovery, 
and  said  it  was  only  a  '•ruse  de  guerre  of  Sutter's,  be 
cause  he  wanted  to  have  neighbors  in  his  wilderness.' 
From  this  time  on  I  got  only  too  many  neighbors, 
and  some  very  bad  ones  among  them.  . 

"  What  a  great  misfortune  was  this  sudden  gold 
discovery  to  me  !  It  has  just  broken  up  and  ruined 
my  hard,  industrious,  and  restless  labors,  connected 
with  many  dangers  of  life,  as  1  had  many  narrow 
escapes  before  1  became  properly  established.  From 
my  mill  buildings  I  reaped  no  benefit  whatever;  the 
mill-stones,  even,  have  been  stolen  from  me.  My 
tannery,  which  was  then  in  a  flourishing  condition, 
and  was  carried  on  very  profitably,  was  deserted;  a 
large  quantity  of  leather  was  left  xinfinished  in  the 
vats,  and  a  great  quantity  of  rawhides  became  val 
ueless,  as  they  could  not  be  sold.  Nobody  wanted  to 
be  bothered  with  such  trash,  as  it  was  called.  So  it 
was  in  all  the  other  mechanical  trades  which  I  had 
carried  on ;  all  was  abandoned,  and  work  com 
menced,  or  nearly  finished,  was  left,  at  an  immense, 
loss  to  me.  Even  the  Indians  had  no  more  patience 
to  work  alone,  in  harvesting  and  threshing  my  large 
wheat  crop;  as  the  whites  had  all  left,  and  other- 
Indians  had  been  engaged  by  some  white  men  to  work 
for  them,  and  they  commenced  to  have  some  gold,  for 
which  they  were  buying  all  kinds  of  articles  at 
enormous  prices  in  the  stores,  which,  when  my  Indians 
saw  this,  they  wished  very  much  to  go  to  the  mount 
ains  and  dig  gold.  At  last  I  consented,  got  a  num 
ber  of  wagons  ready,  loaded  them  with  provisions 
and  goods  of  all  kinds,  employed  a  clerk,  and  left 
Avith  about  one  hundred  Indians  and  about  fifty 
Sandwich  Islanders,  which  had  joined  those  which  I 
brought  with  me  from  the  Islands.  The  first  camp 
was  about  ten  miles  from  Mormon  Island,  on  the 
South  fork  of  the  American  river.  In  a  lew  weeks 
we  became  crowded,  and  it  would  no  more  pay,  as 
my  people  made  too  many  acquaintances.  I  broke 
up  the  camp  and  started  on  the  march  further  south, 
and  located  rny  next  camp  on  Sutter  creek,  now  in 
Amador  county,  and  thought  that  I  should  there  be 
alone.  The  work  was  going  on  well  for  awhile,  un 
til  three  or  four  traveling  grog-shops  surrounded  me, 


58 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


at  from  one-half  to  ten  miles  distance  from  the  camp. 
Then,  of  course,  the  gold  was  taken  to  these  places, 
for  drinking,  gambling,  etc.,  and  then  the  following 
day  they  were  sick  "and  unable  to  work,  and  be 
came  deeper  and  more  indebted  to  me,  particularly 
the  Kanakas.  I  found  it  was  high  time  to  quit  this 
kind  of  business,  and  lose  no  more  time  and  money.  I 
therefore  broke  up  the  camp  and  returned  to  the  fort, 
where  I  disbanded  nearly  all  the  people  who  had 
worked  for  me  in  the  mountains  digging  gold.  This 
whole  expedition  proved  to  be  a  heavy  loss  to  me. 

"  At  the  same  time,  I  was  engaged  in  a  mercantile 
firm  at  Coloma,  which  I  left  in  January,  1849,  like 
wise  with  many  sacrifices.  After  this,  I  would  have 
nothing  more  to  do  with  the  gold  affairs.  At  this 
time  the  fort  was  the  great  trading-place,  where 
nearly  all  the  business  was  transacted.  I  had  no 
pleasure  to  remain  there,  and  moved  up  to  Hock 
farm,  with  all  my  Indians,  who  had  been  with  me 
from  the  time  they  were  children.  The  placQ  was 
then  in  charge  of  a  major-domo. 

"  It  was  very  singular  that  the  Indians  never  found 
a  piece  of  gold  and  brought  it  to  me,  as  they  very 
ol'ten  did  other  specimens  found  in  the  mountains. 
I  requested  them  continually  to  bring  me  some  curi 
osities  from  the  mountains,  for  which  I  always  recom 
pensed  them.  1  have  received  animals,  birds,  plants, 
young  trees,  wild  fruits,  pipe-clay,  red  ochre,  etc., 
but  never  a  piece  of  gold.  Mr.  Dana,  of  the  Wilkes' 
Exploring  Expedition,  told  me  that  he  had  the  strong 
est  proof  and  signs  of  gold  in  the  vicinity  of  Shasta 
mountain,  and  further  south.  A  short  time  after 
wards  Dr.  Sandels,  a  very  scientific  traveler,  visited 
me,  explored  a  part  of  the  country  in  a  great  hurry, 
as  time  would  not  permit  him  to  make  a  longer  stay. 
He  told  me  likewise  that  he  found  some  signs  of  gold, 
and  was  very  sorry  that  he  could  not  explore  the 
Sierra  Nevada.  He  did  not  encourage  me  to  attempt 
to  work  and  open  mines,  as  it  was  uncertain  bow  it 
would  paj-,  and  would  probably  be  only  profitable  for 
a  Government.  So  I  thought  it  more  prudent  to  stick 
to  the  plow,  notwithstanding  I  did  know  the  country 
\\:is  rich  in  gold  and  other  minerals.  An  old,  at 
tached  Mexican  sei-vant,  who  had  followed  me  from 
the  "United  States  as  soon  as  he  knew  that  I  was 
here,  and  who  understood  a  great  deal  about  work 
ing  in  placers,  told  me  be  found  sure  sijrns  of  gold  in 
the  mountains  on  Bear  creek,  and  that  we  would  go 
right  to  work  after  returning  from  our  campaign  in 
1845;  but  he  became  a  victim  to  his  patriotism,  and 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  near  my  encamp 
ment,  with  dispatches  for  me  from  General  Michelto- 
rena,  and  he  was  hung  as  a  spy,  for  which  I  was 
very  sorry.  J.  A.  SUITER." 


CHAPTER  XV. 

EARLY  CONDITION  OF  THIS  REGION. 

Mountains.  Unexplored  by  the  Spaniards — The  Trappers — Fre 
mont's  Passage  of  the  Mountains  in  1844 — Battles  with  the 
Snow — The  Indian's  Warning — A  Glimpse  of  the  Valley — 
Subsisting  on  Horse  Flesh — Arrival  at  Sutter's  Fort— Early 
Settlements — An  Immigrant  Party  of  1844 — Captain  Truckee 
— Truckee  Kiver — Alone  on  the  Summit — Death  of  Captain 
Truckee— Immigrants  in  1846 — Discovery  of  Gold  on  the 
Yuba. 

THE  native  Californians  never  penetrated  into  the 
heart  of  the  mountains  that  skirt  the  Sacramento 
valley  on  the  east;  gazing  from  a  distance  upon  their 
snow-clad  crests,  they  had  named  them  Sierra 
Nevada,  the  "  snowy  mountains,"  but  beyond  this 


they  remained  terra  incognita  to  them.  The  bold 
and  adventurous  trappers  of  the  American  Fur  Com 
pany,  and  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  passed  over 
them  several  times  on  their  way  to  and  from  the 
choice  trapping  grounds  in  the  valley.  The  cele 
brated  trapper,  Stephen  H.  Meek,  claims  to  have 
been  the  first  white  man  who  gazed  upon  the 
Truckeo  river,  on  which  stream  he  set  his  traps  in 
1833.  The  river  did  not  rceive  its  name,  however, 
until  eleven  years  later,  as  will  appear  further  on. 
The  Yuba  and  Bear  rivers,  having  been  explored  by 
the  Spaniards  in  1822,  in  the  valley,  had  been  named 
at  that  time,  the  one  Rio  de  las  Uva  (Grape  river) 
and  the  other  Rio  de  los  Osos  (Bear  river),  but  as  to 
their  source  and  direction  in  the  mountains  nothing 
whatever  was  known.  To  them  were  unknown 
lakes  Donncr,  Tahoe,  and  the  scores  of  lesser  lakes 
that  are  the  pride  of  the  mountains.  A  few  misera- 
able  Digger  Indians  lived  in  huts,  and  subsisted  on 
acorns,  grass,  rabbits,  etc.,  and  were  sovereign  lords 
of  the  beautiful  Sierras. 

The  valleys  of  California  were,  during  the  early 
part  of  this  century,  occupied  and  traversed  by 
bands  of  trappers  in  the  employ  of  the  many  Ameri 
can  and  foreign  fur  companies.  The  stories  of  their 
wanderings  and  experiences  are  mostly  related  in  the 
form  of  sensational  novels,  whoso  authenticity  and 
accuracy  must  be  taken  with  a  great  degree  of  allow 
ance.  Few  records  concerning  these  fur-hunters 
remain  which  are  within  the  reach  of  the  historian, 
and  the  information  given  has  been  gleaned  in  part 
from  personal  interviews  with  those  whose  knowl 
edge  of  the  subject  was  gained  by  actual  experience, 
or  by  a  personal  acquaintance  with  those  who 
belonged  to  the  parties.  In  many  cases  their  stories 
differ  widely  in  regard  to  facts  and  names. 

As  early  as  1820,  the  Tulare,  San  Joaquin,  and  Sac 
ramento  valleys  were  occupied  by  trappers,  who 
had  wandered  there  while  searching  for  the  Colum 
bia  river.  Captain  Sutter,  in  1834,  while  in  New 
Mexico,  heard  from  these  California  trappers  of  the 
Sacramento  valley,  which  afterwards  became  so 
reputed  as  his  home.  The  disputes  arising  in  regard 
to  the  occupation  of  the  northern  part  of  the  Pacific 
coast  trapping  region,  in  Oregon,  led  the  American 
hunters  to  occupy  the  territory  in  and  about  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  In  1815,  Congress,  at  the  earnest 
request  of  the  people  of  the  West,  passed  an  Act 
driving  out  British  traders  from  the  American  terri 
tory  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Immediately 
the  employes  of  the  old  North  American  Fur  Com 
pany,  still  under  charge  of  John  Jacob  Astor,  began 
to  trap  and  hunt  in  the  region  of  the  head-waters  of 
the  Mississippi  and  Upper  Missouri.  In  1823,  Mr. 
W.  H.  Ashley,  of  St.  Louis,  an  old  merchant  in  the 
fur  trade,  at  the  head  of  a  party,  explored  the 
Sweetwater,  the  Platte,  the  South  Pass,  and  the 
head-waters  of  the  Colorado,  returning  in  the  Sum 
mer.  In  1824  he  extended  his  explorations  to  Great 
Salt  Lake,  near  which,  on  a  smaller  lake  named 


EARLY  CONDITION  OF  THIS  REGION. 


Lake  Ashley,  he  built  a  fort  and  trading  post,  which 
was  occupied  for  three  years  by  his  men.  In  1826 
(or  1827)  Mr.  Ashley  disposed  of  his  business, 
including  the  fort,  to  the  Rocky  Mountain  Fur  Com 
pany,  under  the  leadership  of  Jedediah  Smith, 
David  Jackson  and  William  Sublette. 

During  the  Spring  of  1825,  Smith,  with  a  party  of 
forty  trappers  and  Indians,  started  from  the  head 
quarters  on  Green  river,  traveling  westward,  crossed 
the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains,  and  in  July  entered 
the  Tulare  valley.  The  country  from  the  Tulare  to 
the  American  fork  of  the  Sacramento  river  was 
traversed  in  trapping  for  beaver.  They  found  at  the 
fork  another  party  of  American  trappers  encamped, 
and  located  their  own  rendezvous  near  the  present 
town  of  Folsom.  In  October,  Smith,  leaving  the 
remainder  of  the  party  at  the  camp,  returned  to  the 
company's  head-quarters  on  Green  river.  In  May, 
1826,  Smith  again  set  out  for  the  new  trapping 
region,  taking  a  route  further  south  than  on  the  first 
trip,  but  when  in  the  Mohave  settlements,  on  the 
Colorado,  all  the  party  except  Smith,  Galbraith,  and 
Turner,  were  killed  by  Indians.  These  three  escaped 
to  San  Gabriel  Mission,  and  December  26,  1826,  were 
arrested  as  spies  or  filibusters.  They  were  taken  to 
the  presidio  at  San  Diego,  where  they  were  detained 
until  the  following  certificate  from  Americans  then 
in  San  Francisco  was  presented: — 

"We,  the  undersigned,  having  been  requested  by 
Capt.  Jedediah  S.  Smith  to  state  our  opinion  regarding 
his  entering  the  Province  of  California,  do  not  hesi 
tate  to  say  that  we  have  no  doubt  but  that  he  was  com 
pelled  to,  for  want  of  provisions  and  water,  having 
entered  so  far  into  the  barren  country  that  lies 
between  the  latitudes  of  forty-two  and  forty-three 
west,  that  he  found  it  impossible  to  return  by  the 
route  he  came,  as  his  horses  had  most  of  them  per 
ished  for  want  of  food  and  water ;  he  was  therefore 
under  the  necessity  of  pushing  forward  to  California, 
it  being  the  nearest  place  where  he  could  procure 
supplies  to  enable  him  to  return. 

"  We  further  state  as  our  opinion,  that  the 
account  given  by  him  is  circumstantially  correct, 
and  that  his  sole  object  was  the  hunting  and  trap 
ping  of  beaver  and  other  furs. 

"  We  have  also  examined  the  passports  produced 
by  him  from  the  Superintendent  of  Indian  affairs 
for  the  Government  of  the  United  States  of  Amer 
ica,  and  do  not  hesitate  to  say  we  believe  them  per 
fectly  correct. 

"  We  also  state  that,  in  our  opinion,  his  motives 
for  wishing  to  pass  by  a  different  route  to  the  Co 
lumbia  river,  on  his  return,  is  solely  because  he  feels 
convinced  that  he  and  his  companions  run  great  risk 
of  perishing  if  they  return  by  the  route  they  came. 

"  In  testimony  whereof  we  have  hereunto  set  our 
hand  and  seal,  this  20th  day  of  December,  1826. 

WILLIAM  G.  DANA,  Captain  of  schooner  Waverly. 

WILLIAM  H.  CUNNINGHAM,  Captain  of  ship  Courier. 

WILLIAM  HENDERSON,  Captain  of  brig  Olive  Branch. 

JAMES  SCOTT. 

THOMAS  M.  ROBBINS,  Mate  of  schooner   Waverly. 

THOMAS  SHAW,  Supercargo  of  ship  Courier." 

Smith  was  liberated,  and  during  the  Summer  of  1827, 
with  his  party,  left  the  Sacramento  valley,  journeying 


toward  the  Columbia  river.  While  encamped  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Umpqua  river,  near  Cape  Arago,  the 
Indians  attacked  them,  and,  with  the  exception  of 
Smith,  Richard  Laughlin,  and  Daniel  Prior,  killed 
the  entire  party.  These  three  escaped  to  Fort  Van 
couver,  where  they  received  a  cordial  reception  and 
kind  treatment.  Some  writers  state  that  Smith  then 
went  directly  to  St.  Louis,  while  others  claim  that, 
with  a  party  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company's  men,  he 
returned  to  the  scene  of  his  last  battle,  and  meeting 
no  opposition,  journeyed  on  and  down  the  Sacra 
mento  valley  until  he  reached  the  junction  of  the 
Sacramento  and  Feather  rivers,  near  which  a  camp 
was  located.  This  party,  under  command  of  a 
Scotchman  named  McLeod,  was  the  first  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  to  occupy  California.  If  the 
latter  version  is  correct,  then  Smith  soon  after  left 
the  party  and  returned  to  the  trapping  grounds  of 
his  own  company. 

In  the  Spring  of  1832,  Capt.  B.  L.  E.  Bonne- 
ville,  an  officer  in  the  United  States  Army,  on  fur 
lough,  at  the  head  of  a  company  of  one  hundred 
men,  with  wagons,  horses,  mules,  and  merchandise, 
crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains,  leading  parties  of  men 
into  the  Colorado,  Humboldt  and  Sacramento  valleys. 

Ewing  Young,  who  had  trapped  with  parties  on 
the  upper  part  of  the  Del  Norte,  the  eastern  part  of 
the  Grand  and  the  Colorado  rivers,  pursuing  the 
route  formerly  traversed  by  Smith,  in  the  Winter  of 
1829-30,  entered  the  San  Joaquin  valley,  and 
hunted  on  Tulare  lake  and  the  adjacent  streams. 
During  the  last  part  of  1832,  or  early  in  1833,  Young, 
having  again  entered  the  San  Joaquin  valley  and 
trapped  on  the  streams,  finally  arrived  at  the  Sacra 
mento  river,  about  ten  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the 
American.  He  followed  up  the  Sacramento  to  the 
Feather  river,  and  from  there  crossed  over  to  the 
coast.  The  coast-line  was  traveled  till  they 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Umpqua,  where  they 
crossed  the  mountains  to  the  inland.  Entering  the 
upper  portion  of  the  Sacramento  valley,  they  pro 
ceeded  southerly  till  they  reached  the  American 
river.  Then  they  followed  down  the  San  Joaquin 
valley,  and  passed  out  through  the  Tejon  pass,  in 
the  Winter  of  1833-4.  Besides  these  parties  and 
leaders  mentioned,  during  this  period  there  were 
several  trappers  or  "  lone  traders,"  who  explored 
and  hunted  through  the  valleys. 

The  attention  of  the  officers  of  the  wealthy  and 
powerful  Hudson  Bay  Company  was  first  'specially 
called  to  the  extent  and  importance  of  the  fur  trade 
in  California  by  Jedediah  Smith,  in  1827  or  1828. 
The  first  expedition  sent  out  by  them  was  that 
under  the  command  of  McLeod.  A  short  time  after 
the  departure  of  this  company,  a  second  one  was 
sent  out  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Ogden,  which 
followed  up  the  Columbia  and  Lewis  rivers,  thence 
southerly  over  Western  Utah,  Nevada,  and  into  the 
San  Joaquin  valley.  On  their  return  they  trapped 
on  the  streams  in  Sacramento  valley,  and  went  out 


60 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY.  CALIFORNIA. 


at  the  northern  limit  in  1830.  About  the  middle  of 
1832  another  band  of  trappers,  under  Michael  Lafram- 
boise,  came  into  the  Sacramento  valley  from  the 
north,  and  until  the  next  Spring  spent  the  time  in  trap 
ping  on  the  streams  flowing  through  the  great  val 
ley.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company  continued  sending 
out  its  employes  into  this  region  until  about  the  year 
1845.  Their  trappers  in  California  belonged  to  the 
"Southern  Trapping  Party  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Com 
pany,"  and  were  divided  into  smaller  parties  composed 
of  Canadians  and  Indians,  with  their  wives.  The 
trapping  was  carried  on  during  the  Winter,  in 
order  to  secure  a  good  class  of  furs.  The  free  trap 
pers  were  paid  ten  shillings  sterling  for  a  prime 
beaver  skin,  while  the  Indians  received  a  moderate 
compensation  for  their  services.  The  outfits  and 
portions  of  their  food  were  purchased  from  the  com 
pany.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company  employed  about 
ninety  or  one  hundred  men  in  this  State.  The 
greater  part  of  the  Indians  were  fugitives  from  the 
Missions,  and  were  honest  and  peaceably  inclined, 
from  the  fact  that  it  was  mainly  to  their  interest  to 
be  'so.  From  1832  the  chief  rendezvous  was  at 
French  Camp,  about  five  miles  south  of  Stockton. 
About  1841  the  company  bought  of  Jacob  P.  Leese 
the  building  he  had  erected  for  a  store  in  San  Fran 
cisco,  and  made  that  their  business  center  for  this 
territory.  The  agents  were  J.  Alex.  Forbes,  and 
William  G.  Ray,  both  of  whom  were  intelligent,  dig 
nified,  and  courteous  gentlemen.  Mr.  Ray,  who  was 
very  sensitive,  and  given  slightly  to  dissipation, 
when  some  complaint  of  a  trivial  character  was  made 
in  reference  to  his  acts,  committed  suicide  in 
1845.  His  death,  and  the  scarcity  of  beaver  and 
otter,  caused  the  company  to  Avind  up  their  agency 
and  business  in  the  territory.  Mr.  Forbes  was,  for 
a  long  series  of  years,  the  British  Consul  at  San 
Francisco,  and  by  his  genial  manners,  superior  cul 
ture,  and  finished  education,  made  a  good  record, 
which  places  him  among  the  noted  men  of  the  State. 
This  gentleman  now  resides  in  Oakland,  and 
although  seventy-five  years  of  age,  his  faculties  are 
as  strong  as  ever.  His  memory  is  wonderful,  and 
this  power  of  intention,  with  the  vast  fund  of  knowl 
edge  possessed,  has  been  of  great  service  to  the  his-  . 
torian.  He  has  the.  honor  of  being  the  first  English 
historian  of  California,  his  "  California,"  published  in 
London  in  1839,  being  written  in  Mexico  four  years 
previous  to  the  date  of  its  publication.* 

During.the  months  of  January  and  February,  1844, 
John  C.  Fremont,  then  Brevet  Captain  of  Topo 
graphical  Engineers,  on  his  return  from  his  first 
exploring  expedition  to  Oregon,  passed  down  the 
east  side  of  the  Sierras,  and  crossed  the  snow-cov 
ered  summit  of  New  Helvetia  (Sacramento),  suffer 
ing  many  privations  arid  hardships.  His  experiences 
are  so  clearly  related  in  his  report  to  the  Chief  of 
Engineers,  that  the  portion  relating  to  this  stage  of 
his  journey  is  here  given  to  show  the  character  of 

*Mr.  Forbes  died  recently  of  heart  disease. 


the  mountains,  the  nature  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the 
scarcity  of  knowledge  of  the  Sierras,  although  the 
passage  was  made  in  El  Dorado  county.  Passing  by 
the  account  of  his  journey  southward  from  the  Dalles 
wo  take  up  his  narrative  on  the  evening  of  Jan 
uary  31,  1844,  upon  reaching  the  Upper  Truckee 
river,  south  of  Lake  Tahoe. 

"In  the  course  of  the  afternoon,  one  of  the  men 
had  his  foot  frost-bitten;  and  about  dark  we  had  the 
satisfaction  of  reaching  the  bottom  of  a  stream  tim 
bered  with  large  trees,  among  which  we  found  a 
sheltered  camp,  with  an  abundance  of  such  grass  as 
the  season  afforded,  for  the  animals.  We  saw  before 
us,  in  descending  from  the  pass,  a  great,  continuous 
range,  along  which  stretched  the  valley  of  the  river: 
the  lower  parts  steep,  and  dark  with  pines,  Avhilc 
above  it  was  hidden  in  clouds  of  snow.  This  we  felt 
satisfied  was  the  central  ridge  of  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
the  great  California  mountain,  which  now  only  inter 
vened  between  us  and  the  waters  of  the  bay.  We 
had  made  a  forced  march  of  twenty-six  miles,  and 
three  mules  had  given  out  on  the  road.  Up  to  this 
point,  with  the  exception  of  two  stolen  by  Indians, 
wo  had  lost  none  of  the  horses  which  had  been 
brought  from  the  Columbia  river,  and  a  number  of 
these  were  still  strong,  and  in  tolerably  good  order. 
We  had  now  sixty-seven  animals  in  the  band.  (The 
party  consisted  of  twenty-five  persons.) 

«  *  *  *  -\yc  gathered  together  a  few  of  the  more 
intelligent  of  the  Indians,  and  held  this  evening  an 
interesting  council.  I  explained  to  them  my  inten 
tions.  I  told  them  that  we  had  come  from  a  very 
far  country,  having  been  traveling  now  nearly  a  year, 
and  that  we  Avere  desirous  simply  to  go  across  the 
mountain  into  the  country  of  the  other  whiles. 
There  were  two  who  appeared  particularly  intelli 
gent — one,  a  somewhat  old  man.  He  told  me  that, 
before  the  snows  fell,  it  was  six  sleeps  to  the  place 
where  the  whites  lived,  but  that  now  it  was  impossi 
ble  to  cross  the  inountain  on  account  of  the  deep 
snow;  and  showing  us,  as  the  others  had  done,  that 
it  was  over  our  heads,  he  urged  us  strongly  to  fol 
low  the  course  of  the  river,  which,  he  said,  would 
conduct  us  to  a  lake  (Tahoe),  in  which  there  were 
many  large  fish.  There,  he  said,  were  many  people; 
there  was  no  snow  on  the  ground,  and  we  might 
remain  there  until  the  Spring.  From  their  descrip 
tions,  we  were  enabled  to  judge  that  we  were  en 
camped  on  the  upper  water  of  the  Salmon  Trout 
river.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  our  com 
munication  was  only  by  signs,  as  we  understood 
nothing  of  their  language;  but  they  spoke,  notwith 
standing,  rapidly  and  vehemently,  explaining  what 
they  considered  the  folly  of  our  intentions,  and  urg 
ing  us  to  go  down  to  the  lake.  Tah-vc,  a  word 
signifying  snow,  we  very  soon  learned  to  know,  from 
its  frequent  repetition.  I  told  him  that  the  men  and 
horses  were  strong,  and  that  we  would  break  a  road 
through  the  snow;  and  spreading  before  him  our  bales 
of  scarlet  cloth  and  trinkets,  showed  him  what  we 
would  give  for  a  guide.  It  was  necessary  to  obtain 
one,  if  possible,  for  I  had  determined  hereto  attempt 
the  passage  of  the  mountain.  Pulling  a  bunch  of 
grass  from  the  ground,  after  a  short  discussion 
among  themselves,  the  old  man  made  us  comprehend 
that  if  we  could  break  through  the  snow,  at  the 
end  of  three  days  we  would  come  down  upon  grass, 
which  he  showed  us  would  be  about  six  inches  hi-h. 
and  where  the  ground  would  be  entirely  free.  So  tar. 
he  said,  he  had  been  in  hunting  for  elk;  but  beyond 


EARLY  CONDITION  OF  THIS  REGION. 


61 


that  (and  ho  closed  his  eyes)  he  had  seen  nothing; 
but  there  was  one  among  them  who  had  been  to  the 
whites,  and,  going  out  of  the  lodge,  he  returned  with 
a  young  man  of  very  intelligent  appearance.  Here, 
said  he,  is  a  young  man  who  has  seen  the  whites  with 
his  own  eyes;  and  he  swore,  first  by  the  sky,  and 
then  by  the  ground,  that  what  ho  said  was  true,  i 
With  a  large  present  of  goods,  wo  prevailed  upon  this  | 
young  man  to  bo  our  guide,  and  he  acquired  among  j 
us  the  name  Melo — a  word  signifying  friend,  which  j 
they  used  very  frequently.  He  Avas  thinly  clad  and  J 
nearly  bare-footed,  his  moccasins  being  about  worn 
out.  We  gave  him  skins  to  make  a  new  pair,  to  enable 
him  to  perform  his  undertaking  to  us.  The  Indians  re 
mained  in  the  camp  during  the  night,  and  we  kept 
the  guide  and  two  6thers  to  sleep  in  the  lodge  with 
us—Carson  (Kit  Carson)  lying  across  the  door,  ! 
having  made  them  acquainted  with  the  use  of  our  \ 
tire-arms.  The  snow,  which  had  intermitted  in  the 
evening,  commenced  falling  again  in  the  course  of  j 
the  night,  and  it  snowed  steadily  all  day.  In 
the  morning  I  acquainted  the  men  with  my  decision, 
and  explained  to  them  that  necessity  required  us  to 
make  a  great  effort  to  clear  the  mountains.  I 
reminded  them  of  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Sacra 
mento,  with  which  they  were  familiar  from  the 
descriptions  of  Carson,  who  had  been  there  some  fif 
teen  years  ago,  and  who,  in  our  late  privations,  had 
delighted  us  in  speaking  of  its  rich  pastures  and 
abounding  game,  and  drew  a  vivid  contrast  between 
the  Summer  climate,  less  than  a  hundred  miles  dis 
tant,  and  tho  falling  snow  around  us.  I  informed 
them  (and  long  experience  had  given  them  confi 
dence  in  my  observations  and  good  instruments) 
that  almost  directly  west,  and  only  about  seventy 
miles  distant,  was  the  great  farming  establishment 
of  Captain  Sutter — a  gentleman  who  had  formerly 
lived  in  Missouri,  and,  emigrating  to  this  country, 
had  become  the  possessor  of  a  principality.  I  assured 
them  that  from  the  heights  of  the  mountain  before 
us,  we  should  doubtless  see  the  valley  of  the  Sacra 
mento  river,  and  with  one  effort  place  ourselves 
again  in  the  midst  of  plenty.  The  people  received 
this  decision  with  the  cheerful  obedience  which  had 
always  characterized  them,  and  the  day  was  imme 
diately  devoted  to  the  preparations  necessary  to 
enable  us  to  carry  it  into  effect.  Leggins,  mocca 
sins,  clothings-all  were  put  into  the  best  state  to 
resist  tho  cold.  Our  guide  was  not  neglected.  Ex 
tremity  of  suffering  might  make  him  desert;  wo 
therefore  did  the  best  we  could  for  him.  Leggins, 
moccasins,  some  articles  of  clothing,  and  a  large 
green  blanket,  in  addition  to  the  blue  and  scarlet 
cloth,  were  lavished  upon  him,  and  to  his  great  and 
evident  contentment.  He  arrayed  himself  in  all  his 
colors,  and,  clad  in  green,  blue  and  scarlet,  he  made 
a  gay  looking  Indian;  and,  with  his  various  pres 
ents,  was  probably  richer  and  better  clothed  than 
any  of  his  tribe  had  over  been  before. 

"  *  *  *  The  river  was  forty  to  seventy  foot  wide, 
and  now  entirely  frozen  over.  It  was  wooded  with 
large  cottonwood,  willow  and  grain  de  bveuf.  By 
observation,  the  latitude  of  this  encampment  was 
38°  37'  18". 

"  February  2d.  It  had  ceased  snowing,  and  this 
morning  the  lower  air  was  clear  and  frosty;  and  six 
or  seven  thousand  feet  above,  the  peaks  of  the  Sierra 
now  and  then  appeared  among  the  rolling  clouds 
which  were  rapidly  disappearing  before  tho  sun. 
Our  Indum  shook  his  head  as  ho  pointed  to  tho  icy 
pinnacles,  shooting  high  up  into  the  sky,  and  seem 
ing  almost  immediately  above  us.  Crossing  the  river 


on  the  ice,  and  leaving  it  immediately,  we  com 
menced  the  ascent  of  the  mountain  along  the  valley 
of  a  tributary  stream.  The  people  were  unusually 
silent,  for  every  man  knew  that  our  enterprise  was 
hazardous,  and  the  issue  doubtful.  The  snow  deep 
ened  rapidly,  and  it  soon  became  necessary  to 
break  a  road.  For  this  service  a  party  of  ten  was 
formed,  mounted  on  the  strongest  horses,  each  man 
in  succession  opening  the  road  on  foot,  or  on  horse 
back,  until  himself  and  his  hor.se  became  fatigued, 
when  he  stepped  aside,  and,  the  remaining  number 
passing  ahead,  he  took  his  station  in  the  rear.  Leav 
ing  this  stream,  and  pursuing  a  very  direct  course, 
we  passed  over  an  intervening  ridge  to  tho  river  we 
had  left.  On  the  way  we  passed  two  huts,  en 
tirely  covered  with  snow,  which  might  very  easily 
have  escaped  observation.  A  family  was  living  in 
each,  and  the  only  trail  I  saw  in  the  neighborhood 
was  from  tho  door-hole  to  a  nut-pine  near,  which 
supplied  them  with  food  and  fuel.  We  found  two 
similar  huts  on  the  creek  where  we  next  arrived, 
and  traveling  a  little  higher  up,  encamped  on  its 
banks,  in  about  four  feet  of  snow.  To-day  we  had 
traveled  sixteen  miles,  and  our  elevation  above  the 
sea  was  six  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty  feet. 

'•February  3d.  Turning  our  faces  directly  towards 
the  main  chain,  we  ascended  an  open  hollow  along  a 
small  tributary  to  the  river,  which,  according  to  the 
Indians,  issues  from  a  mountain  to  the  south.  The 
snow  was  so  deep  in  tho  hollow  that  we  were  obliged 
to  travel  along  the  steep  hill-sides,  and  over  spurs, 
where  wind  and  sun  had  lessened  the  snow,  and 
where  the  grass,  which  appeared  to  be  in  good  qual 
ity  along  the  sides  of  the  mountain,  was  exposed. 
We  opened  our  road  in  the  same  way  as  yesterday, 
but  only  made  seven  miles,  and  encamped  by  some 
springs  at  the  foot  of  a  high  and  steep  hill,  by  which 
the  hollow  ascended  to  another  basin  in  the  mount 
ain.  The  little  stream  below  was  entirely  buried  in 
snow.  *  *  *  "We  occupied  the  remainder  of  the  day 
in  beating  down  a  road  to  the  foot  of  the  hill,  a  mile 
or  two  distant;  the  snow  being  beaten  down  when 
moist,  in  the  warm  part  of  the  day,  and  then  hard 
frozen  at  night,  made  a  foundation  that  wrould  bear 
the  weight  of  the  animals  the  next  morning.  Dur 
ing  the  day  several  Indians  joined  us  on  snow-shoes. 
These  were  made  of  a  circular  hoop,  about  a  foot  in 
diameter,  the  interior  space  being  filled  with  an  open 
not-work  of  bark. 

"February  4th.  I  went  ahead  early  with  two  or 
three  men,  each  with  a  led  horse,  to  break  the  road. 
We  were  obliged  to  abandon  the  hollow  entirely,  and 
work  along  the  mountain  side,  which  was  very  steep, 
and  the  snow  covered  with  an  icy  crust.  *  *  *  To 
wards  a  pass  which  the  guide  indicated,  we  at 
tempted  in  the  afternoon  to  force  a  road;  but  after  a 
laborious  plunging  through  two  or  three  hundred 
yards,  our  best  horse  gave  out,  entirely  refusing  to 
make  any  further  effort;  and,  for  a  time,  wo  were 
brought  to  a  stand.  The  guide  informed  us  that  wo 
were  entering  the  deep  snow,  and  here  began  the 
difficulties  of  the  mountain;  and  to  him,  and  almost 
to  all,  our  enterprise  seemed  hopeless.  1  returned  a 
short  distance  back,  to  the  break  in  the  hollow,  where 
I  met  Mr.  Fitzpatrick.  The  camp  had  been  all  the  day 
occupied  in  endeavoring  to  ascend  the  hill,  but  only 
the  best  horses  had  succeeded,  not  having  sufficient 
strength  to  bring  themselves  up  without  the  packs; 
and  all  the  line  of  road  between  this  and  the  springs 
was  strewed  with  camp  stores  and  equipage,  and 
horses  floundering  in  snow.  I  therefore  immediately 
encamped  on  the  ground  with  my  own  mess,  which 


62 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


was  in  advance,  and  directed  Mr.  Fitzpatrick  to  en 
camp  at  the  springs,  and  send  all  the  animals,  in 
charge  of  Taban,  with  a  strong  guard,  back  to  the 
place  where  they  had  been  pastured  the  night  before. 
*  *  *  Two  Indians  joined  our  party  here;  and  one 
of  them,  an  old  man,  immediately  began  to  ha 
rangue  us,  saying  that  ourselves  and  animals  would 
polish  in  the  snow;  and  that  if  we  would  go  back,  he 
would  show  us  another  and  a  better  way  across  the 
mountain.  He  spoke  in  a  very  loud  voice,  and  there 
was  a  singular  repetition  of  phrases  and  arrange 
ment  of  words,  which  rendered  his  speech  striking, 
and  not  unmusical.  We  had  now  begun  to  under 
stand  some  words,  and,  with  the  aid  of  signs,  easily 
comprehended  the  old  man's  simple  ideas.  'Rock 
upon  rock — rock  upon  rock — snow  upon  snow — 
snow  upon  snow,'  said  he;  'even  if  you  get  over  the 
snow  you  will  not  be  able  to  get  down  from  the 
mountains.  He  made  us  the  sign  of  precipices,  and 
showed  us  how  the  feet  of  the  horses  would  slip,  and 
throw  them  oif  from  the  narrow  trails  that  led  along 
their  sides.  Our  Chinook,  who  comprehended  even 
more  readily  than  ourselves,  and  believed  our  situa 
tion  hopeless,  covered  his  head  with  his  blanket  and 
began  to  weep  and  lament.  '  I  wanted  to  see  the 
whites,'  said  he; '  I  come  away  from  my  own  people 
to  see  the  whites,  and  1  wouldn't  care  to  die  among 
them,  but  here,'  and  he  looked  around  into  the  cold 
night  and  the  gloomy  forest,  and,  drawing  his  blanket 
over  his  head,  began  again  to  lament.  Seated  around 
the  tree,  the  fire  illuminating  the  rocks  and  the  tall 
bolls  of  the  pines  around  about,  and  the  old  Indian 
haranguing,  we  presented  a  group  of  very  serious 
faces. 

"  February  5th.  The  night  had  been  too  cold  to 
sleep,  and  we  were  up  very  early.  Our  guide  was 
standing  by  the  fire  with  all  his  finery  on;  and  see 
ing  him  shiver  in  the  cold,  I  threw  on  his  shoulders 
one  of  my  blankets.  We  missed  him  a  few  minutes 
afterwards,  and  never  saw  him  again.  He  had  de 
serted.  His  bad  faith  and  treachery  were  in  per 
fect  keeping  with  the  estimate  of  Indian  character, 
which  a  long  intercourse  with  this  people  had  grad 
ually  forced  upon  my  mind.  While  a  portion  of  the 
camp  \vere  occupied  in  bringing  up  the  baggage  to 
this  point,  the  remainder  were  busy  in  making  sledges 
and  snow-shoes,  1  had  determined  to  explore  the 
mountain  ahead,  and  the  sledges  were  to  be  used  in 
transporting  the  baggage.  *  *  * 

"February  6th.  Accompanied  by  Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  I 
set  out  to-day  with  a  reconnoitering  party,  on  snow- 
shoes.  We  marched  all  in  single  tile,  trampling  the 
snow  as  heavily  as  we  could.  Grossing  the  open 
basin,  in  a  march  of  about  ten  miles  we  reached  the 
to])  of  one  of  the  peaks,  to  the  left  of  the  pass  indi 
cated  by  our  guide.  Far  below  us,  dimmed  by  the 
distance  was  a  large  snowless  valley,  bounded  on  the 
western  side,  at  the  distance  of  about  a  hundred 
miles,  by  a  low  range  of  mountains,  which  Carson 
recognized  with  delight  as  the  mountains  bordering 
the  coast.  '  '  There,'  said  he,  '  is  the  little  mountain 
(Mt.  Diablo) — it  is  fifteen  years  ago  since  I  saw  it; 
but  I  am  just  as  sure  as  if  1  .had  seen  it  yesterday.' 
Between  us,  then,  and  this  low  coast  range,  was  the 
valley  of  the  Sacramento;  and  no  one  who  had  not 
accompanied  us  through  the  incidents  of  our  life  for 
the  last  few  months  could  realize  the  delight  with 
which  we  at  last  looked  down  upon  it.  At  the  dis 
tance  of  apparently  thirty  miles  beyond  us  were  dis 
tinguished  spots  of  prairie;  and  a  dark  line,  winch 
could  be  traced  with  the  glass,  was  imagined  to  be 
the  course  of  the  river;  but  we  were  evidently  at  a 


great  height  above  the  valley,  and  between  us  and 
the  plains  extended  miles  of  snowy  fields  and  broken 
ridges  of  pine-covered  mountains.  *  *  *  All  our  en 
ergies  were  now  directed  to  getting  our  animals 
across  the  snow;  and  it  was  supposed  that,  after  all 
the  baggage  had  been  drawn  with  the  sleighs  over 
the  trail  we  had  made,  it  would  be  sufficiently  hard 
to  bear  our  animals.  *  *  *  With  one  party  drawing 
sleighs  loaded  with  baggage,  I  advanced  to-day 
about  four  miles  along  the  trail,  and  encamped  at  the 
first  grassy  spot,  where  we  intended  to  bring  our 
horses.  Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  with  another  party,  re 
mained  behind,  to  form  an  intermediate  station  be 
tween  us  and  the  animals.  *  *  * 

"February  8th.  *  *  *  Scenery  and  weather,  com 
bined,  must  render  these  mountains  beautiful  in  Sum 
mer;  the  purity  and  deep-blue  color  of  the  sky 
are  singularly  beautiful;  the  days  are  sunny  and 
bright,  and  even  warm  in  the  noon  hours;  and  if  we 
could  be  free  from  the  many  anxieties  that  oppress 
us,  even  now  we  would  be  delighted  here;  but  our 
provisions  are  getting  fearfully  scant.  Sleighs  ar 
rived  with  baggage  about  ten  o'clock;  and  leaving  a 
portion  of  it  here,  we  continued  on  for  a  mile  and  a 
half,  and  encamped  at  the  foot  of  a  long  hill  on  this 
side  of  the  open  bottom.  *  *  * 

"  February  9th.  During  the  night  the  weather 
changed,  the  wind  rising  to  a  gale,  and  commencing 
to  snow  before  daylight;  before  morning  the  trail  was 
covered.  We  remained  quiet  in  camp  all  day,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  weather  improved.  Four  sleighs 
arrived  toward  evening,  with  the  bedding  of  the 
men.  We  suffer  much  from  want  of  salt,  and  all 
the  men  are  becoming  weak  from  insufficient  food. 

"  February  10th.  Taplin  was  sent  back  with  a  few 
men  to  assist  Mr.  Fitzpatrick;  and  continuing  on 
with  three  sleighs  carrying  a  part  of  the  baggage, 
we  had  the  satisfaction  to  encamp  within  two  and  a 
half  miles  of  the  head  of  the  hollow,  and  at  the  foot 
of  the  last  mountain  ridge.  Here  two  large  trees 
had  been  set  on  fire,  and  in  the  holes,  where  the 
snow  had  been  melted  away,  we  found  a  comfortable 
camp.  Putting  on  our  snow-shoes,  we  spent  the 
afternoon  in  exploring  a  road  ahead.  The  glare  of 
the  snow  combined  with  great  fatigue,  had  rendered 
many  of  the  people  nearly  blind;  but  we  were  fortu 
nate  in  having  some  black  silk  handkerchiefs,  which, 
worn  as  veils,  very  much  relieved  the  eyes. 

"  February  llth.  High  wind  continued,  and  our 
trail  this  morning  was  nearly  invisible — here  and 
there  indicated  by  a  little  ridge  of  snow.  Our  situa 
tion  became  tiresome  and  dreary,  requiring  a  strong 
exercise  of  patience  and  resolution.  In  the  evening 
I  received  a  message  from  Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  acquaint 
ing  me  with  the  utter  failure  of  his  attempt  to  get 
our  mules  and  horses  over  the  snow — the  half-hidden 
trail  had  proved  entirely  too  slight  to  support  them, 
and  they  had  broken  through,  and  were  plunging 
about  or  lying  half  buried  in  the  snow.  *  *  *  I 
wrote  him  to  send  the  animals  immediately  back  to 
their  old  pastures;  and  after  having  made  mauls  and 
shovels,  turn  in  all  the  strength  of  his  party  to 
open  and  beat  a  road  through  the  snow,  strengthen 
ing  it  with  branches  and  boughs  of  the  pines. 

"  February  13th.  We  continued  to  labor  on  the 
road;  and  in  the  course  of  the  day  had  the  satisfac 
tion  to  see  the  people  working  down  the  face  of  the 
opposite  hill,  about  three  miles  distant.  *  *  *  The 
meat  train  did  not  arrive  this  morning,  and  I  gave 
Godey  leave  to  kill  our  little  dog  (Tlamatb),  which 
he  prepared  in  Indian  fashion;  scorching  off  the  hair, 
and  washing  the  skin  with  soap  and  snow,  and  then 


EARLY  CONDITION  OF  THIS  REGION. 


63 


cutting  it  up  in  pieces,  which  were  laid  on  the  snow. 
Shortly  afterward,  the  sleigh  arrived  with  a  supply 
of  horse  meat;  and  we  had  to-night  an  extraordinary 
dinner — pea  soup,  mule  and  dog.  *  *  * 

"  February  16th.  We  had  succeeded  in  getting  our 
animals  safely  to  the  first  grassy  hill;  and  this 
morning  I  started  with  Jacob  on  a  reconnoitering 
expedition  beyond  the  mountain. 

"  We  traveled  along  the  crest  of  narrow  ridges, 
extending  down  from  the  mountain  in  the  direction  of 
the  valley,  from  which  the  snpw  was  fast  melting 
away.  On  the  open  spots  was  tolerably  good  grass; 
and  I  judged  that  we  should  succeed  in  getting  the 
camp  down  by  way  of  these.  Toward  sun-down 
we  discovered  some  icy  points  in  a  deep  hollow,  arid, 
descending  the  mountain,  we  encamped  at  the  head 
water  of  a  little  creek,  where  at  last  the  water  found 
its  way  to  the  Pacific.  *  *  *  We  started  again  early 
in  the  morning.  The  creek  acquired  a  regular 
breadth  of  about  twenty  feet,  and  we  soon  began  to 
hear  the  rushing  of  the  water  below  the  ice-surface, 
over  which  we  traveled  to  avoid  the  snow;  a  few 
miles  below  we  broke  through,  where  the  water  was 
several  feet  deep,  and  halted  to  dry  our  clothes.  We 
continued  a  few  miles  further,  walking  being  very 
laborious  without  snow-shoes.  1  was  now  perfectly 
satisfied  that  we  had  struck  the  stream  on  which 
Mr.  Sutter  lived;  and,  turning  about,  made  a  hard 
push,  and  reached  the  camp  at  dark.  *  *  * 

"  On  the  19th,  the  people  were  occupied  in  mak 
ing  a  road  and  bringing  up  the  baggage;  and,  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  next  day,  February  20,  1844,  we 
encamped  with  the  animals  and  all  the  material  of  the 
camp,  on  the  summit  of  the  pass  in  the  dividing 
ridge,  one  thousand  miles  by  our  traveled  road  from 
the  Dalles  of  the  Columbia.  The  people,  who  had  not 
yet  been  to  this  point,  climbed  the  neighboring  peak 
to  enjoy  a  look  at  the  valley.  The  temperature  of 
boiling  water  gave  for  the  elevation  of  the  encamp 
ment  nine  thousand  .three  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
feet  above  the  sea.  This  was  two  thousand  feet 
higher  than  the  South  Pass  in  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
and  several  peaks  in  view  rose  several  thousand  feet 
still  higher.  *  *  *" 

From  the  summit  the  party  passed  down  the 
western  slope  of  the  Sierras,  following  the  general 
course  of  the  stream,  and  suffering  many  hardships 
and  privations,  encountering  much  deep  snow  and 
Mistaining  life  on  none  too  juicy  mule  meat.  The 
stream  whose  course  was  being  followed  was  the 
south  fork  of  the  American  river.  Describing  the 
happy  termination  of  this  perilous  journey  by  an 
advance  party  of  eight,  Mr.  Fremont  says: — 

"March  Gth.  We  continued  on  our  road  through 
the  same  surpassingly  beautiful  country,  entirely 
uncqualed  for  the  pasturage  of  stock  by  anything  we 
had  ever  seen.  Our  horses  had  now  become  so 
strong  that  they  were  able  to  carry  us,  and  we  trav 
eled  rapidly — over  four  miles  an  hour  ;  four  of  us 
riding  every  alternate  hour.  Every  few  hundred 
yards  we  came  upon  little  bands  of  deer  ;  but  we 
were  too  eager  to  reach  the  settlement,  which  we 
momentarily  expected  to  discover,  to  halt  for  any 
other  than  a  passing  shot.  In  a  few  hours  we  reached 
a  large  fork  (North  Fork  of  the  American  river), 
the  northern  branch  of  the  river,  and  equal  in  size  to 
that  which  we  had  descended.  Together  they  formed 
a  beautiful  stream,  sixty  to  one  hundred  yards  wide, 
which  at  first,  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  the  country 


through  which  that  river  ran,  we  took  to  be  the 
Sacramento.  We  continued  down  the  right  bank  of 
the  river,  traveling  for  a  while  over  a  wooded  upland 
where  we  had  the  delight  to  discover  tracks  of  cattle. 
*  *  *  We  made  an  acorn  meal  at  noon  and 
hurried  on.  Shortly  afterwards  we  gave  a  shout 
at  the  appearance  on  a  little  bluff  of  a  neatly  built 
adobe  house  with  glass  windows.  We  rode  up,  but, 
to  our  disappointment,  found  only  Indians.  There  • 
was  no  appearance  of  cultivation,  and  we  could  see 
no  cattle,  and  we  supposed  the  place  had  been  aban 
doned.  We  now  pressed  on  more  eagerly  than  ever; 
the  river  swept  round  in  a  large  bend  to  the  right ; 
the  hills  lowered  down  entirely;  and,  gradually  enter 
ing  a  broad  valley,  we  came  unexpectedly  into  a  large 
Indian  village,  where  the  people  looked  clean,  and 
wore  cotton  shirts  and  various  other  articles  of  dress. 
They  immediately  crowded  around  us,  and  we  had 
the  inexpressible  delight  to  find  one  who  spoke  a  lit 
tle  indifferent  Spanish,  but  who  at  first  confounded 
us  by  saying  there  were  no  whites  in  the  country  ; 
but  just  then  a  well-dressed  Indian  came  up  and 
made  his  salutations  in  very  well-spoken  Spanish. 
In  answer  to  our  inquiries,  he  informed  us  that  we 
were  upon  the  Rio  de  los  Americanos  (the  river  of  the 
Americans),  and  that  it  joined  the  Sacramento  river 
about  ten  miles  below.  Never  did  a  name  sound 
more  sweetly!  We  felt  ourselves  among  our  country 
men;  for  the  name  of  American,  in  these  distant  parts, 
is  applied  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States.  To 
our  eager  inquiries  he  answered,  'lama  vaquero 
(cow  herd)  in  the  service  of  Captain  Sutter,  and  the 
people  of  this  rancheria  work  for  him;'  Our  evident 
satisfaction  made  him  communicative;  and  he  went 
on  to  say  that  Captain  Sutter  was  a  very  rich  man, 
and  always  glad  to  see  his  country  people.  We  asked 
for  his  house.  He  answered  that  it  was  just  over  the 
hill  before  us,  and  offered,  if  we  would  wait  a  moment 
to  take  his  horse  and  conduct  us  to  it.  We  readily 
accepted  his  civil  offer.  In  a  short  distance  we  came 
in  sight  of  the  fort;  and  passing  on  the  way  the  house 
of  a  settler  on  the  opposite  side  (a  Mr.  Sinclair),  we 
forded  the  river;  and  in  a  few  miles  were  met  a  short 
distance  from  the  fort  by  Captain  Sutter  himself. 
He  gave  us  a  most  frank  and  cordial  reception — con 
ducted  us  immediately  to  his  residence — and  under  his 
hospitable  roof  had  a  night  of  rest,  enjoyment,  and 
refreshment,  which  none  but  ourselves  could  appre 
ciate." 

Gen.  Fremont  the  next  day  started  back  with 
provisions  and  horses  to  meet  and  relieve  the  main 
body  of  the  party,  who  were  several  days  in  the 
rear.  He  met  them  near  the  forks  of  the  river, 
"  Each  man,  weak  and  emaciated,  leading  a  horse 
or  mule  as  weak  and  emaciated  as  himself."  Of 
sixty-seven  horses  and  mules,  only  thirty-three  had 
survived  that  terrible  journey  across  the  mountains. 
Many  of  them  had  been  killed  for  food,  while  others 
had  died  of  starvation  or  exhaustion  or  lay  at  the 
bottom  of  rocky  canons,  down  which  they  had 
plunged  from  the  precipitous  heights  above.  Many 
valuable  specimens,  collected  during  the  long  jour 
ney  were  lost. 

It  was  in  the  few  years  prior  to  the  discovery  of 
gold  that  the  genuine  pioneers  of  California  braved 
the  unknown  dangers  of  the  plains  and  mountains, 
with  the  intention  of  settling  in  the  fair  valley,  of 
which  so  much  was  said  and  so  little  known,  and 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


building  a  home  for  themselves  and  their  children. 
Many  of  these  immigrants  crossed  the  mountains  by 
nearly  the  same  route  pursued  by  the  Central  Pacific 
Railroad,  except  that  they  followed  down  Bear  river 
to  the  plains.  The  first  settlement  reached  by  them 
was  that  of  Theodore  Sicard,  at  Johnson's  Crossing, 
on  the  Placer  county  side,  and  a  few  miles  below 
'Camp  Far  West.  This  settlement  was  made  in  1844, 
and  was  the  first  point  reached  by  the  members  of 
the  ill-starred  Conner  Party  in  1847.  Opposite 
Sicard's  settlement  was  Johnson's  ranch,  owned  by 
William  Johnson  and  Sebastian  Kyser,  who  settled 
there  in  1845.  Johnson's  Crossing  was  for  years  a 
favorite  landmark  and  rallying  point. 

The  next  Winter  after  Fremont  made  his  perilous 
crossing  of  the  Sierras,  another  party,  a  band  of 
hardy  pioneers,  worked  their  laborious  way  through 
the  drifting  snow  of  the  mountains,  and  entered  the 
beautiful  valley,  one  of  them  remaining  in  his  snow 
bound  camp  at  Donner  lake  until  returning  Spring 
made  his  rescue  possible.  The  party  consisted  of 
twenty-three  men:  John  Flomboy;  Captain  Stevens, 
now  a  resident  of  Kern  county,  Cal.;  Joseph  Foster; 
Dr.  Townsend;  Allen  Montgomery;  Moses  Schallen- 
bcrger,  now  living  in  San  Jose,  Ca,!.;  G.  Greenwood, 
and  his  two  sons,  John  and  Britt;  James  Miller,  now 
of  San  Rafael,  Cal.;  Mr.  Calvin;  William  Martin; 
Patrick  Martin;  Dennis  Martin;  Martin  Murphy,  and 
his  five  sons;  Mr.  Hitchcock,  and  son.  They  left 
Council  Bluffs,  May  20, 1844,  en  route  to  California,  of 
the  fertility  of  whose  soil  and  the  mildness  of  whose 
climate  glowing  accounts  had  been  given.  The  dan 
gers  of  the  plains  and  mountains  were  passed,  and 
the  party  reached  the  Ilumboldt  river,  when  an 
Indian  named  Truckee  presented  himself,  and 
offered  to  guide  them  to  California.  After  question 
ing  him  closely,  they  employed  him  as  their  guide, 
and  as  the}'  progressed,  found  that  the  statements 
he  had  made  about  the  route  were  fully  verified. 
lie  soon  became  a  great  favorite  among  them,  and 
when  they  reached  the  lower  crossing  of  the  Truckee 
river,  now  Wadsworth,  they  gave  his  name  to  the 
beautiful  stream,  so  pleased  were  they  by  the  pure 
water  and  abundance  of  fish  to  which  he  had 
directed  them.  The  stream  will  ever  live  in  history 
a-  the  Truckee  river,  and  the  fish,  the  famous 
Truckee  trout,  will  continue  to  delight  the  palate  of 
tin-  epicure  for  years  to  come. 

From  this  point  the  party  pushed  on  to  the  beauti 
ful  mountain  lake,  whose  shores  but  two  years'  later 
witnessed  a  scene  of  suffering  and  death  uncqualed 
in  the  annals  of  America's  pioneers.  Here,  at  Don- 
ncr  lake,  it  was  decided  to  build  a  cabin  and  store 
their  goods  until  Spring,  as  the  cattle  were  too 
exhausted  to  drag  them  further.  The  cabin  was 
built  by  Allen  Montgomer}-,  Joseph  Foster,  and 
Moses  Schallcnbcrger,  all  young  men  used  to  pioneer 
life,  and  who  felt  fully  able  to  maintain  themselves 
by  their  rifles  upon  the  bears  and  dear  that  seemed 
so  plentiful  in  the  mountains.  The  cabin  was  built 


of  pine  sapplings,  with  a  roof  of  brush  and  raw 
hides;  it  was  twelve  by  fourteen  feet  and  about  eight 
feet  high,  with  a  rude  chimney,  and  but  one  aperture 
for  both  a  windoAv  and  door;  it  was  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  below  the  foot  of  the  lake,  and  is  of 
peculiar  interest,  as  it  was  the  first  habitation  built 
by  white  men  within  the  limits  of  Nevada  county, 
the  entering  wedge  of  civilization  that  in  a  few  years 
wrested  these  beautiful  hills  with  their  wealth  of 
gold  from  the  hands  of  the  barbarous  Digger,  and 
brought  one  more  country  under  the  dominion  of 
intelligence. 

The  cabin  was  completed  in  two  days,  and  the 
party  moved  on  across  the  summit,  leaving  but  a 
few  provisions  and  a  half-starved  and  emaciated 
cow  for  the  support  of  the  young  men,  who  had 
undertaken  a  task,  the  magnitude  of  which  they 
little  dreamed.  It  was  about  the  middle  of  Novem 
ber  when  the  party  left  Donner  lake,  and  they 
arrived  at  Suiter's  Fort  on  the  15th  of  December, 
1844,  the  journey  down  the  mountains  consuming  a 
month  of  toil  and  privation.  The  day  after  the 
cabin  was  completed  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  com 
menced  and  continued  for  several  days,  and  Avhilc 
the  journeying  party  were  plunging  and  toiling 
through  the  storm  and  drifts,  the  three  young  men 
found  themselves  surrounded  by  a  bed  of  snow  from 
ten  to  fifteen  feet  deep.  The  game  had  fled  down 
the  mountains  to  escape  the  storm,  and  when  the 
poor  cow  was  half  consumed  the  three  snow-bound 
prisoners  began  to  realize  the  danger  of  their  situa 
tion.  Alarmed  by  the  prospect  of  starvation,  they 
determined  to  force  their  way  across  the  barrier  of 
snow.  In  one  day's  journey  they  reached  the  sum 
mit,  but  poor  Schallenberger  was  here  taken  Avith 
severe  cramps,  and  was  unable  to  proceed  the  follow 
ing  day.  Ever}  few  feet  that  he  advanced  in  his 
attempt  to  struggle  along,  he  fell  to  the  ground- 
What  could  they  do?  To  remain  was  death,  and 
yet  they  could  not  abandon  their  sick  comrade  among 
the  drifting  snows  on  the  summit  of  the  Sierras. 
Foster  and  Montgomery  were  placed  in  a  trying 
situation.  Schallenberger  told  them  that  he  would 
remain  alone  if  they  would  conduct  him  back  to  the 
cabin.  They  did  so,  and  providing  everything  they 
could  for  his  comfort,  took  their  departure,  leaving 
him,  sick  and  feeble,  in  the  heart  of  the  snow-locked 
mountains. 

A  strong  will  can  accomplish  wonders,  and  a  deter 
mination  to  live  is  sometimes  stronger  than  death, 
and  young  Schallenberger  by  a  groat  exertion  was 
soon  able  to  rise  from  his  bod  and  seek  for  food. 
Among  the  goods  stored  in  the  cabin  he  found  some 
steel-traps,  with  which  he  caught  enough  foxes  to  sus 
tain  himself  in  his  little  mountain  cabin,  until  the 
doors  of  his  prison  were  unlocked  by  the  melting 
rays  of  the  vernal  sun,  and  a  party  of  friends  came 
to  his  relief.  On  the  1st  of  March,  1845,  he,  too, 
arrived  at  Sutter's  Fort,  having  spent  three  months 


-  ;      '        ~* 


EARLY  SETTLEMENT. 


65 


in  the  drifting  snows  of  the  "Snowy  Mountains  "- 
the  Sierra  Nevada. 

The  after  history  of  the  Indian  Truckee,  whose 
name  so  many  objects  bear,  is  an  interesting  one. 
Passing  down  the  mountains,  he  arrived  at  Sutter's 
Fort  with  the  main  party,  and  remained  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  in  1846,  when  ho  joined 
Fremont's  Battalion,  and  was  ever  afterwards 
known  as  Captain  Truckee.  He  was  quite  a  favorite 
with  Fremont,  who  presented  him  with  a  Bible  with 
the  donor's  autograph  on  the  fly  leaf.  This  with  a 
copy  of  the  St.  Louis  Republican,  Captain  Truckee 
jealously  preserved  until  the  time  of  his  death. 
After  the  American  conquest,  Truckee  returned  to 
his  people,  east  of  the  Sierras,  and  when  the  rich 
silver  discoveries  in  the  Washoe  region  brought 
thousands  of  white  men  there,  he  became  their  fast 
friend  and  a  universal  favorite  among  the  miners. 
The  Indian  camp  where  he  lived  was  in  the  Palmyra 
District,  Lyon  county,  Nevada,  about  a  mile  from 
Como,  and  near  the  spring  where  the  town  of 
Palmyra  was  subsequently  built.  One  day  in  1860, 
Captain  Truckee  went  to  the  mining  camp  at  Como 
to  ask  the  men  what  remedy  he  should  use  for  a 
large  swelling  on  his  neck.  The  men  thought  he 
had  been  bitten  by  a  tarantula  and  advised  him  to 
apply  a  slice  of  bacon.  Poor  Captain  Truckee  died 
that  night,  his  last  request  being  to  be  buried  by  the 
white  men  and  in  the  white  man's  style.  The  miners 
dug  a  grave  near  Como,  in  the  croppings  of  the  old 
Goliah  ledge,  and  good  Captain  Truckee  was  laid 
away  to  rest,  the  Bible  and  the  paper  he  had 
cherished  so  long  lying  by  his  side. 

The  terrible  sufferings  of  the  Donner  party  have 
been  already  portrayed.  The  groans  of  the  starv 
ing,  and  the  wails  of  the  dying,  crazed  with  hunger; 
will  ever  haunt  the  shores  of  Donner  lake,  and  the 
winds  as  they  moan  among  the  drooping  branches 
of  the  pines,  will  whisper  tales  of  suffering  such  as 
few  have  seen,  and  the  most  vivid  imagination  fails 
to  realize.  The  two  cabins  built  by  the  Donner 
party  near  that  of  Schallenberger,  and  which  formed 
the  camp  of  the  Breens,  Graves,  and  Murphys,  were 
the  second  monuments  of  civilization  in  Nevada 
county.  About  two  weeks  before  the  Donner  party 
found  the  way  across  the  summit  barred  by  the  snow, 
another  immigrant  train  passed  in  safety.  Among 
those  immigrants  were  Claude  Ghana,  who  now  lives 
at  Wbeatland,  Yuba  county,  and  Charles  Covillaud, 
one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Marysville,  and 
who  married  Mary  Murphy,  a  member  of  the  Don 
ner  party,  from  whom  the  name  Marysville  was 
derived.  The  widely  different  experiences  of  these 
two  parties  in  crossing  the  mountains,  but  illustrate 
the  changes  that  can  there  be  wrought  by  a  few  days 
of  snow.  This  party  also  followed  down  Bear  river 
to  Johnson's  ranch,  from  which  point  the  relief  parties 
were  sent  to  Donner  lake.  The  years  1846,  7  and  8, 
saw  many  trains  of  immigrants  on  their  way  to 
Oregon  and  California,  those  for  this  State  crossing 


the   mountains   by  several  routes,  though   most  of 
them  came  by  way  of  Truckee  river. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

AMADOR   COUNTY.  * 

Early  History — Origin  of  the  Name  of  Carson  Pass — River  and 
"  Valley — First  White  Men  in  the  Territory — Sutter's  Whip- 
saw-mill — Discovery  of  Gold — Organization  of  Calaveras 
County — Removal  of  County-Seat  from  Double  Springs  to 
Jackson — Second  Removal  to  Mokelumne  Hill — First  Set  of 
County  Officers — Second  Set  of  County  Officers — Members 
of  the  Legislature — Miscellaneous  Matters  in  Calaveras — Joa- 
quin's  Career — Chased  by  Indians — Mokelumne  Hill  in  Early 
Days — Green  and  Vogan's  Line  of  Stages — Stories  of  Griz 
zlies — Bull  and  Bear  Fight. 

A  GENERAL  history  of  the  State  has  been  given,  in 
which  but  little  mention  has  been  made  of  that  por 
tion  of  the  territory  out  of  which  Amador  county 
was  afterwards  carved.-  It  is  probable  that  some 
trappers  occasionally  visited  the  lower  portions  of 
Mokelumne  river,  though  not  often,  for  the  Indians, 
who  inhabited  that  portion  of  the  country,  watched 
with  jealous  eye  the  intrusion  of  strangers  for  any 
purpose  whatever.  The  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
had  a  trail  from  French  Camp  to  Oregon,  which 
was  most  of  the  way  through  the  tides,  and  of 
course  far  to  the  west  of  the  present  limits.  The 
';  Arroyo  Seco  "  grant  purports  to  have  been  made 
in  1840,  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  no  Mexican  had 
ever  set  his  foot  on  the  hills,  oV  had  ever  seen 
them  except  far  away,  from  the  Diablo  range  of 
mountains.  Those  persons  who  accompanied  Gen 
eral  Sutter  in  his  campaign  against  Mikelkos  in 
1843,  might  have  seen  the  Lyons  mountains  twenty 
miles  to  the  east.  As  early  as  1840,  according  to 
James  Alexander  Forbes,  then  the  agent  for  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company  in  Alta  California,  all  attempts 
to  raise  cattle  on  the  east  side  of  the  San  Joaquin, 
had  been  an  utter  failure,  the  Indians  invariably 
driving  off  the  stock  and  destroying  the  ranches. 

CARSON    PASS,    VALLEY,    AND   RIVER. 

The  impression  is  generally  prevailing  that  Carson 
discovered  the  pass  bearing  his  name.  In  the  famous 
trip  across  the  mountains  Fremont  and  Carson  trav 
eled  northward  from  Walker's  river,  crossing  the 
river  bearing  Carson's  name  in  their  course,  making 
the  crossing  of  the  summit  by  way  of  Truckee  and 
Lake  Tahoe.  The  river  was  then  named  in  honor  of 
Carson,  the  pass  and  valley  being  named  from  the 
river,  so  that  it  is  quite  probable  that  Carson  never 
crossed  the  mountains  at  that  point  until  1853,  when 
he  came  through  with  a  division  of  U.  S.  troops 
under  Colonel  Steptoe. 

The  first  authentic  report  of  the  presence'of  white 
men  in  the  county  was  in  1846,  when  Sutter,  with  a 
party  of  Indians  and  a  few  white  men,  sawed  lum 
ber  for  a  ferry-boat  in  a  cluster  of  sugar  pines  on 
the  ridge  between  Sutter  and  Amador  creeks,  about 
four  miles  above  the  towns  of  Amador  and  Sutter. 
In  1849  the  remains  of  the  timbers  and  the  sills  over 


66 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


the  pit  were  in  good  preservation  though  showing 
indications  of  being  older  than  the  gold-hunting 
immigration.  The  partially  filled-up  pit  may  still  be 
seen. 

At  this  time  the  country  was  one  unbroken  forest 
from  the  plains  to  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  broken  only 
by  grassy  glades  like  lone  valley,  Volcano  flats  and 
other  places.  The  tall  pine  waved  from  every  hill, 
the  white  and  black  oak  alternating  and  prevailing 
in  the  lower  valleys.  The  timber  in  the  lower  foot 
hills  and  valleys,  though  continuous,  was  so  scattering 
that  grasses,  ferns,  and  other  plants  grew  between, 
giving  the  country  the  appearance  of  a  well-cared-for 
park.  The  quiet  and  repose  of  these  ancient  forests, 
seemed  like  the  results  of  thousands  of  years  of 
peaceful  occupation,  and  at  every  turn  in  the  trails 
which  the  immigrants  followed,  they  half  expected 
to  see  the  familiar  old  homestead,  orchard,  cider- 
press  and  grain  fields,  the  glories  of  the  older  settle 
ments  in  the  Eastern  States.  These  things,  after 
thirty  years'  residence,  are  beginning  to  appear,  but 
this  settlement  is  the  subject  of  our  history,  and 
must  not  be  anticipated.  How  much  the  ancient  syl 
van  gods  were  astonished  and  shocked  at  the  irrup 
tion  of  the  races  that  tore  up  the  ground  and  felled 
the  woods,  the  poets  of  some  other  generation  will 
relate. 

DISCOVERY   OF   GOLD    IN    AMADOR    COUNTY. 

In  the  latter  part  of  March,  1848,  a  man  arrived 
in  Stockton,  then  called  Tuleburgh,  bringing  with 
him  specimens  of  scale-gold,  from  Sutler's  mill.  He 
informed  the  people  there  of  the  recent  discoveries 
on  the  American  river,  the  specimens  confirming  his 
report;  whereupon,  Captain  Weber,  catching  a  spark 
from  the  flame,  fitted  out  a  prospecting  party,  con 
sisting  of  settlers  on  his  grant,  some  strangers  that 
chanced  that  way,  and  a  force  of  Si-yak-um-na  In 
dians,  and  commenced  the  exploration  of  the  country 
east  of  Stockton,  beginning  at  the  Stanislaus,  and 
working  north.  The  fever  Avas  on  them;  haste  and 
nuggets  their  watchwords;  inexperience  their  com 
panion,  and  failure  the  result,  until  they  had  reached 
Mokelumne  river,  where  the  Captain  decided  to 
make  a  more  deliberate  search,  the  result  of  which 
was  the  discovery  by  him,  on  that  river,  of  the  first 
gold  found  in  the  section  of  country,  that  was  after 
wards  known  as  the  Southern  mines.  Owing  to 
their  more  careful  search  and  added  experience, 
gold  was  found  north  from  this  river,  in  every  gulch 
and  stream  to  the  American  river.  Arriving  at  Sut- 
ter's  mill,  it  was  decided  to  commence  mining  at 
what  was  called  afterward  Weber's  creek,  near 
Placerville.  As  soon  as  he  had  got  work  on  Weber 
creek  well  under  way,  he  returned  to  Stockton,  and 
organized  a  party  to  explore  the  country  south  of 
the  Mokelumne  river.  In  a  short  time  they  re 
turned  with  finer  specimens  than  had  been  found  at 
Coloma.  A  mining  company  was  formed,  which 
afterwards  gave  name  to  Wood's  creek,  Murphy's 


creek,  Angel's  Camp,  and  other  places.  Then  com 
menced  the  general  working  of  the  "  Southern  mines," 
the  rush  of  miners,  the  immigration  which  built  up  the 
flourishing  counties  of  Amador,  San  Joaquin,  Cala- 
veras,  Tuolumne,  and  the  changing  of  the  world's 
commerce. 

The  ..Mokelumne  river,  the  gulches  at  Drytown, 
Volcano,  and  lone,  were  mined  extensively  in  1848. 
General  Sutter  and  party  tried  it  near  the  town  of 
Sutter,  but  he  was  disgusted  Avith  the  opening  ol  a 
saloon  near  his  works,  and  left  the  mines,  never  to 
return.  The  emigration  from  the  Eastern  States, 
by  way  of  the  plains  and  the  Horn,  brought  a  large 
accession  to  the  population,  and  brought  about  the 
,  necessity  of  some  political  organization.  El  Dorado 
county  was  organized  with  Dry  creek  as  its  southern 
boundary,  Calaveras,  with  Dry  creek  as  its  northern 
limits.  From  these  two  territories,  Amador  was 
afterwards  carved,  first  in  1854,  by  setting  oif  the 
territory  north  of  the  Mokelumne  from  Calaveras, 
and  in  1856-57,  by  the  addition  of  the  strip  from  El 
Dorado  lying  south  of  the  Cosumnes,  the  boundaries 
farther  east  being  rather  indefinite,  as  will  bo  here 
after  seen.  A  short  account  of  the  organizations  of 
these  two  counties,  will  suffice  for  this  work.  Gala-  ; 
veras  county  was  organized  in  the  session  of  the 
Legislature,  in  1849-50.  It  is  said  that  it  took  its 
name  from  an  immense  number  of  skulls  found  on 
that  river.  The  story  was  that  a  great  number  of 
Indians  coming  down  from  the  Sierras  to  fish  for 
salmon,  were  all  slaughtered.  There  is  a  probability 
that  they  were  the  result  of  the  fearful  mortality, 
before  mentioned,  occurring  among  all  the  valley 
tribes,  from  the  head  waters  of  the  Sacramento  to 
those  of  the  San  Joaquin,  in  1830.  The  county  took 
its  name  from  the  river. 

The  first  officers  were  William  Fowle  Smith,  County 
Judge;  John  Hanson, Sheriff;  Colonel  Collyer,  County 
Clerk;  A.  B.  Mudge,  Treasurer;  H.  A.  Carter,  Prose 
cuting  Attorney.  Pleasant  Valley,  better  known  an 
Double  Springs,  was  designated  as  the  county  seat. 
The  courts  were  held  in  a  long  tent,  eight  or  ten 
feet  wide,  imported  from  China.  The  first  Grand 
Jury  held  its  sessions  under  a  big  tree.  According  to 
all  accounts,  justice  was  anything  but  a  blind  god 
dess.  Very  contradictory  reports  are  current  in 
regard  to  the  characters  of  the  officers.  "Fowle 
Smith,"  an  Eastern  man,  was  represented  by  some 
as  a  miserable  concentration  of  all  meanness  that 
was  supposed  to  characterize  that  kind  of  men; 
stinginess,  cowardice,  and  "all  that  sort  of  thing." 
Others  say  that  he  was  honest,  and  would  not 
countenance  Colonel  Collyer's  peccadillos,  hence,  their 
mutual  dislike.  He  has  since  taken  to  preaching, 
and  is  said  to  be  causing  great  revivals  in  some  of 
the  Eastern  States. 

Colonel  Collyer,  according  to  the  same  authority, 
was  a  southern  man,  with  southern  virtues  in  excess 
pompous,  portly,  genial,  brave,  and  reckless,  with  a 
habit  of  calling  everybody,  who  crossed  his  will,  a 


EARLY  SETTLEMENT. 


67 


d d  son  of  a ,  and  threatening  to  cut  his  heart 

out;  a  treatment  he  had  applied  to  Judge  Smith, 
until  the  latter  was  seriously  afraid  the  Colonel  was 
in  earnest.  Among  the  peculiarities  of  Collyer,  was 
the  pocketing  of  all  fees  received  in  his  official  capac 
ity,  leaving  JudgT?  Smith  to  collect  his  salary,  or 
extras,  as  he  might.  Collyer  js  said  to  have  natural 
ized  sixty  foreigners  in  one  day,  charging  them  one 
ounce  each,  all  of  which  he  applied  to  his  own  benefit. 
Mudge  may  be  described  in  a  few  words,  as  putting 
all  the  money  received  into  his  own  pocket,  and 
decamping  when  it  became  too  heavy  to  carry 
around.  John  Hanson,  Sheriff,  now  engaged  in 
business  in  San  Francisco,  was  a  native  of  Maine, 
and.  probably  by  attending  strictly  to  his  business, 
made  no  extraordinary  history.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  H.  A.  Carter,  the  Prosecuting  Attorney,  a 
native  of  New  York.  He  now  resides  in  lone  valley. 

CHANGE    OP    COUNTY  SEAT. 

According  to  the  laws  of  the  sessions  of  the  Leg 
islature  of  1849-50,  whenever  a  majority  of  the 
voters  of  any  county  petitioned  for  an  election  fixing 
the  county  seat,  the  Judge  might  order  an  election 
on  thirty  days'  notice.  In  accordance  with  this  pro 
vision  an  election  was  held  in  1850,  the  two  contest 
ing  places  being  Jackson  and  Mokelumrie  Hill.  When 
the  first  count  or  estimate  was  made  up,  Mokelunme 
Hill  was  said  to  have  been  the  successful  town,  and 
a  team  was  sent  to  Double  Springs  to  remove  the 
archives  ;  but  a  subsequent  count  by  Judge  Smith 
made  Jackson  the  county  seat.  Smith  was  openly 
charged  with  fraud  in  the  second  counting.  The 
whole  affair  was  probably  as  near  a  farce  as  elections 
ever  get  to  be.  The  manner  of  changing  the  archives 
from  Double  Springs  will  be  more  fully  set  forth  in 
the  township  history  of  Jackson.  The  seat  of- jus 
tice  remained  at  Jackson  unjil  1852,  when  it  was 
transferred  by  election  to  Mokelumne  Hill.  The 
general  vote  in  1851  was:  Democratic,  1,780;  Whig, 
1,207. 

County  officer:-!,  1852:  Sam.  Booker,  District  At 
torney;  A.  Laforge,  Treasurer;  Jo.  Douglass,  County 
Clerk;  Ben.  Marshall,  Sheriff;  C.  Creaner,  District 
Judge. 

1852— Pierce,  2,848;  Scott,  2,200. 

1853 — The  officers  of  Calaveras  county  were : 
Treasurer,  A.  Laforge;  County  Clerk,  Jo.  Douglass; 
Sheriff,  Ben  Marshall;  Prosecuting  Attorney,  Win. 
Higby;  County  Judge,  Henry  Eno. 

Members  of  the  Legislature:  Senators — E.  D. 
Sawyer,  Charles  Leake.  Assemblymen — A.  J. 
Houghtaling,  Martin  Eowen,  W.  C.  Pratt,  C.  Daniels 
vice  Carson,  deceased. 

The  vote  for  Governor  was:  John  Bigler  (Demo 
crat)  2,545;  William  Waldo  (Whig)  2,212. 
JOAQUIN'S  CAREER  IN  AMADOR. 

This  renowned  bandit  commenced  his  career  in 
this  county.  His  exploits  are  notorious,  and  like  all 
events  of  that  kind,  are  multiplied  and  exaggerated 


until  the  clearest  sight  can  no  longer  distinguish  the 
true  from  the  fabulous.  Whether  he  was  induced  to 
commence  a  career  of  murder  and  robbery  on  account 
of  being  flogged  at  Jamison's  ranch,  will  always 
remain  an  uncertainty.  His  first  operations  were  to 
mount  himself  and  party  with  the  best  horses  in  the 
country.  Judge  Carter,  in  1852,  had  a  valu&ble  and 
favorite  horse  which  for  safety  and  frequent  use  was 
usually  kept  staked  a  short  distance  from  the  house. 
One  morn-ing  the  horse  was  missing.  Cochran,  a 
partner  in  the  farming  business,  started  in  pursuit  of 
the  horse  and  thief.  The  horse  was  easily  tracked, 
as  in  expectation  of  something  of  this  kind  the  toe 
corks  on  the  shoes  had  been  put  on  on  a  line  with 
the  road  instead  of  across  it.  The  track  led  Cochran 
across  Dry  creek,  across  the  plains  and  thence  toward 
the  mines  several  miles,  where  the  rider  seemed 
accompanied  by  several  other  horsemen.  Coming  to 
a  public  house  kept  by  one  Clark,  he  saw  the  horse 
with  several  others,  hitched  at  the  door.  Going  in 
he  inquired  for  the  party  who  rode  his  horse,  saying 
that  it  had  been  stolen.  He  was  told  he  was  a  Mex 
ican,  and  was  then  at  dinner  with  several  others. 
Clark,  who  was  a  powerful  and  daring  man,  offered 
to  arrest  him,  and  suiting  the  action  to  the  word, 
entered  the  dining-room  in  company  with  Cochran, 
and,  placing  his  hand  on  Joaquin's  shoulder — for  it 
was  he — said:  "You  are  my  prisoner."  "I  think 
not,"  said  Joaquin;  at  the  same  time  shooting  Clark 
through  the  head,  who  fell  dead.  A  general  fusil 
lade  ensued,  in  which  one  of  the  Mexicans  was  shot 
by  the  cook,  who  took  part  in  the  affair,  Cochran 
receiving  a  slight  wound.  The  Mexicans  mounted 
their  horses  and  escaped,  leaving  Carter's  horse 
hitched  to  the  fence. 

VISIT  TO  SUTHERLAND'S  RANCH. 
Jack  Sutherland,  now  residing  on  King's  river, 
had,  in  early  days,  a  ranch  on  Dry  creek,  below 
lone,  and  also  one  near  Plymouth.  Soon  after  mov 
ing  to  the  former  place,  Billy  Sutherland,  then 
seventeen  or  eighteen,  who  had  charge  of  the  place 
in  the  absence  of  his  father,  sold  a  band  of  cattle  for 
several  thousand  dollars  in  gold.  After  the  pur 
chasers  had  gone  with  their  property,  he  took  a 
notion  to  count  the  money  again,  before  putting  it 
away  in  the  safe,  which,  in  this  instance,  was  a  hole 
in  a  log,  and  emptied  the  sack  on  the  table.  While 
piling  it  up  in  hundreds  and  thousands,  a  shadow 
darkened  the  door.  Looking  up,  who  should  he  see 
but  Joaquin,  the  famous  bandit.  To  say  that  he 
was  not  afraid  would  be  incredible,  for  Joaquin 
usually  traveled  with  a  band,  which,  probably  was 
not  far  oft';  but  he  immediately  conceived  a  plan  to 
save  his  money  and  life.  .Resistance  was  out  of  the 
question;  for  he  was  alone,  and  no  houses  within 
miles.  He  politely  invited  Joaquin  to  alight,  and 
in  answer  to  the  question  whether  he  could  stay  all 
night  with  his  party,  replied  in  the  affirmative. 
Joaquin  called  to  his  party,  in  Spanish,  that  he  had 
found  some  friends,  telling  them  to  unsaddle.  They 


68 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


were  fierce  and  sullen  looking  fellows,  but  he  trusted 
to  out-maneuver  them.  He  pretended  not  to  know 
his  guests,  and  set  about  getting  their  suppers 
After  eating,  the  lender  asked  young  Sutherland  if 
he  was  not  afraid  to  stay  alone  with  so  much  money 
in  the  house;  and  inquired  what  he  would  do  if 
Joaquin  should  come  around?  Sutherland  replied 
that  Joaquin  was  a  gentleman,  and  would  not  harm 
his  friends;  that  he  and  his  father  were  acquainted, 
and  referred  to  some  transactions  which  had  oc 
curred,  in  which  his  father  had  benefited  Joaquin. 
"Are  you  Jack  Sutherland's  son?"  says  Joaquin. 
"1  am,"  says  Sutherland.  After  some  further 
conversation,  they  laid  down  on  their  saddle  blan 
kets,  and  slept  until  morning.  At  parting,  Joaquin 
paid  his  bill,  remarking  that  if  any  persons  coming 
along  during  the  day  should  inquire  for  a  party 
answering  their  description,  it  would  be  as  well  for 
him  to  remember  nothing  about  their  having  been 
there.  Young  Sutherland  thought  so  also. 

During  the  latter  part  of  October,  1852,  Joaquin 
was  prowling  around  the  northern  part  of  Calaveras. 
in  the  vicinity  of  Oleta  (Fiddletown):  One  day,  one 
of  the  Mexican  women  told  an  American  that  Joaquin 
was  in  the  town.  As  it  was  a  common  thing  for 
Mexicans  to  ride  from  one  camp  to  another,  the 
presence  of  strangers  caused  no  remark.  His  name, 
however,  was  sufficient  to  raise  a  storm,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  he  was  being  hunted.  He  was  dressed 
in  the  usual  Spanish  style,  with  wide-brimmed  hat, 
serape,  white  drawers,  and  pantaloons  opening  up 
the  sides.  When  he  found  he  was  betrayed,  he 
jumped  on  a  table  in  a  gambling  room,  flourished  a 
pistol  around  his  head,  said  he  was  Joaquin,  and 
defied  the  town  to  take  him.  This  bravado  may 
have  been  necessary  to  ensure  his  retreat,  for  he 
and  his  party  left  immediately,  with  half  the  town 
in  pursuit.  As  it  was,  he  came  near  being  sur 
rounded,  and  had  to  force  his  way  out.  "Am. 
Parks  "  had  hold  of  his  bridle,  but  was  induced  to 
let  loose  by  a  shot  in  his  face,  which,  however,  only 
grazed  the  skin.  The  party  of  three  or  four  left, 
amid  a  shower  of  bullets  from  revolvers,  none  of 
them  taking  effect,  except,  perhaps,  on  the  horses; 
either  this  or  the  party  were  not  well  mounted,  for 
in  the  pursuit  which  took  place,  the  footmen  kept 
well  up,  some  Indians,  who  joined  in  the  chase, 
being  in  the  advance.  Joaquin  took  the  trail  to 
wards  Slate  creek,  and  thence  across  Dry  creek 
towards  Lower  Rancheria.  Fresh  men  joined  the 
pursuers  at  every  gulch.  To  get  rid  of  the  Indians, 
the  Mexicans  stripped  themselves  first  of  serape, 
spurs,  and  everything  that  could  be  thrown  off 
hastily.  At  the  crossing  of  Dry  creek,  a  half  mile 
below  Dead  Man's  creek,  a  long-legged  Missourian, 
with  a  still  longer  rifle, 'came  up  within  forty  or 
fifty  yards,  but  was  afraid  to  fire  on  account  of  that 
terrible  revolver  of  Joaquin's,  which  never  missed.  - 
The  Missourian  never  will  get  out  of  the  range  of 
ridicule,  that  has  been  heaped  on  him  ever  since. 


The  Mexicans  left  their  horses,  and  escaped  in  the 
thick  chaparral  on  the  divide  between  Rancheria 
and  Dry  creeks.  That  night  they  made  their  way 
into  Lower  Rancheria,  accounting  for  their  demor 
alization  by  saying  they  had  been  chased  by  Indians 
which  was  true. 

CHASED  BY  INDIANS. 

In  the  Winter  of  1850-51  a  party  of  four  or  five 
men,  of  whom  A  Askey,  now  of  Jackson,  was  one, 
were  hunting  deer  in  the  mountains  a  few  miles 
above  Volcano.  Venison  being  worth  fifty  cents  a 
pound  they  could  afford  to  take  some  risks.  One 
day,  while  following  a  wounded  deer,  Askey  dis 
covered  a  party  of  Indians,  whom,  by  their  dress,  he 
judged  to  be  Washoes,  who  had  the  reputation  of  being 
much  better  fighters  than  the  California  Indians. 
They  saw  him  about  the  same  time,  and,  com 
ing  up,  professed  to  be  very  friendly,  wanting  to 
shake  hands,  which  he  prudently  declined.  A  con 
ference,  mostly  by  signs,  ensued,  in  which  both  par 
ties  agreed  to  pursue  the  deer,  Askey  taking  one 
side  of  the  hill,  the  Indians  the  other.  He  did  not 
follow  the  deer  far,  but  made  the  very  best  time  to 
the  camp  that  his  short  legs  would  admit  of.  In  the 
morning,  reinforced  by  his  companions,  he  made  a 
reconnaissance  in  force,  and,  as  he  expected,  found 
that  the  Indians  had  made  an  effort  to  cut  him  off, 
the  tracks  in  the  snow  showing  that  they  had  fol 
lowed  him  until  they  sighted  the  camp.  The  follow 
ing  day  an  old  Indian  came  peering  about,  and,  by 
signs,  intimated  that  the  bark  and  wood  set  around 
the  hut  would  keep  out  arrows.  Suspecting  him  of 
being  a  spy,  they  thought  best  to  detain  him  until 
morning,  when  ho  was  dismissed  with  an  application 
of  a  number  ten  boot  to  his  rear  that  accelerated  his 
departure. 

MOKELUMNE  HILL  IN  EARLY  DAYS. 

In  early  days  Mokelumnc  Hill  was  reputed  one  of 
the  liveliest  places  in  the  mines.  It  had  the  misfort 
une  to  be  settled  by  a  heterogenous  population — 
Yankees,  Westerners^  and  Southerners,  from  the 
United  States;  and  French,  German,  and  Spanish, 
from  Europe;  and  Chilenos  and  Mexicans.  Death  by 
violence  seemed  to  be  the  rule.  For  seventeen  suc 
cessive  weeks,  according  to  Dr.  Soher,  of  San  Fran 
cisco,  a  man  was  killed  between  Saturday  night  and 
Sunday  morning.  Five  men  were  once  killed  within 
a  week.  The  condition  of  things  became  so  desper 
ate  that  a  vigilance  committee  was  resolved  upon, 
which,  however,  did  not  continue  in  existence  long. 
One  man,  who  was  hung  for  stealing,  confessed,  just 
before  his  death,  to  having  committed  eight  mur 
ders  between  Mokelumne  Hill  and  Sonora.  He  was 
a  Mexican,  of  powerful  physique  and  desperate 
character.  Shooting  was  resorted  to  on  the  most 
trivial  occasions.  Two  strangers  sat  quietly  taking 
a  dinner  at  a  restaurant,  and  talking  with  each  other. 
A  gambler  seated  near,  fancying  that  he  heard  his 
name  mentioned,  drew  his  revolver  and  shot  one 


EARLY  SETTLEMENT. 


69 


man  dead.  The  conversation  proved  to  be  about 
mining  matters  which  did  not  concern  the  gambler. 
'A  year  after,  to  a  day,  the  surviving  man,  who 
was  talking  with  the  person  slain,  had  occasion  to 
pass  through  the  town,  and  remembering  the  former 
shooting  of  his  partner,  concluded  not  to  stop,  but  a 
roysterer  saw  him,  and  disliking  something  in  his 
appearance,  drew  a  bead  on  him  and  fired;  the  aim 
was  spoiled  by  some  one  throwing  up  the  pistol  at 
the  moment  of  the  explosion.  The  stranger  thought 
it  a  curious  country;  his  partner  was  killed  a  year 
before  for  some  harmless  talk;  he  was  shot  at  while 
quietly  passing  along  the  streets. 

THE     MINES. 

The  gulches  around  the  hill  were  very  rich,  and  in 
the  Winter  of  1850-51  the  leads  were  traced  into  the 
hills.  The  yield  was  enormous,  even  fabulous.  The 
hill  is  supposed  to  be  a  continuation  of  the  same 
wash  that  made  Tunnel  Hill  rich. 

THE  FRENCH  WAR. 

A  party  of  Frenchmen  opened  a  hole  in  the  rich 
est  part  of  the  hill.  Some  Americans  mining  near 
them  conceived  the  plan  of  driving  them  out,  on  the 
score  of  their  not  being  citizens.  The  Frenchmen 
resisted,  and  the  Americans  raised  the  cry  that  the 
French  had  hoisted  a  French  flag  and  defied  the 
Government,  and  called  on  everybody  to  arm  and 
drive  them  out.  One  Blankenship  was  foremost  in 
the  matter.  The  Frenchmen  lost  their  claim.  Dur 
ing  the  time  of  the  difficulty,  hundreds  of  persons 
jumped  into  the  hole,  which  was  about  fifty  feet  square, 
and  carried  away  dirt  which  would  pay  from  fifty  to 
one  hundred  dollars  per  sack.  The  Frenchmen  had 
camped  in  the  hole,  cooking,  eating,  and  sleeping 
there,  to  prevent  other  parties  stealing  the  dirt  or 
jumping  the  claim.  Though  the  people  generally 
united  to  drive  the  original  holders  out,  none  can 
now  be  found  to  justify  the  expulsion,  which  is  now 
looked  upon  as  a  downright  robbery. 

STAGING — GREEN  AND  VOGAN's  LINES. 

Charles  Green  and  John  Vogan  commenced  the 
business  in  1853,  running  from  Jackson,  through 
Drytown,  to  Sacramento  in  one  day.  The  line  prov 
ing  profitable,  it  was  extended  through  Mokelumne 
Hill  to  Sonora,  making  the  whole  distance  in  one 
day,  through  fare  being  twenty  dollars.  The  cost 
of  stocking  a  line  was  enormous.  None  of  the 
horses  cost  less  than  three  hundred  dollars  each,  and 
some  of  them  twice  that.  Concord  wagons  cost 
from  six  hundred  to  one  thousand  dollars,  and  Troy 
coaches  twenty-five  hundred  to  three  thousand  dol 
lars.  A  good  driver  was  worth  one  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  per  month;  hostlers  one  hundred  dol 
lars.  Hay  and  barley  were  also  high,  sometimes 
one  hundred  dollars  per  ton.  Notwithstanding 
these  expenses,  the  line  was  profitable,  the  coaches 
generally  being  loaded  to  their  utmost  capacity. 
Staging  then  and  now  were  quite  different  affairs. 


Then  there  were  no  roads,  the  coaches  following  the 
trails,  or  zigzaging  around  the  dust-holes  in  Sum 
mer,  and  mud-holes  in  Winter.  There  were  no 
bridges,  and  sometimes  driver  and  horses  were  lost. 
During  the  Summer  season  the  trip  was  rather 
pleasant,  but  when  the  coach  stuck  in  a  raging 
stream  of  water  four  or  five  feet  deep,  the  situation 
made  a  timid  man  pray  and  a  wicked  one  swear. 
The  highwaymen  occasionally  levied  tribute  on  the 
passengers,  who,  though  armed,  would  find  them 
selves  unexpectedly  confronted  with  a  pistol  in  such 
close  proximity  that  it  was  useless  to  resist.  The 
line  was  afterwards  consolidated  with  the  California 
Stage  Company,  which  proved  to  be  a.  losing  con 
cern. 

MYSTERIOUS    SICKNESS. 

In  early  days  N.  W.  Spaulding,  since  Mayor  of 
Oakland,  and  Judge  Thompson,  of  Mokelumne  Hill, 
now  a  resident  of  San  Francisco,  were  living  in  the 
same  cabin,  and  both  had  a  kind  of  rash  or  breaking  out 
on  the  skin,  which  was  very  annoying,  causing  an 
intolerable  itching.  Dr.  Sober,  an  eminent  physician, 
was  consulted  in  the  matter.  He  said  it  was  pro 
duced  by  a  feverish  condition  of  the  blood,  induced 
by  a  change  from  the  cool  air  on  an  ocean  voyage  to 
the  dry  atmosphere  of  California,  and  recommended 
laxative  medicines,  which  they  took  for  several 
weeks  without  a.ny  beneficial  effects.  The  matter 
became  rather  serious.  A  closer  inspection  revealed 
the  cause  of  the  sickness  to  be  an  army  of  grey- 
backs,  who  had  taken  up  all  the  available  ground 
on  their  bodies,  and  were  doing  their  best  to  work  it 
out,  their  operations  being,  happily,  on  the  surface, 
however,  tunnel  mining  not  having 'been  discovered. 
The  clothing  and  cabin,  even,  were  swarming  with 
the  vermin.  A  three  days'  campaign  with  boiling 
water,  supplemented  with  a  little  unguentim, 
expelled  the  trespassers.  The  matter  was  considered 
too  disgraceful  to  speak  of  publicly,  and  they  paid 
the  doctor's  bill,  sixty-five  dollars  each,  without 
grumbling.  Thirty  years'  silence  over  so  good  a 
thing  having  become  painful,  mutual  threats  of 
exposure  brought  out  the  story  at  a  recent  meeting 
of  the  San  Francisco  Pioneer  Society,  amid  shouts 
of  laughter.  They  were  not  the  first  or  last 
persons  thoroughly  astonished  at  the  unexpected 
presence  of  grey-backs  in  overwhelming  numbers. 

ADVENTURE  WITH  A  GRIZZLY  NEAR  VOLCANO. 

A  genuine  grizzly  was  discovered  in  a  ravine  a 
mile  or  two  from  town,  and  a  valiant  party,  armed 
with  axes,  knives,  pistols,  and  a  few  guns,  started 
after  him.  When  the  huge  fellow,  curious  to  see 
what  all  the  fuss  was  about,  raised  himself  up  on 
his  quarters  to  look  around,  all  wisely  ran  but  one 
man,  who  had  faith  in  his  rifle,  which  carried  a  ball 
about  as  large  as  a  pea.  He  fired  and  hit  the  bear, 
only  to  enrage  him  however,  for  the  ball  hardly 
more  than  stung  him.  He  soon  came  up  with  the 
man,  caught  his  head  in  his  mouth,  tearing  off 


70 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


nearly  the  whole  scalp,  and  otherwise  lacerating  the 
man,  who  surrendered  at  discretion,  leaving  the 
bear  to  make  his  own  terms.  By  remaining  entirely 
passive,  the  man  induced  his  bearship,  Ursa,  the  ter 
rible,  to  suspend  farther  punishment.  After  the 
bear  left,  the  man  contrived  to  crawl  towards  his 
home.  A  short  time  after  a  party  better  armed  pur 
sued  the  bear  and  killed  him.  Curious  to  see  what 
effect  the  pea  rifle  had  on  the  bear,  they  examined 
his  hide,  and  found  that  the  ball  penetrated  it  and 
lodged  against  the  shoulder-blade,  without  injuring 
the  animal  at  all.  The  bear  was  a  monster. 
When  loaded  into  an  ordinary  wagon-bed,  eleven 
feet  long,  his  legs  stuck  out  behind  fully  three  feet, 
making  his  total  length  not  far  from  fourteen  feet. 
He  was  poor  and  tough,  and  was  not  considered  fit  for 
food.  When  discovered  he  was  feeding  on  carrion. 

THE  JOHNSTONS'  ENCOUNTER  WITH  A  GRIZZLY. 

This  occurred  near  the  El  Dorado  county  line. 
The  bear  had  been  seen  several  times  and  was  known 
to  frequent  a  patch  of  thick  chaparral.  A  party  of 
ten  or  twelve  persons,  among  whom  were  the  John- 
etons,  Jim  and  Jack,  started  out  to  find  him.  They 
succeeded  in  getting  a  fatal  shot  at  his  majesty  the 
bear,  which  contrary  to  all  expectation,  retreated 
into  the  thick  brush.  From  the  amount  of  blood 
along  his  trail  they  judged  that  he  was  too  severely 
wounded  to  be  dangerous,  and  they  imprudently  fol 
lowed  him.  The  infuriated  animal  charged  upon  the 
Johnstons,  who  were  foremost,  and  brought  one  of 
them  to  the  ground,  his  gun  during  the  encounter 
being  thrown  out  of  reach.  The  other  fired  when  the 
opportunity  presented  itself  to  do  so  without  endan 
gering  his  brother's  life,  again  wounding  the  bear, 
which  left  the  first  one  to  pursue  the  other.  It  does 
not  seem  that  they  succeeded  in  loading  again,  but 
each  endeavored  to  draw  the  bear  away  from  the 
other  by  pounding  him  over  the  head  with  the  gun, 
when  the  animal  would  get  the  other  down  and  com 
mence  again  gnawing  and  lacerating  his  arms, 
head  and  body.  It  was  a  despei-ate  fight  now  to  get 
away.  The  balance  of  the  party  had  deserted  them 
at  the  first  sight  of  the  animal,  when  he  made  his 
charge,  leaving  the  two  to  their  fate.  Jack's  arms 
were  now  so  useless  from  the  repeated  crushings,  that 
he  could  no  longer  raise  the  gun  to  strike  the  bear, 
but  still  intent  to  get  his  brother  away,  he  pushed 
his  shoulder  against  the  animal,  which  would  leave 
the  other  for  a  moment.  The  creature  was  a  monster 
in  size,  his  back  being  nearly  on  a  level  with  Jack's 
shoulder.  The  struggle  seemed  hopeless,  but  at  the 
last  moment  the  bear,  becoming  exhausted  "or  sub 
dued  by  the  severe  wounds,  gave  a  kind  of  snarl  and 
again  beat  a  retreat.  One  of  the  men  was  now 
utterly  helpless  and  the  other  one  not  much  better;  he 
however,  succeeded  in  dragging  his  brother  out  of 
the  brush  to  the  open  ground.  He  was  taken  away 
in  a  wagon  and  cared  for,  and  recovered  after  several 
months.  The  crippled  hand  and  arm,  and  terrible 


scars  'all  over  his  person,  attest  the  severity  of  the 
contest.  After  their  recovery  they  revisited  the 
place.  They  found  the  skeleton  of  the  bear,  which 
was  of  unheard-of  dimensions.  The  stories  of  bears 
weighing  fifteen  hundred  pounds,  to  those  who  have 
seen  only  the  bears  of  two  or  three  hundred  pounds 
weight,  which  frequent  the  mountains  of  the  Eastern 
States,  seem  utterly  absurd.  Making  allowance  for 
the  exaggeration  natural  under  some  circumstances, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  their  occasionally  reaching 
to  a  monstrous  size,  perhaps  weighing  seventeen  or 
eighteen  hundred  pounds. 

KILLING   A    GRIZZLY. 

In  1850  grizzlies  were  occasionally  met  with,  and 
they  hardly  ever  gave  the  road,  though  not  apt  to 
attack  man  unless  provoked.  It  was  Mr.  Spaulding's 
good  fortune  to  have  one  of  the  most  thrilling 
adventures  with  one,  that  is  recorded.  At  that  time  he 
was  in  charge  of  a  saw-mill  and  had  occasion  to  visit 
Mokelumne  Hill  late  in  the  day.  The  trail  led 
through  a  deep,  shadowy  glen  which  the  animals 
sometimes  visited,  trampling  down  the  brush  and  leav 
ing  tracks  twice  as  large  as  a  Hoosier's.  As  a  mat 
ter  of  prudence  he  took  his  rifle  promising  himself  to 
"  fight  it  out  on  that  line"  if  he  met  one.  The  day 
light  trip  was  well  enough,  no  "  bars  "  putting  in  an 
appearance,  but  on  his  return  after  night-fall,  as  he 
descended  into  the  cool,  shadowy  part  of  the  glen,  he 
heard  the  ominous  cracking  of  the  brush,  and  the 
sound  of  footfalls  along  the  trail.  Nearer  and  nearer 
came  the  animal  that  was  never  known  to  give  the 
road.  To  turn  back  was  contrary  to  our  hero's  prin 
ciples.  Pierpont's 

"Stand! 

The  ground's  your  own,  my  braves. 
Will  ye  give  it  up  to  slaves  ? 
Look  ye  for  greener  graves  ?" 

From  the  old  school  reader,  flashed  through  his  mind, 
and  he  stood!  With  gun  cocked  and  hair  on  end,  he 
waited  the  onset.  As  the  outline  of  the  animal  came 
dimly  into  view  he  took  as  good  aim  as  possible  and 
fired.  An  unearthly  growling  was  succeeded  by  the 
monster's  tumbling,  rolling,  and  tearing  down  the 
trail  to  the  bottom  of  the  deep  ravine.  It  was  evi 
dent  the  animal  was  severely  wounded,  and  like  all 
grizzlies,  would  be  then  most  dangerous,  even  if  the 
wound  was  mortal.  To  go  down  into  the  dark  and 
thick  woods  and  fight  the  grizzly  alone,  would  be 
dangerous,  perhaps  fatal  to  him,  for  had  not  the 
grizzly  proved  a  match  for  many  men  even  when 
fatally  wounded?  Life  was  bright  before  him;  hopes 
of  meeting — well,  no  matter  whom,  and  renewing 
the  tender  relations;  hopes  of  wealth,  of  political 
success,  of  honor — were  not  these  worth  more  than 
the  chance  of  killing  a  grizzly  ?  He  went  back  on 
the  trail,  and  making  a  wide  circuit,  reached  the 
camp  at  a  late  hour,  exhausted  with  the  excitement 
and  his  long  walk.  After  hearing  his  adventuresthc 
men  made  up  a  company  to  visit  the  ravine  the  next 


EARLY  SETTLEMENT. 


71 


morning  and  finish  the  monster.  All  the  guns  were 
heavily  loaded,  and  plans  laid  for  approaching  the 
animal  with  the  least  danger.  The  most  vulnerable 
parts  of  the  grizzly  were  duly  discussed,  some  con 
tending  for  an  eye  shot,  others  a  side  shot,  at  the 
heart,  etc.  Cautiously  they  descended  into  the  deep 
ravine,  avoiding  clumps  of  trees  or  chaparral.  At 
the  bottom  they  found  signs  of  the  conflict — blood 
and  broken  brush.  One,  bolder  than  the  rest,  fol 
lowed  the  trail,  and — a  great  roar  of  laughter,  with 
"Darned  if  it  aint  Dr.  Herschner's  old  jackass," 
changed  the  sentiment  of  the  party.  The  poor, 
patient  old  fellow  had  packed  many  a  load  of  grub  to 
the  miners,  and  would,  when  relieved  of  his  burden, 
return  home  alone,  but  he  had  made  his  last  trip. 
Forty  dollars  paid  for  the  animal,  but  many  forties 
would  not  pay  for  the  liquors  and  cigars  at  Spaulding's 
expense;  and  the  end  is  not  yet,  for  a  mention  of  hunt 
ing  grizzlies  will  still  bring  out  the  best  in  the  house. 

BULL    AND    BEAR    FIGHT. 

In  the  days  when  Calaveras  and  Amador  were 
one,  the  population  of  the  ancient  capital  were  wont 
to  amuse  themselves  with  bull  and  bear  fights.  Sun 
day,  by  custom,  was  the  day  set  apart  for  these 
exhibitions,  for,  on  that  day,  everybody  came  to 
town.  A  large  portion  of  the  population  was  Span 
ish,  and  anything  pertaining  to  the  fighting  of  bulls 
would  draw  out  the  full  Mexican  population,  sefiors 
senoras,  and  senoritas.  Spanish  cattle  were  plenti 
ful,  and  there  were  plenty  of  men  who  had  been 
trained  to  handle  them;  but  bears,  real  grizzlies, 
were  not  so  easily  caught  and  handled.  They  were 
valued  all  the  way  from  one  to  four  thousand  dol 
lars;  consequently,  when  a  real  grizzly  was  caught 
and  caged,  he  was  generally  given  an  unfair  advan 
tage.  The  bull- was  lassoed  just  before  the  fight, 
his  horns  sawed  off,  and  the  fight  pretty  well  taken 
out  of  him  before  he  was  turned  into  the  ring.  On 
one  occasion,  the  miners,  and  other  spectators,  got 
rampant  over  the  way  in  which  a  steer  was  sac 
rificed,  "  without  any  fight  at  all  worth  speaking  of." 
Unfortunately,  for  the  exhibitors,  the  bull-pen  close 
by  had  several  fierce,  untamed,  and  undaunted 
steers,  any  one  of  which  felt  amply  able  to  avenge 
their  slaughtered  companion.  One  of  them  espe 
cially  attracted  the  notice  of  the  spectators.  He 
would  have  filled  the  old  Mosaic  requirements,  being 
perfect  in  all  his  parts.  Lithe  as  a  cat,  his  horns 
long  and  slender,  he  commenced  bounding  around 
ht<  limited  arena  as  soon  as  he  heard  the  bellowing 

O 

of  his  less  able  companero,  that  was  being  chawed  and 
clawed  in  the  hug  of  the  grizzly. 

The  vaqueros  were  ordered  to  turn  the  anxious 
steer  into  the  pen,  a  hundred  revolvers  being  drawn 
to  enforce  the  request.  The  proprietors  knew  that 
business  was  on  hand,  unless  the  request  was  acceded 
to,  as  the  grizzly  was  sure  to  be  shot,  and,  perhaps, 
some  of  their  own  number,  too.  There  was  no  alter 
native,  and  they  turned  the  anxious  fellow  in,  though 


they  expected  the  bear  would  be  slain  in  a  short 
time.  The  bull  came  in,  proud  and  defiant,  gave  a 
snort  of  contempt,  whirled  his  tail  high  in  the  air, 
lowered  his  head,  and  made  a  charge.  His  majesty 
seemed  not  to  be  aware  of  any  unusual  company, 
and  looked  as  placid  and  serene  as  though  he  had 
just  made  an  ample  dinner  of  young  and  tender  pig, 
and  was  going  to  take  his  daily  afternoon  nap.  He 
received  the  bull  with  his  usual  affectionate  hug, 
the  bull's  horns  passing  each  side  of  his  body.  He 
caught  the  bull  by  the  back  of  the  neck  with  his 
mouth,  and  with  the  aid  of  his  forepaws,  held  him 
firmly  to  his  bosom,  using  his  hind  feet  with  terri 
ble  effect  on  the  bulls  neck  and  sides.  One  ear  was 
stripped  off  in  a  twinkling.  Every  dig  of  those 
terrible  claws  left  gaping  wounds,  while  the  bull 
seemed  utterly  powerless  to  inflict  any  damage  on 
the  bear.  About  five  minutes  of  this  kind  of  one 
sided  fighting,  served  to  convince  the  bull  that  he 
was  not  so  invincible  after  all.  His  bellowings  of 
defiance  changed  to  notes  of  rage,  and  then  to 
terror,  and  finally  to  cries  for  mercy;  the  last  howls 
being  so  loud  as  to  be  heard  a  mile  away.  After 
punishing  the  bull  for  a  while,  the  bear,  entertaining 
no  malice,  magnanimously  let  the  bull  loose,  which, 
blinded  by  blood  and  rage,  made  a  charge  at  the 
picket-fence,  which  separated  him  from  the  specta 
tors,  and  went  through  it,  scattering  the  crowd  in 
every  direction,  like  a  whirlwind.  A  dozen  vaqueros 
mounted  their  horses  and  started  after  him.  Down 
through  the  town  went  the  bull,  charging  with  his 
bloody  head  at  every  gathering  of  men,  until  he  got 
to  the  clothing  stores,  kept  by  the  Jews.  The  bright 
red  shirts  attracting  his  attention,  he  demolished 
these  places  one  after  another,  monarch  of  all  around, 
until  the  oaqueros  succeeded  in  getting  their  lariats 
around  his  horns  and  legs,  curbing  the  further 
exhibition  of  his  varying  moods  of  temper.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  say  that  the  several  acts  of  the  exhi 
bition  were  highly  satisfactory  to  the  crowd,  the 
general  verdict  being,  "  That  thar  bar's  some,  you 
bet." 

It  was  not  always  the  case  that  the  bear  whipped 
the  bull.  In  early  days,  a  bear  and  bull  fight  was 
advertised  to  come  off  at  Coloma.  No  Spanish  bulls 
being  at  hand,  a  lazy,  good-natured  old  fellow,  that 
crossed  the  plains  some  years  previously,  and  had 
since  lounged  around  the  street^  at  will,  was  selected 
to  fight  the  bear,  much  to  the  disgust  of  the  assem 
bled  multitude.  The  fight  was  very  short,  the  bull 
killing  the  bear  in  two  or  three  minutes,  by  goring 
him  through.  In  this  instance,  as  in  the  one  before 
related,  the  victory  was  won  by  the  cool  and  wary, 
the  victorious  bull  retiring  from  the  contest,  seem 
ingly  unconscious  of  any  unusual  event. 


72 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

DOMESTIC   HABITS  OF    THE  MINERS. 

Exaggerated  Accounts  of  Bret  Harte  and  Joaquin  Miller— Cook 
ing  and  Washing— Hawks,  Squirrels,  Quails,  and  Other 
Game  for  Food  —  Getting  Supper  Under  Difficulties  — 
Laundry  Affairs— Prevalence  of  Vermin— The  Sanguinary 
Flea—Miners'  Flea  Trap— Fleas  versus  Bed-bugs — Rats  and 
Other  Animals  — Visits  of  Snakes  —  A  Romantic  Affair 
Spoiled  by  a  Skunk. 

FOR  the  satisfaction  of  curious  women  who  wish 
to    know    how   their    fathers    and   brothers    man 
aged  housekeeping,  we   have    added   this    chapter. 
Men  who  never  tried  pioneer  life,  and  have  no  pros 
pect  or  necessity  of  trying  it,  may  omit  reading  this 
altogether,  or  forever  hold  their  peace.     Many  exag 
gerated   stories   are   in    circulation    concerning  the 
habits  and   characters   of  our  early  settlers.     Bret 
Harte,  Joaquin  Miller,  and  a  score  of  other  writers, 
have  taken   some  odd  sample   of  humanity,  added 
some    impossible    qualities,  and   set    him   up  to   be 
laughed  at,  or  perhaps  admired;  when  the  fact  is,  the 
caricature  is  about  as  near  the  original  as  the  Indian 
maiden  of  romance  is  to  the  filthy  squaw  that  would 
eat  the  raw  entrails  of  a  horse  or  bullock  without 
adding  anything  to  the  dirt,  that  already  ornamented 
her  hands  and  face.    The  '49er  is  represented  as  hav- 
iog  pounds  of  dust  loose  in  his  pockets,  which  he 
passed  out  by  the  handful  for  whisky  or  whatever 
struck  his  fancy;   as  carrying  an  arsenal  of  knives 
and   revolvers  which   he  was  wont  to    use   on  the 
slightest  provocation — "  rough  but  generous,  brave, 
and  kind."     While  it  is  true  that  an  ideal  '49er  occa 
sionally  made  an  appearance  in  those  days — for  it  is 
almost    impossible    to    draw   a    monster,   physical, 
moral,  or  intellectual,  that   has   not   some   familiar 
features — the  fact  is,  that  the  mass  of  the  people  had 
no  resemblance  to  the  ideals  of  Bret  Harte  or  Joaquin 
Miller.     They  were  sober,  industrious,  and  energetic 
men,  who  toiled  as  men  with  ambition  and  strength 
can  toil.     The  labor  these  men  performed  in  dam 
ming   and  turning  rivers,  or   tunneling   mountains, 
was  not  the  -spurt  of  enthusiasm    born  of  whisky. 
Many  of  the  men  had  families  at  home  whose  letters 
were  looked  for  with  the  most  eager  interest.     The 
younger  men,  who  had  not  families,  had  ties  perhaps 
equally   as  strong.     The    exceptions,   which    have 
given  such  a  false  character  to  the  '49cr,  were  unprin 
cipled  adventurers  from  every  State  and  nation,  gam 
blers  in    bad    repute,  even    among  their  own  kind, 
frontiersmen  who  acknowledged  no   law,  and  fugi 
tives  from  -justice  everywhere.     This  was  the  class 
that  made  a  vigilance  committee  necessary  in  San 
Francisco   in    1850    and   1856;    which    occasionally 
aroused  the  wrath  of  the  mass  of  miners  by  robbing 
or  killing   u  peaceable  citizen.     The  description   of 
this   class  is  not   the   object  of  this  chapter;    they 
have  already,  in   the   hundred    books    which  have 
been  written  of  them,  had   more  notice  than  they 
deserved.      The   substantial,  honorable,  and   indus 
trious  must  now  claim  our  attention. 


When  the  lucky  prospector  had  found  a  paying 
claim,  the  next  thing  was  to  set  up  his  household. 
From  two  to  four  was  the  usual  number  of  the  mess. 
The  Summers  were  long  and  dry,  and  there  was  no 
discomfort  in  sleeping  out  of  doors.  But  even  in 
Summer  a  house,  though  humble  it  might  be,  had 
many  advantages  over  a  tent  for  comfort  and  secu 
rity.  A  stray  horse  or  ox  would  sometimes  get  into 
the  flour-sack  or  bread-sack,  upset  the  sugar,  or 
make  a  mess  of  the  table-ware.  Wandering  Indians 
would  pilfer  small  things,  or  take  away  clothing 
which  might  be  left  within  reach;  but  in  a  cabin 
things  were  tolerably  secure  from  depredation.  A 
site  for  a  cabin  was  selected  where  wood  and  water 
were  abundant.  These  things,  as  well  as  the  pres 
ence  of  gold,  often  determined  the  location  of  a 
future  town.  Bottle  Spring  (Jackson),  Double 
Springs,  Mud  Springs,  Diamond  Springs,  and  Cold 
Springs,  at  once  suggest  their  origin.  In  the  earlier 
days,  log-cabins  were  soon  put  up,  for  suitable  logs  • 
were  found  everywhere.  Though  these  cabins  are 
in  the  dust — passed  into  history — there  is  no  need 
of  describing  them,'  as  the  books  are  full  of  the 
"settlers'  log  cabin,"  and  no  boy  of  the  present  gen 
eration,  who  has  arrived  to  the  age  of  ten,  would 
need  instruction  in  building  one. 

In  the  western  settlements  a  floor  made  of  hewn 
timbers  (puncheons)    was   usual,    but    the    ground 
served  for  a  floor,  and  was  considered  good  enough 
for  a  man.     The  sleeping  places  were  as  various  as 
the  minds  of  men.      Sometimes  a  kind   of  Jais,  or 
elevation  of  two  or  three  feet,  was  made  on  one  side 
of  the  cabin,  where  the  men,  wrapped  in  their  blank 
ets,   slept   with  their   feet  to  the  fire.      Generally, 
bunks   were   made   by  putting  a  second  log  in  the 
cabin  at  a  proper  elevation   and  distance  from  the 
sides,  and  nailing  potato  or  gunny  sacks  across  from 
one  to  the  other,  making  in  the  same  way  a  second 
tier   of  bunks,  if  necessary.      Some  fern  leaves  or 
coarse  hay  on  these  sacks,  with   blankets,  made  a 
comfortable  bed.     A  good  fire-place  was  necessary. 
Most  of  the  mining  was  in  water,  necessarily  involv 
ing  wet  clothes.    A  rousing  fire,  especially  in  Winter, 
was  necessary  to  "  get  dried  out."  Some  of  these  fire 
places  would  be  six  feet  across,  and  built  of  granite 
or  slate  rocks,  as  each  abounded.     There  was  not 
much   hewing  done  to  make   them  fit.     When   the 
structure  had  been  carried  up  four  or  five  feet,  an 
oak  log  was  laid   across  as  a   mantle-piece,  and  on 
this  the  chimney,  generally  made  of  sticks  or  small 
poles  plastered   with   mud,  was    built.     A  couple  of 
rocks  served  for  rests  for  the   backlog  and  forestick. 
A  shelf  or  two  of  shakes,  or  sometimes  an  open  box 
in  which    pickles  or  candles  had  come   around  the 
Horn,  would  serve  for  a  cupboard  to  keep  a  few  tin 
plates,  and  cups,  and  two  or  three  cans  containing 
salt,  pepper,  and  soda.    A  table  of  moderate  t-i/.e  was 
also  made  of  shakes,  sometimes  movable,  but  oftcner 
nailed   fast  to  the  side  of  the  house.     Those  who 
crossed  the  plains  would  often  take  the  tail-gate  of 


RESIDENCE  OF  CHARLES  GREEN, 

D  i  v^  xm  ITLI      AkjiAnriD     PD     PAI 


DOMESTIC  HABITS  OF  THE  MINERS. 


the  wagon  for  this  purpose.  A  frying-pan,  coffee 
pot,  Dutch-oven,  and  water-bucket  completed  the 
list  of  household  utensils.  As  the  miners  became 
pi-osperous,  a  soup-kettle  for  boiling  potatoes,  and 
also  for  heating  water  to  wash  their  clothes  on  a 
Sunday  was  added.  Somewhere  in  a  corner  was  a 
roll  of  paper,  with  pen  and  ink,  with  which  to  cor 
respond  with  the  folks  at  home.  Cooking  was  some 
times  done  turn-about  for  a  week,  and  sometimes 
seemed  to  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  best-natured  one  of 
the  crowd,  the  others  bringing  wood  and  water  by 
way  of  offset.  Not  much  attempt  was  made  at 
neatness,  and  oftentimes  one  had  to  console  himself 
with  eating  only  his  own  dirt,  for  there  were  camps 
where  the  dishes  were  not  washed  for  months. 
Sometimes  a  little  hot  coffee  turned  on  a  plate  would 
take  off  the  last-formed  dirt;  but  washing  dishes — 
the  everlasting  bane  of  woman's  housekeeping — was, 
if  possible,  more  repugnant  to  man,  and  wasfrequenfly 
omitted;  it  made  the  gold-pan  greasy  (the  miner's 
prospecting-pan  served  for  washing  dishes  as  well  as 
gold,  also  as  a  bread-pan,  and  wash-tub  on  Sunday); 
there  was  no  time  to  stop  after  breakfast,  and  they 
worked  so  late  that  they  could  not  delay  supper  for 
the  dishes  to  be  washed,  and  so  they  were  left  from 
day  to  day.  The  cooking  was  a  simple  matter, 
boiling  potatoes,  making  coffee,  frying  slap-jacks  and 
meat,  being  the  usual  routine.  Bread? — yes,  I  am 
going  to  tell  you  about  that.  All  sorts  of  bread  but 
good  bread,  were  made  at  first.  The  miners  knew 
that  their  wives  and  mothers  put  in  soda,  so  they 
put  in  soda.  Some  of  them  brought  dried  yeast 
across  the  plains,  and  undertook  to  make  raised 
bread,  but  as  a  general  thing  miners'  bread  was  but 
sorry,  sad  stuff.  The  most  successful  plan  was  to 
keep  a  can  of  sour  batter  (flour  and  water  mixed), 
with  which  to  mix  the  bread,  neutralizing  the  excess 
of  acid  with  soda.  Some  of  the  miners  became  quite 
expert  with  this,  judging  to  a  nicety  the  exact 
amount  of  soda  required.  Dough  mixed  in  this  way 
and  set  in  the  sun,  would  soon  raise,  and,  if  the  soda 
was  rightly  proportioned,  was  palatable  and  whole 
some.  The  sour  batter  was  splendid  for  slapjacks! 
The  old  story  that  a  California  miner  could  toss  his 
slap-jack  up.  a  chimney,  run  out  doors,  and  catch  it 
as  it  came  down,  right  side  up,  is  too  old  to  bo  re 
peated;  but  it  is  a  fact  that  they  would  turn  the  slap 
jacks  with  a  dexterous  flip  flop  of  the  frying-pan, 
though  when  the  batter  was  made  stiff  enough  to 

O 

stand  this  kind  of  usage,  the  cake  would  answer  for 
half-soling  a  boot.  The  better  Avay  was  to  have  two 
frying-pans,  and  turn  the  cakes  by  gently  upsetting 
the  contents  of  one  into  the  other.  Thirty  years' 
experience  and  observation  suggest  no  improvement 
on  this  method. 

Practice  made  many  of  the  miners  expert  cooks. 
New  methods  of  cooking  were  sought  out,  and  new 
dishes  invented.  Think  of  using  a  dry-goods  box 
for  an  oven,  and  baking  a  pig  or  shoulder  of  pork 
in  it!  No  trick  at  all.  Drive  down  a  stake  or  two, 


and  on  them  make  a  small  scaffold,  on  which  to 
place  your  roast;  now  build  a  very  small  fire  of 
hard  wood,  at  such  a  distance  away  that  a  moderate 
sized  dry-goods  box  will  cover  it  all,  and  your 
arrangements  are  complete.  The  fire  will  need  re 
plenishing  once  or  twice,  and  in  two  or  three  hours, 
according  to  the  size  of  the  roast,  you  may  take  it 
out,  done  in  a  rich  gold  color,  with  a  flavor  unat 
tainable  by  any  other  method.  Steaks  were  roasted 
before  a  fire,  or  smothered,  when  sufficiently  fried 
by  the  ordinary  process,  in  a  stiff  batter,  and  the 
whole  baked  like  a  batch  of  biscuit,  making  a  kind 
of  meat  pie.  Game  sometimes  entered  into  the 
miner's  bill  of  fare.  Quails,  rabbits,  hares,  coons, 
squirrels,  and  hawks,  were  all  converted  into  food, 
as  well  as  deer  and  bear.  Some  Frenchmen  in  1852, 
during  a  time  of  scarcity,  killed  and  eat  a  coyote, 
but  their  account  of  his  good  qualities  was  not  such 
as  to  induce  others  to  try  the  experiment.  In  1851, 
some  miners  getting  out  of  both  money  and  meat, 
shot  a  young  and  fine-looking  hawk.  He  was  fat, 
and,  the  flesh  looking  toothsome,  they  cooked  him, 
and  reported  that  "he  was  better  nor  a  chicken." 
Some  neighbors  tried  the  same  experiment,  but, 
unfortunately,  killed  the  old  fellow  that  was  pre 
served  from  drowning  a  great  many  years  ago, 
through  the  kindness  of  one  of  our  forefathers.  His 
flesh  was  about  the  color  and  consistency  of  sole- 
leather,  and  after  boiling  him  for  three  days  in  the 
vain  attempt  to  reduce  his  body  to  an  eatable  con 
dition,  he  was  cast  away.  Even  the  rice  with  which 
he  was  boiled  acquired  no  hawk  flavor,  which 
induced  one  of  the  miners  to  remark,  "They's  much 
difference  'n  hawks  as  'n  women"  A  second  trial  re 
sulted  in  a  splendid  dish,  and  after  that  hawks 
learned  to  avoid  that  settlement.  On  Christmas- 
day,  1852,  a  company  of  miners  got  up  a  big  dinner. 
They  put  a  fine  largo  hawk  in  the  center  of  a  Dutch- 
oven,  about  twenty  quails  around  it,  and  around 
them,  potatoes.  Some  slices  of  salt  pork  on  the 
hawk  and  quails,  seasoned  the  birds,  and  tempered 
the  upper  heat  of  the  oven.  The  hawk  was  pro 
nounced  the  best  of  all.  The  Winter  of  1852-53,  was 
perhaps  the  roughest  time  ever  seen  in  California. 
The  long  spell  of  high  water  utterly  prevented  the 
transportation  of  provisions  from  the  cities,  and 
there  was  much  want,  though  no  actual  cases  of 
starvation.  Many  men  lived  for  weeks  on  boiled 
barley.  Beans,  without  even  a  ham-bone  to  season 
them,  furnished,  in  some  cases,  the  only  food  for 
weeks.  At  one  camp,  a  pork  rind  was  borrowed 
from  one  house  to  another,  to  grease  the  frying-pan 
for  slap-jacks. 

A  narrative  of  personal  experience  of  one  who 
lived  on  the  south  branch  of  Dry  creek,  in  1852,  will 
give  an  iaca  of  the  troubles  of  that  year:— 

"It  had  been  raining  for  about  six  weeks,  and  our 
claim  had  been  four  feet  under  water  for  a  month. 
There  were  no  gulches  there  that  would  pay,  and  we 
had  been  waiting  for  the  rain  to  ceasp  until  every  bit 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


of  provision  of  any  description  was  gone,  as  well  as 
money  or  dust.  Something  had  to  be  done,  even  if 
the  rain  was  coming  down  in  torrents.  There  were 
four  of  us,  one  Yankee,  two  young  married  men 
from  Illinois,  and  a  man  who  had  served  in  the 
United  States  army  in  the  Seminole  war,  and.  also 
as  a  volunteer  in  the  Mexican  war.  We  shouldered 
our  pick,  shovel,  and  rocker,  and  started  up  towards 
Indian  gulch.  After  going  a  short  distance,  one  of 
the  Illinoisians  got  to  thinking  of  his  young  wife,  and 
the  pleasures  of  home  compared  with  this  country, 
and,  overcome  by  his  feelings,  burst  into  a  blubber 
of  despair,  and  started  on  the  run  for  the  cabin, 
where  he  was  found  at  night  hovering  over  the  cold 
ashes  of  the  fire-place,  the  fire  totally  extinguished 
by  his  floods  of  tears. 

:<  At  the  head  of  Indian  gulch  we  found  some  pay 
ing  dirt.  We  went  to  work,  and  by  dint  of  ground 
sluicing,  rocking  and  panning,  about  four  o'clock  we 
had,  probably,  an  ounce  of  dust.  With  this  I  started 
to  Fiddletown  to  buy  a  supper  for  the  boys.  An 
ounce  of  gold  dust,  in  1881,  will  buy  almost  a  year's 
provisions  for  a  man,  but  in  1852  (flour  at  one  hun 
dred  dollars  per  barrel,  and  meat  seventy-five  cents 
per  pound),  it  was  not  much.  After  standing  and 
aheminy  awhile,  I  remarked  that  I  thought  the  rain 
would  hold  up  shortly,  so  that  provisions  would  get 
cheaper;  believed  that  I  would  buy  but  a  small 
quantity  to-night,  etc.  Mr.  Wingo,  the  gentlemanly 
trader,  did  not  seem  to  notice  my  embarrassment, 
but  politely  sold  me  the  little  dab  of  flour  and  a 
piece  of  meat,  which  went  down  into  the  corner  of 
the  sack  out  of  sight.  I  started  for  the  cabin,  dark 
ness  coming  rapidly  on,  and  the  rain  still  falling. 
The  creeks  were  now  nearly  waist  deep,  but  I  safely 
got  through  them  all  until  I  got  to  Dry  creek.  The 
log  on  which  I  crossed  in  the  morning  was  gone, 
and  the  water  was  running  high  over  the  banks. 
Two  or  three  hundred  yards  away  was  the  cabin, 
and  I  knew,  by  the  bright  light  shining  through  the 
cracks  of  the  door,  that  a  big  fire  had  been  built  to 
cook  our  suppers,  out  of  the  proceeds  of  our  day's 
work,  and  to  dry  our  clothes,  soaked  by  twelve 
hours'  rain.  A  council  of  war  was  called,  and  all 
attainable  information  regarding  roads,  bridges,  and 
ferries,  called  for.  The  creek  was  nowhere  fordable; 
that  proposition  was  disposed  of  without  delay. 
One  witness,  or  member  of  the  council,  had  an 
indistinct  recollection  of  having  seen  a  tree  across 
the  creek  a  mile  or  two  below,  some  days  since,  but 
could  not  vouch  for  its  being  there  at  present.  This 
being  the  only  information  attainable,  the  com 
mander  ordered  a  change  of  base,  to  the  possible 
bridge.  Down  the  creek,  in  utter  darkness,  over 
rocks  and  bushes,  stumbling  and  falling,  and  after 
an  hour's  hard  work,  the  bridge  was  found.  It  was 
a  cedar  tree,  the  butt  resting  on  the  stump,  the 
large  top  reaching  to  the  opposite  shore,  and  the 
middle  sagged  down  so  that  the  water  was  running, 
perhaps,  two  feet  deep  over  the  trunk,  and  threaten 
ing  every  moment  to  sweep  the  tree  off  its  moorings; 
for,  standing  on  its  upper  end,  I  could  feel  it  sway 
ing  to  the  movement  of  the  water.  But-  the  sub 
merged  part  had  limbs  standing  up  out  of  the  stream, 
and  a  charge  in  force  across  the  bridge  was  ordered,  I 
with  this  caution,  '  My  boy,  if  you  go  overboard,  the 
boys  will  go  without  their  suppers.'  The  opposite 
bank  was  gained  in  safety,  by  feeling  the  way  and 
holding  to  the  limbs;  and,  an  hour  later,  some  bread 
and  fried  pork,  and  a  roaring  fire,  brought  us  to  a 
comfortable  condition,  and  gave  us  the  spirit  to 
laugh  at  all  our  troubles." 


LAUNDRY   AFFAIRS. 

Necessity  compelled  every  man  to  do  some  kind 
of  cooking.  The  calls  of  a  ravenous  stomach  three 
or  four  times  a  day  could  not  be  disregarded  with 
impunity;  but  the  matter  of  having  clean  shirts  and 
beds,  though  quite  as  necessary,  was  not  so  forcibly 
called  for,  and  the  washing  was  postponed  from  one 
Sunday  to  another  until  the  traditional  washing-day, 
in  many  camps,  was  well-nigh  forgotten.  A  clean 
shirt  was  hauled  over  a  dirty  one,  until  the  accumu 
lations  of  sweat  and  red  clay  would  afford  a  study 
for  a  geologist.  The  blankets,  too,  were  slept  in  for 
months,  for  no  miner  ever  dreamed  of  having  clean 
sheets,  and  as  for  pillows,  his  boots  tucked  under  his 
blankets  served  as  a  support  to  his  head.  When  a 
shirt  was  changed,  the  cast-off  garment  was  laid 
aside,  or  left  in  his  bunk  to  be  washed  at  a  more  con 
venient  time — which  never  came.  No  wonder  then 
that  the  gray-backed  lice,  the  genuine  army  vermin, 
colonized  every  blanket  and  shirt.  For  months 
respectable  men,  who  would  as  soon  have  been 
accused  of  stealing  as  being  lousy,  went  scratching 
around  without  a  suspicion  of  the  trouble.  Poison 
oak,  hives,  change  of  climate,  and  a  hundred  other 
things  were  supposed  to  produce  the  intolerable, 
persistent  itching.  When  the  true  cause  became 
known,  for  sooner  or  later  the  discovery  was  sure  to 
come,  the  conduct  of  the  victims  became  amusing. 
Some  would  swear,  some  would  cast  their  clothing 
away,  or  perhaps  bury  it,  and  purchase  an  entire 
new  outfit — but  the  fact  was  the  louse  had  taken 
possession  of  the  whole  country;  like  the  angel  of 
the  apocalypse,  he  had  a  foot  on  the  sea  and  on  the 
dry  land;  in  the  store  as  well  as  in  the  cabin.  A 
vigorous  war  with  hot  water,  on  everything  that 
would  scald,  would  exterminate  him,  though  some 
lazy,  and  consequently  lousy,  miners  contended  that 
hot  water  would  not  kill  them.  The  louse  event 
ually  abandoned  the  country;  but  whether  from  the 
neater  habits  of  the  miners,  or  the  coming  of  the 
avenger, 

THE   FIERCE   SANGUINARY   FLEA, 

Is  still  an  open  question.  Between  1851  and  '53, 
contemporaneous  with  the  irruption  of  the  rat,  the 
flea  fought  his  way  into  every  camp,  and  held  the 
fort,  too,  against  all  enemies.  If  unwashed  shirts 
and  blankets  were  favorable  to  the  existence  of 
myriads  of  gray-backs,  not  less  so  was  the  swarming 
lice  for  the  flea,  for  he  made  meat  and  drink  of  them. 
Hot  water  had  no  terrors  for  the  flea;  he  was  out 
and  off  before  a  garment  would  go  into  the  water. 
During  the  day  he  made  his  home  in  the  dust  floor 
of  the  cabin,  and  at  night  sallied  out  of  his  lair, 
thirsting  for  blood.  And  he  must  be  a  good  sleeper 
indeed,  who  could  close  his  eyes  in  slumber,  while 
hundreds  of  lancets  were  puncturing  his  cuticle. 
Sometimes  a  cabin  was  abandoned  on  account  of 
them.  A  person  happening  to  come  in  would  have 
hundreds  crawling  on  his  pants  in  a  few  minutes. 


DOMESTIC  HABITS  OF  THE  MINERS. 


75 


Sometimes  a  man  would  leave  his  cabin  and  blankets 
and  sleep  on  the  naked  ground  on  the  outside  to  get 
rid  of  his  persistent  bed-fellows. 

THE  MINERS'  PLEA-TRAP. 

If  necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention,  the  flea- 
trap  was  a  sure  corollary.  It  was  a  simple  and 
effective  affair.  It  was  known  that  fleas  would 
gather  around  a  light;  taking  advantage  of  this 
habit,  the  miners  would  set  a  lighted  candle  on  the 
floor,  and  around  it  set  their  pans  with  a  small 
quantity  of  slippery  soap-suds  in  each.  The  flea 
would  fall  in,  struggle  vigorously  for  awhile  to  get 
out,  and  finally  drown.  A  tablespoonful  of  the 
rascals  in  the  morning  was  considered  a  satisfactory 
catch.  Later  the  bed-bugs  drove  out,  to  some 
extent,  the  flea,  and  still  hold  the  land.  The  good 
housewife  is  often  reduced  to  despair  by  the  per 
sistence  of  these  unwelcome  tenants  of  her  rooms, 
who  neither  pay  rent  nor  vacate. 

The  following  article,  from  the  Oakland  Times,  is 
commended  to  the  attention  of  housekeepers  who 
are  still  in  the  thick  of  the  doubtful  and  unequal 
contest : — 

"  Stockton  is  celebrated  for  its  mosquitoes,  Sacra 
mento  for  its  bed-bugs,  San  Francisco  for  its  rats, 
and  Oakland  for  its  fleas.  They  are  larger  and  there 
are  more  of  them;  they  can  jump  further  and  higher, 
bite  oftener  and  deeper,  than  any  fleas  in  the  world. 
They  are  more  persistent  than  a  book  agent,  and 
hold  with  a  tighter  grip  than  a  money-lender.  They 
swarm  everywhere — in  the  streets,  the  stores,  and 
the  public  places.  Everybody  '  has  'em  bad.'  The 
young  and  the  old,  the  tender  and  the  tough,  alike 
are  meat  for  them.  If  you  wish  to  say  a  compli 
mentary  thing  to  a  lady,  ten  to  one  a  flea  will  bite 
you  where  it  is  impossible  to  scratch,  while,  likely, 
the  lady,  troubled  in  the  same  way,  will  manifest 
impatience.  Do  not  misjudge  her,  or  be  discouraged. 

"  You  may  fancy  that  your  neighbor  in  the  cars  has 
the  itch;  no  such  thing;  only  the  irrepressible  flea. 
Flea  catching  is  one  of  the  accomplishments  of  our 
belles.  They  never  disrobe  without  taking  a  hunt, 
and  boast  of  the  numbers  they  slay.  Even  the 
sanctuary  is  invaded  by  them;  in  fact,  the  church  flea 
is  the  most  ravenous  of  all.  Starved  during  the 
week,  he  has  an  extraordinary  appetite  when  the 
Sabbath  comes.  No  bells  calling  a  laboring  man  to 
his  dinner  ever  brought  such  joy  as  the  Sunday 
chimes  do  to  the  fasting  flea.  How  ho  rushes  to  the 
attack  as  the  people  take  their  seats!  How  the  vic 
tims  writhe  and  squirm  as  the  flea  plunges  his  jaws 
into  them!  Preachers  unaccustomed  to  the  phenom 
enon,  imagine  it  to  be  the  sword  of  the  spirit  bring 
ing  sinners  to  a  lively  sense  of  their  condition,  and 
they  lay  on  and  spare  not.  Fleas,  reverend  sir; 
nothing  more. 

"  Those  who  have  studied  phlebotomy  think  they 
can  distinguish  the  bites  of  the  different  denomina 
tions.  There  is  the  flea  of  the  gushing  Methodist, 
that  is  gentle  and  affectionate;  of  the  iron-bound 
Presbyterian,  that  bounces  you  like  a  bull-dog  ;  but 
for  downright,  hard  work,  take  the  flea  of  the  hard 
shell  Eaptiat.  liaised  amidst  difficulties,  like  the 
Scotchman  among  his  crags,  and  the  New  Englander 
among  the  granite  boulders,  he  is  fitted  for  every 
possible  emergency  in  a  race  for  life.  None  but  the 


hardiest  survive,  which  proves  Darwin's  theory  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest. 

"  The  fleas  are  not  without  their  benefits,  however. 
Half  of  the  success  of  our  business  men  is  supposed 
to  be  due  to  the  irritation  of  the  fleas,  who  never  let 
them  rest,  day  nor  night.  And  then— no  w  housekeeper 
listen — no  bed-bugs  can  live  where  such  a  race  of 
fleas  has  taken  the  land.  To  use  the  words  of  a 
noted  housekeeper,  "the  fleas  eat 'em  up."  Not  a 
bed-bug  is  known  in  all  Oakland.  What  a  blessing 
these  fleas  would  be  in  our  interior  towns,  whore  the 
bed-bugs  have  had  possession  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  How  the  sangrados  would  riot  in  blood  ! 
What  consternation  among  the  respectable,  alder- 
manic  old  bugs,  as  the  bloodthirsty  flea,  his  jaws 
reeking  with  gore,  dashed  in  among  them  !  The 
irruption  of  the  hordes  of  Alaric  into  Rome,  or  the 
contemplated  raid  of  Kearney's  hoodlums  into  China 
town,  could  not  compare  with  it. 

"  If  our  country  neighboi-s  want  some  of  these  fleas, 
I  think  the  Oaklanders  would  be  willing  to  spare 
them.  Though  usually  anxious  to  drive  a  good  bar 
gain,  in  the  sale  of  fleas  they  would  be  generous. 
They  will  help  you  catch  them.  You  have  only  to 
sleep  a  night  or  two  in  the  churches,  and  you  will 
have  enough.  Negotiations  may  be  opened  with  our 
Mayor  or  any  of  the  city  officers." 

RATS    AND    OTHER    VERMIN. 

Rats  have  been  mentioned  as  coming  in  with  the 
fleas.  The  mild  climate,  exposed  condition  of  eat 
ables,  and  absence  of  cats  and  dogs,  the  natural 
enemies  of  rats,  caused  them  to  multiply  with  extraor 
dinary  rapidity.  They  were  as  much  at  home  in 
the  country  as  in  the  town,  and  a  miner,  camping  in 
the  hills  away  from  the  town,  soon  received  visits 
from  the  rats,  who  thenceforth  managed  to  have  a 
share  of  all  he  brought  into  his  camp.  After  he 
had  retired  to  his  blankets,  the  rats  in  troops  would 
run  over  his  body,  making  it  the  jumping-off  place 
in  their  playful  gambols.  They  left  their  tracks  on 
his  butter,  gnawed  holes  into  his  flour-sack,  danced 
cotillions  on  his  table,  and  kicked  up  a  fuss  generally. 
Nothing  but  boxes  of  tin  or  heavy  lumber  would 
keep  them  from  eating,  destroying,  or  dirtying  every 
article  of  food  around  the  cabin.  It  will  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  houses  or  cabins  were  made  of  logs 
daubed  with  mud,  without  floors  or  windows,  and 
were  accessible  to  all  kinds  of  vermin,  as  well  as 
rats.  Rattlesnakes  sometimes  crawled  into  the 
interstices  of  the  logs,  and  first  made  their  presence 
known  by  the  sharp  rattle  or  perhaps  the  deadly 
thrust  of  their  poisonous  fangs  into  the  sleeper's 
limbs.  A  young  man  living  on  the  Slate-creek  side 
of  American  hill,  near  Oleta,  was  bitten  in  this  way 
without  any  warning  on  the  part  of  the  snake.  He 
felt  the  sting,  felt  the  deadly  paralysis  coming  over 
him,  and,  in  company  with  two  or  three  companions, 
started  for  town,  but  sunk  helplessly  to  the  ground 
before  getting  there,  dying  shortly  after.  The  fol 
lowing  morning  an  examination  of  the  bed  revealed 
the  presence  of  a  young  and  vigorous  rattlesnake, 
three  feet  or  more  in  length.  A  Frenchman  in  the 
vicinity,  was  bitten  about  the  same  way,  though  he 
was  living  alone  and  was  unable  to  reach  the  town, 


76 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOB  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


perishing  on  the  way,  being  found  in  the  trail  some 
days  afterwards  without  any  visible  wound.  A 
rattlesnake,  dead  on  the  floor  of  his  cabin,  indicated 
the  cause  of  his  death.  The  long,  yellow  chicken 
snake  would  sometimes  crawl  into  the  cabin  and 
create  consternation  among  the  rats  and  lizards,  as 
well  as  among  the  miners.  As  the  miners  got  to 
building  their  cabins  of  sawed  lumber  and  elevating 
them  above  the  ground,  snakes,  rats,  mice,  and 
skunks,  became  less  frequent  visitors.  When  dogs 
and  cats  were  called  in  as  friends  and  protectors, 
men,  and  women  as  well,  could  sleep  without  fear  of 
disturbance.  Since  skunks  have  been  mentioned, 
the  reader  may  feel  an  interest  in  the  adventures  of 
a  young  and  romantic  miner  with  an  animal  of  this 
kind,  which,  possibly,  exerted  a  great  influence  in 
shaping  his  destiny: — 

"  I  had  been  mining  on  the  South  fork,  in  the 
Summer  of  '52,  and  came  down  to  Dry  creek  in  the 
Fall,  a  little  the  worst-busted  individual  you  ever 
saw.  Save  some  old,  worn-out  shovels  and  picks,  I 
had  nothing,  not  even  a  decent  pair  of  pants.  About 
that  time  two  or  three  families  had  settled  on  Dead 
Man's  creek,  a  little  above  my  camp.  I  had  seen  a 
slender,  willowy  form  flitting  in  and  out  of  a  cabin, 
and  all  the  powers  of  my  imagination  were  sum 
moned  to  describe  her  charms.  '  Young  and  fair 
with  bright  golden  hair,'  was  not  then  written,  but 
I  thought  it  though,  as  well  as  many  other  fine 
things,  and  spent  some  days  in  composing  compli 
ments  to  her  musical  ability,  sweet  voice,  beautiful 
eyes,  mouth,  teeth,  feet,  '  and  all  that  sort  of  thing.' 
I  worked  like  a  Trojan  '  panning-out,'  to  get  money 
enough  to  buy  raiment  fit  to  appear  in  her  presence. 
At  length,  one  Saturday  evening,  the  task  was  per 
formed,  and  I  hung  the  suit  up  by  my  bed  and 
slept — fondly  dreaming — etc.  I  was  awakened  in 
the  night  by  a  scratching  on  the  logs  above  my 
head,  which  I  supposed  was  by  the  rats.  NOWT,  they 
had  annoyed  me  so  often  in  that  way,  that  I  had  lost 
all  patience  with  them,  and  resolved  to  'fix 'em.' 
A  gun  was  standing  by  my  side,  and  I  proceeded  to 
gently  draw  out  a  ramrod,  with  which  to  kill  some 
of  them,  for,  from  the  scratching  I  concluded  there 
must  be  a  dozen  or  two,  at  least.  I  succeeded  in 
getting  the  rod  out  without  alarming  my  visitors, 
and  suddenly  whipping  it  into  the  corner  over  my 
head,  did  my  best  to  kill  the  whole  of  them.  There 
were  three  other  persons  sleeping  in  the  cabin. 
Hearing  the  racket,  t.hcy  all  roused  up  with: 

<  \VnE — w!!'       'WHAT    IN    H — L!!'       'Oil.  JE — RUSA- 

LEM!  ! '  We  all  leaped  into  the  middle  of  the  floor, 
and,  hastily  stirring  the  coals  in  the  fire-place,  raised 
light  enough  to  see  our  friend  crawling  out  of  a  hole 
in  the  unfinished  gable  of  the  cabin.  lie  did  not 
take  the  atmosphere  with  him.  Clothing,  blankets, 
provisions,  boots  and  shoes,  and  even  the  very  logs 
of  the  cabin,  were  saturated  with  the  essence  of  all 
that  is  villainous.  Months  afterwards  when  the 
scent  had  become  so  diffused  that  wo  could  no 
longer  perceive  it,  I  made  a  visit  to  Fiddletown 
(Oleta).  There  was  a  ball  going  on,  and  1  stepped 
into  the  ball-room  to  get  a  glimpse,  once  more,  of 
a  woman's  face.  Several  persons  made  the  remark 
that  somebody  must  have  killed  a  skunk.  I  did  not 
tell  them  that  the  skunk  was  not  killed,  but  quietly 
retired.  Somebody  else  got  that  girl." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
ORGANIZATION  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 

Election  for  or  Against  Division,  June  17,  1854 — Proceedings 
of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  — Strife  for  the  Possession  of 
the  County  Seat — The  Owl — Sketches  of  the  First  Candi 
dates—Courts  Established — Efforts  to  Suppress  Disorderly 
Houses — Amusing  Procession — Election  in  1854 — Condition 
of  Society. 

JACKSON    and    Mokelumne    Hill    had    been   rival 
towns.     When    Calavcras    county    was     organized, 
Double  Springs  became  the  county  seat;  for  a  short 
time  only,  however,  for  it  was  captured  by  a  coup  de 
main,  and  transferred  to  Jackson,  where  it  remained 
for  nearly  two  years.     From  that  place  it  was  trims 
ferred  to  Mokelumne  Hill,  as  the  result  of  a  choice, 
by  election,  of  the  people,  called  in  accordance  with 
an  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  1851-2,  the  particulars 
of  which  will  be  set  forth   more  particularly  in  the 
township    histories.      The    politicians   never  rested 
contentedly  under  this  change.     They  asserted  that 
men  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mokelumne  river  got 
the  offices,  and  they  went  to  work  to  convince  the 
people  that  their  interests  would  bo  better  served  by 
having    a    new   county   organized.     By    this    time 
(1853)  there  were  several  ambitious  towns  that  were 
willing  to  take  charge  of  the  county  scat  and  fur 
nish  grub  and  whisky,  particularly  the  latter,  to  all 
who  were  rich  enough  to  indulge  in  the  luxury  of 
going   to  law.     It  was  also  urged,   with  too  much 
reason    to  be  disputed,  that  the  taxes  were    being 
wasted  at    Mokelumne  Hill;  that    no    money   was 
paid  into  the  State  Treasury,  more  that  the  officers 
wasted  the  county  funds  on  loose  women.     It  was 
assorted  that  whenever  you  wished  to  see  an  official  on 
business,  you  must  look  for  him  in   one  of  the  half- 
dozen  dance-houses  that  ornamented  and  conserved 
the  morals  of  that  high-toned  town. 

In  1853-4  the  Legislature  passed  an  Act  calling 
for  the  vote  of  the  people  in  regard  to  a  division, 
fixing  the  17th  of  June  following  as  the  day.  and 
appointing  W.  L.  McKimm,  E.  W.  Gemmill,  A.  G. 
Sncath,  Alexander  Boileau,  and  Alonzo  Platt  as 
Commissioners,  to  organize  the  new  county  in  case 
the  people  voted  for  a  division.  The  bill  was  drawn 
by  E.  D.  Sawyer,  one  of  the  Senators  from  Cala- 
veras,  Charles  Lcake  being  the  other  Senator.  The 
name  originally  given  in  the  bill  for  the  new  county 
was  Washington,  but  the  name  Amador  was  substi 
tuted  in  the  Assembly,  and  concurred  in  by  the  Sen 
ate.  The  bill  was  read  three  times,  and  passed  the 
same  clay — the  motive  for  this  hurry  being  expected 
opposition.  A  delegation  from  Mokelumne  Hill  had 
arrived  to  oppose  the  measure,  but  they  had  been 
wined  until  all  ideas  of  county  scats  were  obliterated: 
so  a  bill  was  hurried  through  before  the  drunk  was  off, 
lest  convincing  arguments  should  bo  urged  against  it 
when  they  returned  to  their  senses. 

The  prospect  of  having  a  county  scat  enlisted 
a  great  many  in  the  matter  who  otherwise  would 
have  been  utterly  indifferent.  lone  was  beginning 


C.  WELLER 


C. WELLER. 


RESIDENCE    "'CONRAD  WELLER, 

JACKSON,  AMADOR  COUNTY^    CAL. 


ilTH  BaiTTOM  **EV", S. 


ORGANIZATION  OF  A  MA  DOR  COUNTY. 


77 


to  flourish  on  the  sale  of  water-melons,  vegetables, 
hay,  and  barley,  to  the  miners;  had  plenty  of  level 
ground  on  which  to  build  a  town,  and  had  no  diffi 
culty  in  proving  that  it  was  the  proper  place  for  dis 
pensing  justice  and  the  disbursement  of  the  peo 
ples'  money.  Sutter  Creek  was  growing  from  the 
development  of  the  quartz  mining,  which  was  likely 
to  be  permanent.  It  claimed  to  be  the  town  par 
excellence,  having  a  high-toned,  moral  people,  where 
no  dance-houses  or  kindred  institutions,  were  likely 
to  demoralize  the  public  officers,  as  at  Mokelumne  Hill. 
The  latter  reason  was  a  sly  thrust  at  Jackson,  which 
had  early  supported  several  of  these  resorts.  There 
was  also  a  good  place  for  a  picturesque  town,  the  hills 
closing  together  around  the  place  like  an  amphithea 
ter.  Volcano — well — it  could  not  urge  many  rea 
sons  except  that  it  wanted  the  benefit  of  a  county 
seat.  It  was  true  that  it  was  on  the  outside  of  the 
county  to  be  created,  or  any  possible,  county  for  that 
matter;  it  was  down  in  a  deep  hole  where  people 
had  to  be  hoisted  up  to  get  out;  the  roads  beyond 
Volcano  went  to  no  place  but  the  deep  caves,  or  some 
place  still  deeper;  the  town  was  hot  in  the  Summer, 
and  muddy  in  the  Winter,  but  it  was  growing  rap 
idly,  had  plenty  of  men  to  vote,  and  might  get  the 
county  seat  any  way.  So  Volcano  became  interested. 
Jackson  had  been  the  county  seat,  and  had  had  a 
taste  of  the  profits  "and  pleasures.  It  had  the  old 
jail;  that  might  be  repaired  and  used  again,  and  had 
many  reasons  to  urge  for  a  new  organization.  Every 
town,  too,  had  a  set  of  candidates  for  the  offices — 
men  who  were  willing  to  sacrifice  their  own  business 
for  the  public  good. 

On  the  south  side  of  the  river  some  towns  con 
ceived  the  idea  that  in  case  the  county  was  divided, 
the  seat  of  justice  might  be  moved  from  Mokelumne 
Hill,  so  the  interest  in  favor  of  division  became 
general. 

On  the  day  appointed  the  election  came  off,  result 
ing  in  a  majority,  though  a  small  one,  for  the  division. 
But  Mokelumne  Hill  was  not  to  be  taken  that  way. 
The  laAv  required  that  the  returns  should  be  trans 
mitted,  sealed,  to  the  Board  of  Supervisors.  "When 
the  returns  were  handed  in,  it  was  found  that  all 
from  the  north  side  of  the  river  were  opened — had 
been  tampered  with !  They  were  consequently 
rejected.  Here  was  a  dilemma.  The  matter  was 
investigated,  and  it  was  found  that  the  returns  from 
Mokelumne  Hill  hud  also  been  opened,  though  after 
wards  sealed  again.  Several  persons,  among  whom 
was  J.  T.  Farley,  had  seen  the  returns  from  Mokelumne 
Hill,  and  knew  that  they  had  been  opened  also.  The 
fact  was,  all  of  them  had  been  opened  as  soon  as  they 
were  received,  and  the  party  in  power  had  resolved 
to  take  advantage  of  their  own  mistakes.  A  deputy 
Clerk  was  induced  to  make  out  the  certificates  of  the 
election,  and  the  Board  of  Commissioners  resolved  to 
organize  the  county  notwithstanding  the  decision  of 
the  officers.  The  proceedings  are  copied  in  full  from 
a  small  book,  the  first  of  the  records  of  Amador 


county.  The  phraseology  and  quaint  style  have  been 
preserved,  believing  that  the  original  form  will  be 
most  interesting.  Tucker's  ranch  mentioned,  has 
since  been  known  as  the  T  Garden,  and  was  situated 
at  the  junction  of  the  Sutter  Creek,  lone,  Jackson, 
and  Volcano  roads,  and  was  selected  both  for  con 
venience  and  because  it  was  not  likely  to  give 
umbrage  to  any  of  the  aspiring  towns. 

"  Be  it  remembered  that  on  the  third  day  of  July, 

in  the  year  of  Our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred 

and  fifty-four,  the  Board  of  Commissioners  appointed 

under  an  Act  granting  to  the  electors  of  Calaveras 

county  the  privilege  to  vote  for  or  against  a  division 

i   of  said  county,  and  to  organize  the  county  of  Amador — 

Approved  May  the  Eleventh  A.  I).  1854.  Met  at  the 

house  of  Martin  Tucker  in  said  county  of  Amador 

;   present    William   L.  McKimm,    E.  W.  Gemill,  A.  G. 

|   Sneath,  Alexander  Boileau  and  Alonzo  Platt;  And  on 

I    motion   of  Alonzo  Platt   seconded   by   E.  W.  Gemill 

j    William  L.  McKimm    was  chosen   President  of  the 

I   Board.    And  on  motion  of  Alexander  Boileau,  Alonzo 

!   Platt  was  chosen  Secretary  of  the  Board: 

"  The  President  then  called  for  the  reading  of  the 
j  Law  appointing  the  Board  of  Commissioners  and 
defining  their  duties  and  the  same  was  read  by  the 
Secretary;  and  having  been  considered  by  the  Board, 
it  was  on  motion  resolved  by  the  Board  to  proceed 
to  establish  Election  Precincts  in  and  for  the  county 
of  Amador. 

"And  thereupon  the  Board  having  considered  the 
matter  and  being  fully  advised  in  the  premises 
directed  the  Secretary  to  enter  the  following  Order 
on  the  Record: 

"  Ordered,  By  the  Board  of  Commissioners  that 
there  shall  be  twenty-one  Election  Precincts  in  the 
county  of  Amador  and  that  they  shall  be  known  and 
designated  as  follows,  to-wit:  Dry  Town,  Upper 
Rancheria;  New  York  Ranch,  Grass  Valley,  Ranch- 
eria,  Amador,  Lancha  Plana,  Gales  Ranch,  Butte  City, 
Russell's,  Volcano,  Jackson,  Plattsburgh,  Fort  John, 
Strceter's  Ranch,  Q  Ranch,  lone  City,  Clinton,  Sutter, 
Armstrong's  Mill,  White's  Bar. 

"  And  on  motion  the  Board  proceeded  to  consider 
the  matter  of  the  application  for  an  Election  Precinct 
at  '  AVhale  Boat  Ferry,'  on  the  Moquelumnie  River  : 
and  proof  being  introduced  and  heard,  it  appearing 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Board  that  'Whale  Boat 
Ferry'  was  not  two  miles  from  Butte  Cit3T,  another 
election  precinct;  It  was  by  the  Board 

"  Ordered,  That  the  application  for  an  Election  Pre 
cinct  at  'Whale  Boat  Ferry'  be  not  allowed,  and  the 
Board  then  proceeded  to  consider  the  matter  of  the 
appointment  of  Inspectors  and  Judges  of  Election  in 
the  several  Election  Precincts  established  by  them; 
it  was 

"  Ordered,  That  In  Dry  Town  Precinct  Chas..  W. 
Fox  be  appointed  Inspector,  and  J.  T.  King  and  J. 
D.  Cross  Judges  of  Elections. 

"  Upper  Rancheria— Samuel  Loree,  Inspector;  Dr. 
Cartmill  and  Mr.  Votaw,  Judges. 

"New  York  Ranch— S.  Spears,  Inspector;  John 
Elkins,  John  Decks,  Judges. 

"  Grass  Valley— Abner  P.  Clough,  Inspector  ;  J. 
O'Neal,  G.  Shoemaker,  Judges. 

"Rancheria — Wm.  Snediker,  Inspector;  S.  Neese, 
Andrew  Onstott,  Judges. 

"  Amador— J.  M.  Scott,  Inspector;  M.  M.  Glover, 
G.  W.  Taylor,  Judges. 

"Lancha  Plana — J.  W.  D.  Palmer,  Inspector;  J. 
Bullard,  G.  Wagner,  Judges. 


78 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


"  Gales  Ranch— E.  J.  Martin,  Inspector ;  William 
Moon,  J.  Albertson,  Judges. 

"  Butte  City— John  Reno,  Inspector;  J.  Northup, 
William  Young,  Judges. 

"Russell's— William  Foster,  Inspector;  Harrison 
Freals,  D.  Robinson,  Judges. 

"  Volcano^-C.  B.  Woodruff,  Inspector;  J.  K.  Payne, 
M.  K.  Boucher,  Judges. 

"  Q  Ranch— L.  C.  Patch,  Inspector;  A.  R.  Phillips, 
A.  K.  Sexton,  Judges. 

"  lone  City — Robert  Reed,  Inspector;  T.  Rickey, 
J.  E.  Hunt,  Judges. 

"Clinton— F.  M.  McKenzie,  Inspector;  Thomas 
Loehr,  S.  L.  Robinson,  Judges. 

"Sutter — William  Loring,  Inspector;  Herbert 
Bowers,  N.  Harding,  Judges. 

"Jackson1— T.  Hinkley,  Inspector;  E.  C.  Webster, 
Ellis  Evans,  Judges. 

"Plattsburgh— J.  A.  Dunn,  Inspector;  F.  B.  Case, 
A.  S.  Richardson,  Judges. 

"  Fort  John — P.  Vaughn,  Inspector;  L.  Sehon,  - 
Gilbert.  Judges. 

"  Streeter's  Ranch— Wm.  Porter,  Inspector;  Thos. 
Jones,  Wm.  Amick,  Judges. 

"Armstrong's  Mill — John  Hewlett,  Inspector;  J. 
McDonough,  Gofjf  Moore,  Judges. 

"  White's  Bar — J.  E.  Weeks,  Inspector;  James 
Gregg, ,  Judges. 

"And  the  Board  then  proceeded  to  consider  the 
form  of  the  proclamation  ordering  an  election  on  the 
seventeenth  day  of  July  instant,  for  county  officers 
and  the  location  of  the  seat  of  justice  of  the  county 
of  Amador,  and  it  was 

"Ordered,  That  the  Secretary  propose  a  form  and 
submit  the  same  to  the  Board  for  their  considera 
tion. 

"  The  Secretary  submitted  to  the  Board  a  form  for 
an  election  notice  with  an  appendix  of  instructions, 
and  the  Board  having  considered  the  same,  it  was 

"  Ordered,  By  the  Board  that  the  following  form  of 
an  "  Election  Notice"  for  the  county  of  Amador  be 
adopted,  and  that  the  President  of  this  Board  be 
authorized  and  instructed  to  procure  the  same  to 
be  printed  together  with  the  appendix  of  instructions, 
and  that  he  be  further  authorized  to  name  one  or 
more  executive  officers,  and  appoint  them  to  post  (in 
pursuance  of  the  law)  in  the  several  election  pre 
cincts  in  this  county  at  least  ten  days  before  said  elec 
tion  the  said  election  notice,  to- wit: 

"Election  Notice  Amador  county. — The  under 
signed,  a  Board  of  Commissioners  appointed  to  or 
ganize  the  county  of  Amador  under  the  authority 
and  by  virtue  of  '  An  Act  granting  to  the  electors  of 
Calavcras  county  the  privilege  to  vote  for  or  against 
a  division  of  said  county,  and  to  organize  the  county,' 
Approved  May  llth,  A.  D.  1854,  do  hereby  order 
an  election  to  beheld  by  the  qualified  electors  at  the 
several  precincts,  hereinafter  named,  on  Monday  the 
seventeenth  day  of  July  instant,  for  the  election  of 
the  following  officers,  to-wit:  One  County  Jud^e, 
one  County  Clerk,  one  District  Attorney,  one  Sheriff, 
one  Assessor,  one  Treasurer,  one  Coroner,  and  one 
Public  Administrator;  and  do  hereby,  under  said  law, 
appoint  the  persons  whose  names  are  placed  opposite 
to  each  said  precinct.  And  we  do  further  order  under 
said  law,  that  on  said  day  and  at  each  of  said  pre 
cincts,  the  qualified  electors  do  also  vote  for  a  place 
for  the  location  of  the  seat  of  justice  of  said  county 
of  Amador.  The  election  precincts  are  established 
and  the  inspectors  and  judges  of  election  appointed 
as  follows: 


[Here  follows  a  list  of  the  officers  of  the  election, 
already  mentioned  on  a  former  page.] 

"  Given  under  our  hands  and  seals  at  Tucker's 
ranch,  in  the  county  of  Amador,  on-  Monday,  the 
third  day  of  July,  A.  D.  1854. 

(Signed)  W.  L.  McKiMM, 

E.  W.  GEMMILL, 
A.  G.  SNEATH, 
A.  BOILEAU, 
ALONZO  PLATT. 

"Appendix  of  Instructions:  Inspectors,  judges  and 
clerks  of  election  should  be  sworn  by  a  Justice  if  one 
is  present;  if  not,  the  Inspector  will  swear  the  judges 
and  clerks,  and  one  of  the  judges  then  swear  the 
Inspector. 

"  The  returns  should  be  securely  sealed  with  wax 
wafer  or  paste,  so  that  the  envelope  cannot  be 
removed. 

"  The  returns  may  be  made  to  either  one  of  the 
Board  of  Commissioners,  but  with  all  the  require 
ments  of  the  law  in  the  revised  statutes  in  relation  to 
sending,  forwarding  or  delivering  election  returns  to 
the  County  Clerk  with  the  exception  of  returning  to 
one  of  the  Board;  the  returns  must  by  the  law,  organ 
izing  the  County  of  Amador,  be  made  within  five 
days. 

"  The  votes  for  county  officers  and  seat  of  justice 
are  to  be  on  one  ballot. 

"If  the  inspectors  and  judges  are  not  present  to 
conduct  the  election  the  voters  will  appoint  them. 

W.M.  L.  McKiMM, 

President  of  (he  Board  of  Commissioners. 
ALONZO  PLATT,  Secretary. 

"It  was 

"Ordered,  That  the  President  be  authorized  and 
required  to  notify  the  inspectors  and  judges  of  their 
appointments.  It  was 

"  Ordered,  That  when  this  Board  adjourn  it  ad 
journ  to  meet  at  Jackson,  in  the  County  of  Amador, 
on  Saturday,  the  twenty-second  day  of  July,  A.  D. 
1854,  to  canvass  the  votes  and  proceed  to  a  final  dis 
charge  of  their  duties  as  Commissioners. 

"  There  being  no  further  business  before  the  Board 
the  motion  to  adjourn  having  been  made  and  sec 
onded,  it  was  ordered  that  the  Board  of  Commission 
ers  now  adjourn. 

(Signed)  W.  L.  McKiMM, 

E.  W.  GEMMILL, 
A.  G.  SNEATH, 
A.  BOILEAU, 
ALONZO  PLATT. 

"  Be  it  remembered  that  on  the  twenty-second  day 
of  July  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty-four,  the  Board  of  Commissioners 
appointed  bylaw  to  organize  the  County  of  Amador, 
met  in  pursuance  to  their  adjournment  at  Jackson  in 
the  county  of  Amador. 

"Present — W.  L.  McKimm,  President  of  the 
Board;  A.  G.  Sneath,  E.  W.  Gemmill,  Alexander  Boi- 
leau  and  Alonzo  Platt,  Secretary. 

"  The  record  of  the  last  meeting  of  the  Board  was 
read  and  approved  and  signed  by  all  the  Board,  and 
the  Board  proceeded  to  open  the  returns  from  the 
several  precincts  and  draw  up  a  statement  thereof; 
and  the  said  statement  having  been  compared  with 
said  returns  and  read  and  examined  was  approved, 
and  the  President  was  ordered  to  file  the  said  state 
ment  with  the  County  Clerk  of  the  County  of  Ama 
dor. 

"  It  was  then  ordered  that  the  President  and  Sec 
retary  forward  a  transcript  of  the  same  certified  by 


ORGANIZATION  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 


79 


them  officially,  to  the  Secretary  of  the  State  of  Cali 
fornia  and  to  the  Governor  thereof.  It  was  then 

"  Ordered,  That  a  statement  of  the  whole  number 
of  votes  received  by  each  person  for  each  office,  and 
by  each  place  for'  county  seat,  be  entered  on  the 
records  of  this  Board. 

"  Which  statement  is  here  entered  and  is  as  fol 
lows,  to-wit: — 

"For  County  Seat:  Briggs  Ranch,  1  vote;  Upper 
Rancheria,  1;  Jackson  City,  2;  Jackson,  1002;  Sutter 
Creek,  539;  lone  Valley,  496;  Volcano,  937;  Dry- 
town,  3;  lone,  2;  Fort  John,  1;  Amador  Creek,  1; 
Rancheria,  1;  Amador  Mills,  1. 

"For  County  Judge:  James  F.  Hubbard,  received 
1354  votes;  M.  W.  Gordon,  1484. 

"For  County  Clerk:  Chas.  Boynton,  received 
1447  votes;  James  C.-Shipman,  1779. 

"  For  Sheriff :  Wm.  A.  Phcanix  received  1500  votes ; 
James  Harnett,  1410. 

"  For  Treasurer:  James  T.  Farley  received  1384 
votes;  W.  L.  McKimm,  1522. 

"  District  Attorney:  VV.  W.  Cope  received  1372 
votes;  S.  B.  Axtell,  1528. 

"Assessor:  James  L.  Halstead  received  1345  votes; 
H.  A.  Eichelberger,  1579. 

"Public  Administrator:  J.  T.  King  received  1316 
votes;  E.  B.  Harris,  1569. 


"  Coroner:  Wm.  M.  Sharp  received  1350  votes:  G- 
L.  Lyon,  1553. 

"  The  whole  number  of  votes  polled  in  said  county 
was  3021." 

The  following  persons  were  declared  elected — 
being  the  first  persons  elected  to  these  offices  in  the 
county  of  Amador  : — 

M.  W.  Gordon,  Judge;  William  A.  Phoenix,  Sher 
iff;  James  C.  Shipman,  County  Clerk,  W.  S.  Mc 
Kimm,  Treasurer;  S.  B.  Axtell,  District  Attorney; 
H.  A.  Eichelberger,  Assessor;  E.  B.  Harris,  Public 
Administrator;  G.  S.  Lyons,  Coroner. 

The  Judges,  Inspectors,  and  Clerks,  at  this  elec 
tion  were  allowed  eight  dollars  per  day  for  services, 
many  of  them  receiving  sixteen  dollars  each  for  the 
day  and  night. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  county  seat  question  was 
one  of  the  principal  elements  in  the  election,  the 
results  among  the  contestants  being:  For  lone,  496 
votes;  for  Sutter  Creek,  539  votes;  for  Volcano, 
937  votes;  for  Jackon,  1,002  votes. 

The  following  table  will  give  an  idea  of  the  com 
parative  size  of  the  several  towns: — 


FIRST   ELECTION  HELD   IN  AMADOR  COUNTY.  JULY  17,  1854.     LIST   OF    VOTES  BY  PRECINCTS. 


Clinton. 

Butte  City. 

Dry  town. 

Sutler  Creek. 

Jackson. 

Lancha  Plana. 

Volcano. 

IN 

1 

O 

Piattsbui-gh. 

Gale's  Ranch. 

v' 

New  York  Ranch. 

lone  City. 

Armstrong's  Mill. 

Fort  John. 

Russell's  Diggings. 

Upper  Rancheria.  v 

White's  Bar. 

Lower  Rancheria. 

Amador. 

-= 

i 

6" 

o 
H 

COUNTY  SEAT. 

139 

47 

33 

5 

675 

11 

q 

14 

g 

14 

1 

4 

10 

1  002 

Sutter  Creek  

6 

23 

7 

275 

6 

9 

22 

5 

9 

1 

4 

6 

7 

6 

1 

42 

27 

30 

50 

3 

539 

9 

31 

2 

11 

146 

q 

g 

228 

1 

3 

61 

496 

13 

3 

22 

2 

4 

1 

646 

8'? 

13 

16 

35 

6 

38 

24 

6 

1 

937 

COUNTY  JUDGE. 
James  F.  Hubbard  

103 

18 

58 

164 

234 

41 

369 

54 

18 

16 

29 

123 

6 

16 

18 

28 

7 

9 

29 

30 

1,354 

M.  W.  Gordon  

47 

48 

40 

111 

445 

139 

281 

46 

7 

5 

124 

22 

29 

4 

19 

19 

13 

26 

47 

1,484 

COUNTY  CLERK. 
Chas.  Boynton  

113 

35 

46 

36 

443 

55 

105 

10 

13 

8 

32 

131 

6 

12 

20 

9 

28 

45 

1,447 

James  C.  Shipman  
SHERIFF. 
W.  A.  Phoenix  

41 
119 

30 

42 

52 
30 

235 
107 

242 
408 

125 

45 

582 
372 

90 

73 

18 
19 

19 
21 

2 
32 

121 

98 

22 
6 

45 
15 

11 

18 

29 
29 

26 
4 

21 

8 

28 

27 

31 

97 

1,779 
1,500 

James  Harnett  

34 

24 

65 

166 

285 

135 

312 

26 

19 

8 

9 

153 

24 

31 

5 

20 

22 

2*2 

49 

1,410 

TREASURER. 
James  T.  Farley  

60 

41 

36 

103 

319 

31 

459 

6 

IT) 

33 

114 

6 

42 

16 

17 

9 

24 

1,384 

Wm.  L.  McKimm  
DISTRICT  ATTORNEY. 
W.  W.  Cope  

91 
106 

27 
40 

62 

78 

172 
106 

373 
281 

148 
44 

215 
364 

94 
44 

16 
14 

9 
16 

1 
32 

140 
99 

23 
5 

2 
29 

5 
18 

25 
25 

26 
.1 

21 

9 

28 
30 

45 
33 

1,522 
1,372 

S.  B.  Axtell  

35 

26 

21 

170 

407 

135 

318 

55 

16 

19 

3 

150 

20 

17 

5 

24 

25 

90 

?5 

44 

1,528 

ASSESSOR. 

James  L.  Halstead  
H.  A.  Eichiberger  

89 
61 

20 

45 

41 

57 

103 
173 

278 
414 

42 

139 

428 
256 

50 

49 

15 
16 

17 
12 

7 
26 

118 
132 

5 

25 

15 

28 

18 
5 

31 

18 

"26 

7 
26 

28 
28 

32 
44 

1,345 
1,579 

PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATOR. 
Jerry  T.  King  

83 

36 

69 

101 

282 

44 

346 

50 

15 

16 

19 

119 

4 

16 

18 

26 

9 

35 

1,316 

E.  B.  Harris  

66 

29 

28 

175 

411 

134 

337 

50 

16 

19 

16 

191 

30 

5 

24 

26 

98 

40 

1  569 

CORONER. 
W.  M.  Sharp  

86 

36 

42 

103 

319 

41 

351 

55 

15 

16 

31 

113 

5 

16 

18 

26 

9 

99 

39 

1  350 

L.  G-.  Lyon  

60 

29 

57 

173 

374 

138 

323 

45 

Hi 

19 

3 

138 

93 

29 

5 

23 

26 

91 

97 

31 

1  553 

NUMBER  OF  VOTES  CAST. 

154 

73 

99 

284 

696 

131 

696 

100 

31 

31 

41 

254 

32 

46 

26 

50 

27 

35 

56 

77 

2,989 

80 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Immediately  after  the  determination  to  organize, 
the  activity  became  remarkable. 

Sutter  Creek  offered  to  give  towards  county 
buildings  ten  thousand  dollars;  Jackson  ten  thou 
sand  dollars,  and  lone  about  six  thousand  dollars. 
Volcano  offered  nothing,  but  ridiculed  the  offers 
of  money  as  all  bosh,  that  Jackson  would  prob 
ably  donate  the  old  county  jail,  which  was  made  of 
logs  so  small  that  a  man  could  cut  his  way  out  in 
an  hour  or  two  with  his  jack-knife,  and,  moreover, 
the  logs  were  so  rotten  that  an  enterprising  pig 
would  root  his  way  out.  Volcano  relied  upon  votes, 
and  it  is  probable  with  a  little  outside  exertion 
would  have  carried  the  matter  for  itself,  as  it  only 
lacked  sixty  or  seventy  votes  of  the  selection.  Real 
estate  in  Volcano  and  Jackson  went  up  with  a  booni. 
Town-lots  were  staked  off  everywhere,  and,  until 
the  evening  of  the  election,  people  were  in  a  high 
financial  fever.  Volcano  patients  soon  recovered, 
but  the  Jackson  unfortunates  were  afflicted  for  some 
years. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  candidates  at  this  elec 
tion  were  mostly  men  of  ability.  Some  of  them  will 
have  biographies  in  the  chapter  devoted  to  lawyers. 
Others  have  become  lawyers  since  leaving  the 
county. 

M.  "W.  GORDON  remained  in  the  county,  occupying 
many  times  stations  of  honor. 

JAMES  F.  HUBBARD  was  originally  a  surveyor; 
studied  law,  practiced  awhile  in  Amador  county, 
moved  to  San  Francisco,  and  has  drifted  out  of  sight. 

CHAS.  BOYNTON,  the  brilliant  editor  and  poet,  will 
be  mentioned  again  in  connection  with  newspapers. 

JAMES  C.  SHIPMAN,  several  times  elected  County 
Clerk,  was  from  Virginia — one  of  the  genuine,  old 
stock.  His  honor  and  integrity  have  never  been 
questioned  even  by  his  political  opponents — enemies 
he  never  had. 

W.  A.  PHOENIX  was  a  young  man  of  energy, 
integrity,  and  ability.  He  was  killed  in  the  unhappy 
Rancheria  affair,  in  which  account  ho  will  be  further 
mentioned. 

JAMES  HARNETT  was  a  farmer  of  good  standing  in 
lone  valley.  He  returned  to  the  East  and  has  drifted 
out  of  sight. 

JAMES  T.  FARLEY  is  our  present  United  States  Sen 
ator,  and  will  have  further  mention  in  the  proper 
place. 

\V.  L.  McKiMM,  the  first  Treasurer,  occupied  many 
positions  of  honor  and  profit;  was  Government  Sur 
veyor,  and  was  employed  to  settle  disputes  in  regard 
to  lines,  having  the  confidence  of  all  parties.  He 
was  killed  by  being  thrown  from  a  buggy,  while 
descending  the  hill  south  of  Jackson,  in  company 
with  the  Hon.  John  A.  Eagen. 

W.  W.  COPE,  now  resident  of  San  Francisco,  once 
a  Judge  of  the  Supremo  Court  will  have  further 
mention. 

S.  B.  AXTELL,  since  member  of  Congress  from  the 


First  District,    Governor    of  Salt  Lake    and 
Mexico,  will  be  further  mentioned. 

JAMES  L.  HALSTEAD  farmed  in  the  early  days  on 
Volcano  Flat,  has  since  been  a  member  of  the  Leg- 

*  o 

islature  from  Santa  Cruz,  and  is  now  a  prominent 
lawyer  in  that  county. 

II.  A.  EICHELBERGER  was  a  trusted  citizen  of  Ama 
dor  county  several  years;  went  to  Nevada  in  the 
beginning  of  the  mining  excitement,  and  was  acci 
dentally  killed  while  trying  to  prevent  a  quarrel 
between  two  of  his  friends.  Ilia  remains  lie  in  the 
cemetery  of  lone. 

J.  T.  KING  has  drifted  out  of  sight. 

DOCTOR  HARRIS  acted  quite  a  prominent  part  in  the 
early  settlement  of  Amador  county.  He  was  a 
successful  physician  as  well  as  miner.  He  built  and 
run  for  some  time  the  Newton  Hotel;  was  largely 
instrumental  in  the  organization  of  Amador  county; 
found  time  to  help  build  up  the  State  Agricultural 
Society;  mingled  in  politics;  taught  singing,  and  did 
many  things  to  help  build  up  society.  He  Avas  among 
the  foremost  who  went  to  the  \\rashoe  mines,  put  up 
a  custom  mill,  and  made  thirty  thousand  dollars 
before  other  men  had  time  to  look  around.  When 
the  civil  war  broke,  out,  he  joined  the  Union  army, 
and  was  made  Assistant  Surgeon  General,  where  his 
known  skill  as  a  surgeon,  bis  great  executive  abil 
ity,  and  energy,  were  invaluable.  Though  genial 
and  social  in  his  habits,  he  never,  either  by  his 
presence  or  conversation,  promoted  or  countenanced 
gambling,  drinking,  and  other  vices,  that  swept  into 
the  vortex  of  ruin  so  many  brilliant  and  talented 
young  men  in  early  days.  At  present  he  is  practic 
ing  medicine  in  Nevada. 

DOCTOR  SHARP  was  an  able  and  successful  physi 
cian  for  many  years  in  Jackson. 

DOCTOR  LYONS  was  a  farmer  and  physician  in  lone. 
Ho  was  unfortunate  in  his  domestic  relations,  in 
being  connected,  by  report  at  least,  in  the  drowning 
of  his  wife,  which  happened  in  a  well  in  his  own 
yard.  He  was  acquitted  by  the  jury  of  the  charge 
of  murder,  and  soon  after  left  the  country. 
"THE  OWL.'' 

This  was  a  paper  published  occasionally  in  the 
early  days  of  Jackson — a  sort  of  bubbling  or  froth 
ing  over  of  wit  that  was  too  lively  to  be  bottled  up. 
A  reproduction  of  some  of  its  articles  will  recall 
many  incidents,  in  connection  with  the  county  scat, 
long  forgotten : — 

In  Snougerville's  romantic  bay 

A  gallant  bark  at  anchor  lay, 

Whose  banner  bore  this  strange  device  : 

Inquire  at  Logan's  for  the  price 

Of  passage  up  Salt  river. 

The  Owl,  upon  its  office  door, 
The  following  flaming  placard  bore: 
"Here  Logan,  agent  of  the  line, 
From  four  o'clock  till  half-past  nine, 
Sells  tickets  for  Salt  river.' 

At  four  o'clock,  the  anxious  crew, 
With  vacant  looks  and  pockets,  too, 
.    Crowded  around  the  sanctum  door 
Of  him,  who  oft  had  made  before, 
The  passage  up  Salt  river. 


RANCH  a  RESIDENCE  <"    WILLIAM    H.  PROUTY,  JACKSON  VALLEY,  AMAOOR  COUNT/,  CAL. 


RESIDENCE  °*  EDGAR   BISHOP, 
(ONE  CITY,  AMAOOR  COUNTY;  CAL 


ORGANIZATION  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 


81 


Towering  above  the  east  was  seen 
A  stove-pipe  hat*  of  doubtful  mien; 
Battered  and  bruised,  and  crushed,  it  looked 
As  if  its  owner  had  been  booked 
Already  for  Salt  river. 

The  poem  had  eighteen  verses  of  this  kind,  filled 
with  allusions  to  noted  persons.  Snougerville  was 
a  name  given  to  what  is  now  called  Water  street. 
One  of  its  citizens  was  nicknamed  Snouger — hence, 
Snouger  bay. 

From  the  Owl,  August  25,  1854:— 

There  was  a  sound  of  revelry  by  night, 

And  our  new  county  seat  had  gathered  then 

Her  miners,  and  her  merchants;  and  the  light 

Of  tallow  candles  shone  on  drunken  men. 

A  dozen  hats  had  bricks  in  them;  and  when 

Some  jolly  fellow,  tighter  than  the  rest, 

Invited  the  whole  crowd  to  drink  again, 

Not  one  among  them  needed  to  be  pressed; 

But  hush!  hark!  a  deep  sound  strikes  every  guest. 

Did  ye  not  hear  it  ?    No,  'twas  but  the  wind, 

Or  some  damned  jackass  braying  in  the  street. 

Give  us  our  drinks — let  joy  be  unconfined; 

Nor  part  till  morn — we've  got  the  county  seat. 

What  fellow  was  it  offered  to  stand  treat  ? 

But  hark !  that  heavy  sound  breaks  in  once  more, 

As  if  the  walls  its  echo  would  repeat, 

And  nearer,  more  distinctly  than  before 

It  is  !  it  is, to  be  concluded  next  week. 

COURTS   ESTABLISHED. 

The  first  term  of  the  Court  of  Sessions  was  held 
in  McKimm's  Building,  near  the  present  Central 
House;  M.  VV.  Gordon,  acting  as  Judge;  O.  P. 
Southwell  and  William  Wagner,  as  Associate  Judges. 
These  last  were  selected  from  the  Justices  of  the 
Peace  elect.  The  names  of  the  first  Grand  Jury 
were  D.  W.  Aldrich,  C.  Derthick,  D.  L.  Wells,  W. 
S.  Birdsell,  James  Beckman.  W.  P.  Jones,  A.  L. 
Harding,  I.  Bell,  Leon  Sompayrac,  Robert  Reed,  B. 
S.  Sanborn,  Simeon  Burt,  Thomas  Jones,  Frank 
Wayne,  A.  B.  Andrews,  E.  Evans,  S.  D.  Herrick, 
and  J.  T.  King. 

Levi  Hanford  not  appearing  in  season,  and  hav 
ing  no  satisfactory  excuse,  was  fined  twenty-five 
dollars,  which  he  paid. 

The  first  indictment  for  murder  was  against  John 
Chapman,  for  the  murder  of  E.  P.  Hunter,  of  Lancha 
Plana.  The  case  of  C.  Y.  Hammond,  who  had  the 
previous  Summer  killed  his  partner  Elliot,  as  it  was 
alleged,  with  a  blow  of  his  fist,  came  before  them 
and  was  dismissed.  Indictments  for  assault  with 
intent  to  commit  murder,  were  found  against  one 
Mexican,  and  several  Chinamen.  They  also  recom 
mended  the  suppression  of  the  houses  of  prostitution, 
so  frequent  and  conspicuous  in  Jackson,  and  the 
other  towns;  the  division  of  the  county  into  town 
ships,  also  the  purchase  of  a  safe,  for  keeping  the 
public  funds. 

The  first  trial  jury  was  in  the  case,  "The  people 
vs.  Domingo  Verjara,"  the  names  of  the  jurors  be 
ing  Nathan  Coon,  John  T.  Griggs,  E.  H.  Williams, 
Charles  Towles,  A.  H.  Kirby,  William  Jennings, 
John  Rawley,  John  McKay,  James  Creighton,  Will 
iam  Horton,  J.  L.  Averill,  and  B.  Ashton. 

"Referring  to  Colonel  Platt. 
11 


EFFORTS    TO    SUPPRESS   DISORDERLY    HOUSES. 

The  first  Grand  Jury  had  called  the  attention  of 
the  authorities  to  the  houses  conspicuously  kept  for 
the  purposes  of  prostitution.  The  courts  paid  little 
attention  to  it,  perhaps  thinking  the  Puritanic 
spasm  would  soon  pass  away,  or  that  the  matter  was 
a  dangerous  one  to  touch,  on  account  of  so  many  of 
the  courts'  constituents  making  their  living  by  it. 
But  the  second  Grand  Jury,  summoned  for  Decem 
ber,  1854,  took  the  creature  by  the  horns,  and  in 
dicted  several  prominent  citizens  for  renting  houses 
for  the  purposes  of  prostitution.  The  parties  were 
duly  arraigned  in  court.  After  some  skirmishing  the 
charge  was  dismissed  on  motion  of  the  District 
Attorney,  S.  B.  Axtell,  on  the  ground  of  want  of 
evidence.  The  jury  also  found  true  Bills  against  the 
town  authorities  for  obtaining  money  under  false 
pretenses,  for  licensing  the  aforesaid  places  as  busi 
ness  houses.  On  motion  of  the  District  Attorney  the 
Court  dismissed  the  charge. 

The  names  of  the  Grand  Jury,  which  made  these 
efforts  at  reform:  George  L.  Gale,  Foreman;  James 
L.  Harnett,  T.  H.  Loehr,  Thomas  S.  Crafts,  I.  Stew 
art,  J.  W.  D.  Palmer,  G.  M.  S.  Matthews,  L.  L.  Robin 
son,  Silvester  Streeter,  D.  C.  Ferris,  James  Johnson, 
A.  D.  Follett,  James  M.  Ballard,  I.  S.  Roy,  A.  Boi- 
leau,  Scott  Cooledge,  and  Samuel  Davis. 

Though  these  efforts  miscarried,  they  showed  that 
the  leaven  of  reform  was  beginning  to  work.  The 
practices  were  not  stopped,  but.  the  stamp  of  con 
demnation  was  set  on  them,  so  that  a  man  seeking 
office  at  the  hands  of  the  people,  made  a  practice  at 
least  of  decency.  In  —  -  a  man  of  education  and 
apparent  respectability,  with  M.  D.  to  his  name,  in 
the  town  of  Yolcano,  waited  upon  a  prostitute  to  a 
circus.  There  were  numbers  of  respectable  females, 
young  and  old,  present,  and  though  the  doctor  had 
an  undoubted  right  to  select  his  company,  the  act 
was  looked  upon  as  at  war  with  the  better  interests 
of  society.  The  roads  were  rather  muddy,  and  the 
portly  doctor  took  the  soiled  dove  in  his  arms  and 
carried  her  home,  the  act  being  as  coolly  done  in  the 
presence  of  hundreds,  as  though  the  woman  was  a  • 
cherished  wife  or  daughter.  The  following  Autumn 
he  came  up  as  a  candidate  for  Sheriff.  He  was  met 
with  such  a  rebuff  that  he  withdrew  his  name,  and 
shortly  left  the  town.  In  the  earlier  days  persons 
high  in  office  were  often  seen  in  the  dance  with  the 
frail  ones. 

AMUSING   PROCESSION. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  several  towns  anx 
ious  to  have  the  honor  of  being  the  county  seat,  Yol 
cano  excepted,  offered  liberal  sums  for  the  erection 
of  county  buildings.  Some  of  the  croakers  pre 
dicted  that  the  promises  would  be  forgotten  after  the 
election.  The  prediction  did  not  prove  true,  for 
Jackson  went  to  work  in  good  faith,  and  at  the  end 
of  three  or  four  months  presented  to  the  county  a 
nice  and  comfortable  Court  House.  The  county 
officers  had  been  occupying  rooms  at  the  foot  of 


82 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Broadway,  in  and  around  the  American  Hotel.  A 
procession  was  formed  here  to  take  possession  of  the 
new  Court  House.  The  order  of  the  procession  was 
as  follows : — 

BAND, 

Consisting  of  cracked  drum  and  asthmatic  clarionet. 

[This  was  as  good  as  the  band  which  escorted  Na 
poleon  to  his  palace  on  the  island  of  Elba,  which, 
according  to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  consisted  of  four 
wretched  fiddles.] 

FIREMEN — (In  red  Shirts). 
M.  W.  GORDON,  County  Judge, 

Flanked  by 

WM.  WAGNER  and  O.  P.  SOUTHWELL,  Associate  Judges, 

John  Phoenix,  Sheriff;  S.  B.  Axtell,  District 

Attorney;  J.  C.  Shipman,  County 

Clerk;  Wm.  L.  McKimm, 

Treasurer; 

Followed  by  Citizens  generally. 

They  marched  to  the  Court  House  in  a  body,  when, 
after  Court  was  called,  A.  C.  Brown,  in  behalf  of  the 
citizens  of  Jackson,  presented  the  building  to  the 
county.  Judge  Gordon  accepted  it  in  a  neat  speech, 
complimenting  the  citizens  of  Jackson  on  their  liber 
ality  and  public  spirit.  Some  four  or  five  hundred 
dollars,  back  on  the  erection  of  the  building,  was 
made  up  by  subscription,  Major  Shipman,  the 
recently  elected  County  Clerk,  giving  fifty  dollars 
towards  it.  The  location  of  the  county  seat  at  Jack 
son,  was  supposed  to  insure  the  permanent  prosperity 
of  the  town.  In  the  burst  of  enthusiasm  following 
the  settlement  of  the  matter,  the  Court,  county 
officers,  and  citizens  generally,  were  invited  to  par 
take  of  the  hospitalities  of  several  of  the  leading 
saloons  and  bars  of  the  town.  The  procession 
reformed  in  the  same  order  as  before.  The  Court  being 
still  in  session  (according  to  our  informant)  the  offi 
cers,  jurors  and  witnesses  were  compelled  to  follow, 
or  subject  themselves  to  a  fine  for  contempt!  There 
is  no  record  of  any  punishment  for  contumacy  or 
even  of  failure  to  partake  of  the  proffered  hospital 
ities,  so  it  is  presumed  that  the  arrangement  was 
mutually  satisfactory.  Our  informant,  though  a 
juror,  and  consequently  obliged  to  follow  the  Court 
while  it  was  in  session,  may  have  been  mistaken  in 
thinking  the  Court  was  not  adjourned,  but,  as  sus 
pecting  his  veracity  would  spoil  a  good  story,  it  is 
best  to  give  the  story  the  benefit  of  the  doubt. 

ELECTION,  1854. 

Dwight  Crandall  (Democrat)  was  elected  Senator 
and  James  T.  Farley  and  J.  W.  D.  Palmer  (Whigs) 
were  elected  Assemblymen.  The  county  was  con 
sidered  Democratic,  but  the  Know-Nothing  or  Native 
American  party  had  organized  and  made  itself  a 
power  in  politics.  The  campaign  was  conducted 
mostly  by  James  T.  Farley  and  Alonzo  Platt,  the 
latter,  though  an  old  politician,  being  no  match  for 
the  young  candidate,  who,  though  in  his  early  twen 


ties,  showed  canvassing  powers  of  the  highest  order. 
He  did  not  carry  any  angular  notions  into  the  can 
vass,  but  professed  to  be  willing  to  be  governed  by 
the  will  of  the  people. 

The  vote  for  Governor  stood:  J.  Neely  Johnson 
(Know-Nothing),  2,035 ;  John  Bigler  (Democrat), 
1,719. 

FIRST   TAX   LEVY. 

The  Legislature  of  1853-4  having  abolished  the 
office  of  Supervisors  in  Calaveras  county,  the  Court 
of  Sessions  was  empowered  to  transact  the  business 
of  the  county.  August  26,  1854,  the  Court  ordered 
a  tax  of  fifty  cents  on  each  one  hundred  dollars  of 
property,  five  cents  of  which  was  to  be  devoted  to 
school  purposes,  and  forty-five  to  county  purposes. 

CONDITION    OP    SOCIETY   IN  1854. 

The  introduction  of  improved  methods  of  mining 
brought  a  great  increase  of  population  to  Amador, 
as  well  as  the  other  counties  of  California.  Along 
with  prosperity  came  the  institutions,  the  dance- 
house  and  the  gambling  saloons,  looked  upon  then  as 
a  peculiar  feature  in  California  society,  but  which  is 
now  found  to  be  a  natural  growth  wherever  sudden 
wealth  comes  to  those  unacquainted  with  its  proper 
use.  The  absence  of  the  family  influence  also  fav 
ored  a  condition  of  society  in  which  the  influence  of 
woman  was  in  the  descending  scale.  The  soiled 
doves  were  mostly  natives  of  Mexico,  "  dusky  daugh 
ters  of  Montezuma  "  as  the  poets  termed  them,  and 
of  Peru.  It  is  said  that  at  one  time  two  hundred  of 
the  frail  beauties  were  resident  in  the  town  of  Jack 
son.  Their  daily  appearance  on  the  street  or  danc 
ing  during  the  evening  in  sight  from  the  street, 
called  forth  no  remark  of  disapproval  but  had  come 
to  be  regarded  as  a  matter  of  course.  Some  respect 
able  citizens  made  left-handed  wives  of  them,  and 
wealthy  men  did  not  hesitate  to  build  houses  and 
rent  them  for  these  institutions.  Men  who  had  left 
families  in  the  East  were  seen  in  friendly  chat,  and 
young  men  by  the  score  or  hundreds  rather  poured 
their  gold  into  wanton  laps.  Some  of  these  women 
would  accumulate  ten  thousand  dollars,  or  in  some 
instances  double  that,  in  a  Winter's  campaign. 

Faro,  monte  and  other  games  gave  the  lucky  miner 
a  chance  to  double  his  money  or  lose  it,  the  latter 
being  the  ordinary  result.  Many  men  who  now 
bewail  their  bad  luck  in  California,  turned  their  earn 
ings  into  these  banks  that  receive  deposits  but  never 
pay  interest  or  principal.  Whisky,  too,  had  its  dev 
otees,  and  the  principle  was  indulcated  that  he  who 
would  not  drink  was  a  mean  man.  Nearly  all  social 
intercourse  was  based  upon  "  drinks  all  around." 
When  men  met  and  when  they  parted,  drinks 
were  in  order;  when  they  traded,  drinks  for  all 
were  ordered  as  a  matter  of  course.  When  a 
man  ran  for  office,  whisky  was  his  trump  card. 
An  old  politician  said  to  a  man  about  running  for 
office:  "If  you  will  not  treat,  you  may  as  well 
stay  at  home  and  give  it  up."  Another  one  said: 


RANCHERIA  MURDERS. 


83 


"  Twelve  hundred  drinks  elected  me."  To  decline 
these  social  observances  was  to  become  to  some 
extent  ostracised.  There  were  exceptions  it  is  true; 
there  were  men  who  would  shut  themselves  in  their 
cabins  and  decline  all  intercourse  rather  than  indulge 
in  the  prevailing  vices.  These  would  remain 
unknown  until  fortune  in  the  shape  of  a  rich  claim 
smiled  on  them,  and  then  they  were  mentioned  in  no 
complimentary  terms.  Every  day  men  might  be  seen 
in  all  stages  of  intoxication;  some  crazy  with  rough 
fun.  others  ready  for  a  brawl.  One  day  one  man  in  a 
cabin  was  on  a  spree  and  requiring  the  restraint  of 
his  companions,  the  next  another.  Whether  because 
the  whisky  was  bad  or  because  the  hot,  dry  climate 
aggravated  the  ills  of  the  fiery  liquors,  or  both,  the 
effect  was  disastrous,  morally,  physically,  financially. 
The  men  capable  of  writing  a  solid  article  on  politi 
cal  or  scientific  subjects,  or  of  delivering  an  oration 
off-hand,  could  be  seen  ranting  and  howling  through 
the  streets  or  sleeping  off  the  effects  of  a  debauch. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

RANCHERIA  MURDERS. 

Ill-feeling  between  the  Americans  and  Mexicans — Frequency  of 
Murders — The  Band  First  Seen  at  Hacalitas — Up  Dry  Creek 
— At  Rancheria — To  Drytown — A  Second  Time  to  Kancheria 
— Slaughter — Departure  of  the  Eobbers — Excitement  the 
Next  Day — Immense  Gathering — Trial  and  Hanging  of  the 
Mexicans — Death  of  Roberts — Borquitas — Presence  ot  County 
Officers — Pursuit  of  the  Murderers — Hunt  Around  Bear 
Mountain — The  Murderers  Overtaken — Death  of  Phoenix — 
Expulsion  and  Disarming  of  Mexican  Population — Outrages 
at  Drytown — Burning  of  the  Church — Mass  Meeting  at 
Jackson — Review  After  a  Lapse  of  a  Quarter  of  a  Century. 

THIS  affair  happened  something  over  a  quarter  of 
a  century  since.  Many  of  the  witnesses  are  dead, 
others  are  gone,  and  many  have  forgotten  some  of 
the  important  matters.  Those  who  are"  accustomed 
to  criminal  trials,  know  how  contradictory  testi 
mony  may  be  among  candid,  truth-telling  men,  even 
while  the  events  are  fresh  in  the  mind.  How  much 
more  difficult  then  to  get  at  the  truth  when  a  quarter 
of  a  century  has  rolled  over  the  events,  inevitably 
obliterating  much  that  would  be  necessary  to  form 
a  rational  opinion  of  the  murders,  and  the  resulting 
events  of  the  following  month.  A  somewhat  retro 
spective  view  of  the  relations  between  the  Mexican 
population  and  our  own,  seems  necessary,  to  get  a 
correct  view  of  the  situation. 

There  never  was  a  good  feeling  between  the 
native  population  and  the  Americans.  The  indolent 
native,  fond  of  his  siesta  and  cigarette,  proud  of  the 
smallest  quantity  of  Castilian  blood,  and  holding 
in  utter  abhorrence  laborious  occupations,  had,  at 
first,  contempt,  and  then  hatred,  for  the  wild  Ameri 
canos,  or  Gringos  (green-horns),  as  the  Americans 
were  termed,  who  seemed  to  be  endowed  with  an 
infernal  energy  that  tore  up  all  the  ordinary  routine 
of  life,  and  made  men  almost  maniacs,  in  the  search 
for  wealth. 

This  feeling  was  older  than  the  war  in  which  Cal 


ifornia  was  conquered.  Years  before  that  Alexander 
Forbes,  an  Englishman,  now  a  resident  of  Oakland, 
who  wrote  the  "  History  of  California,"  as  early  as 
1835,  speaks  of  occasional  parties  of  Americans  who 
came  from  the  frontiers  of  the  United  States,  whom 
no  danger  could  appall  and  no  difficulty  deter;  who 
would  be  likely  in  time  to  take  California  and  hold 
it  as  they  had  taken  Texas,  if  some  foreign  power 
did  not  step  in  and  forestall  them.  At  the  time  of 
the  war,  there  were  some  two  hundred  Americans 
who  had  often  made  their  power  felt.  Isaac  Graham, 
with  some  fifty  or  sixty  men,  had  taken  possession 
of  the  Capital  (Monterey),  and  made  Juan  B.  Alva- 
rado,  Governor.  They  were  always  in  a  quasi 
rebellion.  Fremont  with  his  battalion,  had  gone  in 
force  through  the  country,  stubbornly  refusing  to 
be  whipped.  The  Mexican  Government  had  an 
article  inserted  in  the  treaty,  that  the  rights  of  the 
Mexicans  to  their  property  in  California  should  be 
respected.  But  this  did  not  prevent  the  Americans, 
on  the  discovery  of  gold,  from  taking  possession  of 
the  best  lands,  and  parceling  them  out  into  farms 
and  cultivating  them.  The  native  owner  was  wont 
to  consider  himself  lucky  if  he  could  save  even  his 
houses  and  his  herds.  The  latter,  the  Americans 
would  drive  off  and  slaughter  by  the  thousand,  with 
hardly  a  pretense  of  secrecy.  In  this  way  the  herds 
of  nearly  all  the  old  dons  were  exterminated.  The 
titles  to  their  lands  were  scarcely  ever  recognized 
until  they  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Amer 
icans.  In  the  gold  mines,  they  were  treated  as 
intruders,  and  the  discovery  of  a  placer  was  sure  to 
bring  a  swarm  of  men  about,  who  believed  in 
"  Americans  ruling  America."  This  ill-feeling  often 
culminated  in  murder  and  robbery.  Particular 
roads  frequented  by  parties  of  Mexicans,  were  found 
to  be  dangerous  to  travel.  Several  persons  had  been 
murdered  on  the  road  between  Drytown  and 
Cosumnes.  Murderer's  gulch,  north  of  the  town,  had 
witnessed  several  murders,  which,  as  the  people 
believed,  had  been  traced  to  the  native  population. 
Several  attempts  had  been  made  to  banish  them  from 
the  country,  but  when  driven  from  one  camp  they 
would  go  to  another.  As  the  miners  were  roving 
about  and  the  population  changing,  the  expulsion 
was  soon  forgotten,  and  the  natives  would  return 
embittered  and  sullen.  Joaquin's  raids  through  the 
country  had  not  been  forgotten,  and  when  the  news 
of  the  slaughter  of  six  or  seven  persons  at  Rancheria 
had  spread  over  the  county,  it  is  not  strange  that 
the  community  should  bje  terribly  excited,  and  should 
be  moved  to  deeds  which  were  afterwards  looked 
upon  with  regret. 

The  murders  were  committed  by  twelve  men,  one 
of  whom  seemed  to  be  white,  and  one  a  black  man, 
the  rest  appearing  to  be  of  the  ordinary  Mexican  type. 
Some  of  these  were  men  of  education,  others  had 
been  vaqueros  in  the  valleys;  and  all  perhaps  felt 
that  they  had  some  grievance  to  avenge,  for  we 
cannot  account  for  their  subsequent  career  on  any 


84 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


other  hypothesis.  They  were  first  heard  from  at 
Hacalitas  (hard  camp)  not  far  from  the  Q  ranch, 
on  the  night  of  the  5th  of  August,  1855,  where  they 
stayed  all  night. 

The  following  morning,  Monday,  August  6th,  they 
left  the  camp  and  made  their  way  towards  Drytown, 
first  robbing  a  China  camp,  leaving  the  Chinamen  tied. 
They    passed    some  white   men  without  disturbing 
them,  however.     It  happened  that  George  Durham, 
foreign  tax  collector,  had  started  on  much  the  same 
route  and  found  that  all  the  China  camps  from  there 
to  Eancheria  had  been  robbed.     He  got  a  very  good 
description  of  the  numbers  and  appearance  of  the 
men,  and  found  that  they  had  been  at  Eancheria  at 
Francis'  store;  also  saw  their  camp  just  out  of  the 
town.     He  warned  Francis  against  the  men,  saying 
that  he  thought  they  were  the  same  men  who  had 
recently   committed  some  depredations   at   Tuttle's 
store  in  Tuolumne  county,  and  told  Francis  that  he 
was  in  danger  of  being  robbed.     Durham  then  went 
towards    Drytown,    passing    their     camp.      There 
seemed  to  be  some  difficulty  among  them,  as   two 
were   well  stripped    apparently    to  fight,  but  were 
quieted  by  a  tall,  slender  man,  who  seemed   to  be 
recognized  as  a  chief.     Two  of  the  party  followed 
Durham  as  if  to  attack  him,  but  turned   back  after 
going   a  short  distance.     At  Drytown,  Durham  en 
gaged  Cross,  the  constable,  to  assist  in  collecting  the 
tax  from  the  Chinamen  at  Milton's  ranch,  as  they  had 
dodged  him  before  when  he  went  alone.     They  got 
back  to  Drytown  about  dark,  and  went  into  Mizen- 
er's  store.    While  there  Judge  Curtis  came  in  and  said 
that  a  Spanish  woman  had  come  to  his  office  and 
told  him  that  the  town  was  full  of  robbers;  that  she 
was  afraid  that  they  were  all  going  to  be  robbed. 
The  description  of  the  party  corresponded  with  the 
party  which  had  been  seen   at  Rancheria,  and  Cross 
and  Durham  resolved  to  visit  the  place  on  Chile  flat 
where  the  robbers  were  taking  supper.     On  coming 
to  the  house,  they  had  left,  but  were   found   a  short 
distance  to   the  rear.     Both  parties,  as   they    met, 
commenced  firing,  some  thirty  or  forty  shots  being 
exchanged.     The  Mexicans  were   on    an    elevation, 
and  Durham  and  Cross  were  in  a  depression;  these 
circumstances  as  well  as  the  darkness  prevented  any 
fatal    results,    one    person  only,   a  Mexican,  being 
wounded.    Both  parties  now  withdrew,  the  Mexicans 
going  to  their  camp  on  the  hill  a  half  mile  away,  and 
Durham  and  Cross  to  the  American  part  of  the  town. 
It  was  now  evident  that  no  small  job  was  on  hand. 
Twelve  desperate  men  thoroughly  armed  would  take 
the   town.     The  citizens  had  heard   the   firing  and 
many  of  the  bullets  had  struck  the  buildings,  though 
without  doing   any  damage  to  persons.     Although 
this  was  in  1855,  only  a  few  years   away  from  the 
time  that  the  men  crossed  the  plains  each  with  his 
rifle   in   order,  but  few    fire-arms    could   be  found. 
When  these  had   been  gathered  up,  it  was  learned 
that  the   banditti  had  decamped  and  gone  toward 
Rancheria.     Whether  it    was  a   ruse    to  draw   the 


armed  party  away  from  the  town  or  not  was  uncer 
tain,  but  it  was  now  evident  that  one  or  both  places 
was  to  be  attacked.  It  was  also  evident  that,  but  for 
the  premature  alarm,  Drytown  would  have  been  the 
first  victim,  and  probably  Rancheria  afterwards. 
Two  persons,  Robert  Cosner  being  one,  volunteered 
to  go  to  Rancheria  to  inform  them  of  the  danger. 
They  avoided  the  road,  going  up  Rattlesnake  gulch; 
but  while  the  party  were  discussing  the  matter  the 
Mexicans  had  done  the  work.  On  the  arrival  of  Cos 
ner  and ,  the  robbers  appeared  to  be  leaving  the 

town  on  the  opposite  side.  There  were  no  lights  and 
a  dreadful  silence  prevailed.  They  called  aloud  sev 
eral  times  before  they  heard  any  reply.  David  Wil 
son  was  found  hiding  in  a  ditch;  when  he  heard 
their  voices  he  said:  "  My  God!  The  whole  town  is 
slaughtered;  my  brother  Sam  is  killed,  and  I  don't 
know  how  many  more."  At  Francis'  store  they 
found  Dan  Hutchinson,  his  clerk,  dead  behind  the 
counter,  also  Sam  Wilson  and  -  — .  Francis  was 
missing  but  was  found  not  far  away  with  both  legs 
broken  and  several  severe  wounds,  but  still  alive.  It 
seemed  that  he  had  fought  them  to  the  last  and 
eventually  ran  out  of  the  back  door  on  the  stumps 
of  his  legs.  While  searching  for  Francis  they  found 
the  dead  body  of  an  Indian.  The  safe  was  blown 
open  and  the  contents,  about  twenty  thousand  dol 
lars,  abstracted.  At  Dynan's  Hotel  they  found  Mrs. 
Dynan  dead,  shot  through  the  body,  and  Dynan 
wounded.  Mrs.  Dynan  seemed  to  have  been  shot 
while  putting  her  child  out  of  the  window.  Francis 
died  the  next  day.  One  leg  was  amputated  and  the 
other  set  with  the  hope  of  saving  his  life.  After 
death  it  was  discovered  that  his  back  bone  was 
nearly  severed,  apparently  by  a  blow  from  an  axe. 
Altogether  there  were  six  men,  one  woman  and  an 
Indian  killed" and  two  men  wounded.  It  seemed  that 
the  party  divided,  a  part  going  to  each  house,  com 
mencing  the  attack  at  about  the  same  moment.  At 
Dynan's  a  party  were  playing  cards  when  the  house 
was  attacked.  Dynan  escaped  up  stairs  and  through 
the  windows.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Foster,  the 
simpleton  of  the  party,  had  wit  enough  to  throw 
himself  under  the  table  and  remain  there  until  the 
trouble  was  over  and  thus  saved  his  life. 

THE    NEXT   DAY 

The  news  rapidly  spread.  By  nine  the  next  morn 
ing  perhaps  five  hundred  people  were  present.  The 
atrocious  character  of  the  murders,  the  unprovoked 
and  causeless  attack,  raised  the  anger  of  the  mass  of 
the  people  almost  beyond  control.  Some  were  for  an 
immediate  war  on  all  of  the  Mexican  race.  Parties 
were  engaged  in  arresting  and  bringing  in  all  in  the 
vicinity.  It  is  difficult  now  to  ascertain  whether  any 
trial  was  held  or  not.  There  was  no  organization  of 
the  crowd  which  was  continually  coming  and  going. 
A  few  elderly  men,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned 
two  Hinksons,  acted  as  a  sort  of  jury,  to  give  a  form 
of  deliberation  to  the  affair.  Judge  Curtis  is  said 


RESIDENCE  OF  O.  E.MARTIN,  AMADOR  CITY,  AMADOR  C°  CAL. 


RANCH, RESIDENCE  AND  BUSINESS  PLACE  OF  S.W.EMNIONS, 
PINE:  GROVE, AMADOR  Cf?  CAL. 


CALIFORNIA 


RANCHERIA    MURDERS. 


85 


also  to  have  taken  part  in  the  proceedings.  These 
men  were  noted  for  their  moderation  and  prudence. 
They  probably  prevented  the  crowd  from  doing 
much  worse  than  it  did.  "Let  us  proceed  cau 
tiously;  let  us  be  just;  let  us  hang  no  innocent  men," 
said  they.  They  were  men  in  whom  the  people  had 
confidence.  Some  thirty-five  men  were  brought 
within  the  rope  circle  and  guarded.  A  motion  was 
put  to  hang  the  whole  of  them,  all  but  a  few  voting 
for  it.  They  were  then  asked  to  give  the  men  a 
trial.  This  was  reluctantly  consented  to;  and  a  com 
mittee — it  could  not  be  called  a  jury — set  themselves 
to  ascertain  the  evidence  against  the  men.  All  that 
could  be  found  was  that  James  Johnson,  a  miner 
who  lived  iu  a  cabin  near  by,  and  looked  out  through 
a  crack  in  the  door  when  the  shooting  was  going  on, 
thought  he  heard  a  Mexican,  called  Port  Wine  (because 
he  was  always  drunk,  or  nearly  so,  on  port),  shout 
ing  for  Mexico.  Another  one  had  placed  a  light  in 
the  road  in  front  of  his  house.  The  third  one  was 
seen  running  around  with  the  banditti  during  the 
shooting.  This  was  on  the  testimony  of  one  man 
who  thought  he  saw  it  through  a  slight  opening  of  his 
cabin  door.  The  committee  reported  that  this  was 
all  that  could  be  found  against  any  of  them.  It  was 
determined  to  hang  them  immediately.  Port  Wine 
was  a  half-witted  man,  almost  incapable  of  commit 
ting  a  crime.  He  cried  and  begged,  to  no  purpose; 
ho  was  hung  while  his  wife  was  begging  for  him, 
two  others  being  hung  at  the  same  time.  The  jury, 
whose  names  it  is  impossible  to  learn,  must  not  bo 
blamed  in  this  matter.  It  is  impossible  to  tell  what 
any  one  would  do  until  they  are  tried.  Hundreds  of 
exasperated  people  were  clamoring  for  the  death  of 
somebody.  It  is  likely  that  the  hanging  of  the  three 
appeased,  to  some  extent,  the  thirst  fer  vengeance. 
William  O.  Clark,  a  well-known  citizen  of  Drytown, 
made  a  speech  advocating  a  trial  by  law,  by  the 
Courts,  and  made  an  appeal  to  the  people  to  place 
themselves,  in  imagination,  in  a  foreign  country,  and 
about  to  bo  hung  for  a  crime  some  of  their  own 
countrymen  had  committed;  but  the  people  were  in 
no  mood  to  hear  finely  constructed  sentences,  and 
he  was  silenced.  It  was  even  proposed  to  hang  him 
for  being  friendly  to  the  Mexicans.  A  Mrs.  Ketch um 
was  particularly  active  in  creating  a  sentiment 
against  Clark.  The  balance  of  the  party  arrested 
were  liberated  on  condition  of  leaving  the  camp 
within  four  hours. 

DEATH  OP  ROBERTS. 

About  this  time  a  terrible  accident  occurred.  A 
man  by  the  namo  of  Roberts,  or  Robinson,  who  had 
been  one  of  the  most  violent  in  demanding  a  whole 
sale  hanging,  shot  himself  in  the  breast,  dying  imme 
diately.  There  are  so  many  conflicting  reports  that 
it  is  with  reluctance  the  subject  is  mentioned.  One 
person  says  they  were  about  to  go  home,  and  Rob 
erts  was  taking  the  gun  towards  him,  neither  angry 
nor  intoxicated,  when  it  went  off,  striking  him  in 


the  breast.  Another  one  says  that  Robinson — or 
Roberts — was  violently  demanding  the  death  of 
another  prisoner,  which  was  not  immediately 
assented  to,  whereupon  he  said  he  would  settle  the 
question  himself,  snatching  up  the  gun  with  the 
result  heretofore  stated. 

BORQUITAS. 

William  Sutherland,  whose  veracity  no  one  will 
question,  relates  the  following  circumstances  in 
regard  to  it:  A  young  Spaniard  by  the  namo  of 
Borquitas,  General  Castro's  business  agent,  happened 
to  be  visiting  Sutherland's  at  the  time  of  the  mur 
ders  Being  a  well  educated  man,  speaking  the 
English  language  fluently,  he  remarked  that  he 
might  be  of  assistance  in  ferreting  out  the  criminals, 
and  would  go  up  to  Rancheria.  When  he  got  there, 
he  found  himself  one  of  the  criminals,  or,  at  least, 
he  was  reckoned  among  the  criminal  class.  During 
the  affair,  trial  it  could  not  be  called,  he  conversed 
with  one  of  the  accused.  Becoming  convinced  of 
the  innocence  of  the  party  of  any  complicity  in  the 
murders,  he  told  the  people  so;  whereupon,  it  was 
proposed  to  hang  him  (Borquitas)  also.  It  was 
then  that  Roberts  undertook  to  shoot  him,  with  the 
result  of  death  to  himself.  Sutherland  then  told 
Borquitas  that  he  could  do  no  good  by  staying  and 
risking  his  own  life;  that  he  had  better  leave.  Tak 
ing  the  advice  of  Sutherland,  he  left  in  the  con 
fusion,  caused  by  the  death  of  Roberts. 

It  is  said  that  Judge  Gordon,  S.  B.  Axtell,  District 
Attorney,  Judge  Hubbard,  and  others,  were  present; 
but  as  the  hanging  took  place  before  noon,  and  the 
Court  met  at  ten,  as  usual,  on  the  morning  after  the 
murders,  it  is  almost  impossible  that  they  should 
have  witnessed  the  hanging,  though  they  probably 
were  present  during  the  afternoon. 

Port  Wine  had  a  good  claim,  which  was  considered 
forfeited  at  his  death,  James  Robinson,  on  whose 
testimony  he  was  hung,  taking  possession  of  it  the 
same  evening.  He  worked  it  for  a  few  days,  but 
finding  work  a  burden,  he  sold  it  for  two  hundred 
dollars,  which  ho  spent  in  a  week's  spree,  shortly 
after. 

WHERE    "WERE   THE    OFFICERS? 

Phoenix,  and  some  of  his  deputies,  visited  the 
Bceno  of  the  disturbance,  in  the  early  mornin^. 
After  looking  at  the  mutilated  bodies,  he  merely 
said,  "  Follow  me."  A  party  was  immediately  organ 
ized  to  pursue  the  banditti,  Avhich,  as  before  stated, 
left  Rancheria,  taking  the  road  towards  El  Dorado 
county.  This  proved  to  be  a  false  scent.  They 
went  as  far  as  Indian  Diggings,  and,  finding  them 
selves  off  the  trail,  returned  to  Jackson.  There  they 
learned  that  the  gang  had  crossed  the  Mokelumne 
at  Diamond  bar.  Phoanix,  Cross,  Porrin,  Sherry, 
Eichelberger,  and  Durham,  went  to  Mokelumne 
Hill  that  night.  They  there  learned  that  Sheriff 
Clark,  Paul  McCormick,  and  six-fingered  Smith  of 
Camp  Seco,  had  attacked  the  murderers  at  Texas 


86 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


bar,  on  the  Calaveras,  and  had  wounded  and  cap 
tured  one  of  the  party,  who  had  told  the  history 
and  names  of  the  others.  His  name  was  Manuel 
Garcia,  and  he  had  been  a  vaquero  for  Charles 
Stone,  at  Buena  Yista.  He  was  sent  to  Jackson 
with  Eichelberger  and  Perrin.  The  crowd  had 
assembled  to  receive  him;  parting  to  the  right  and 
left,  and  closing  up  after  him,  they  escorted  the 
prisoner  to  the  tree,  which  was  already  provided 
with  a  noose.  When  his  head  was  placed  in  it,  the 
buggy  was  moved  along,  and  the  body  left  dangling. 
This  was  the  eighth  time  the  tree  had  borne  its  fruit. 

It  was  now  ascertained  that  the  balance  of  the 
party  were  concealed  around  Bear  mountain.  Two 
days  spent  in  hunting  failed  to  find  them;  and  then 
the  officers  went  to  Jenny  Lind  -where  they  learned 
that  the  Mexicans  were  camped  near  Reynold's 
ferry  on  the  Stanislaus.  A  large  number  of  Mex 
icans  at  Jenny  Lind  were  disarmed,  to  prevent 
any  assistance  reaching  the  banditti  from  that  settle 
ment,  and  the  pursuit  continued,  but  somebody  had 
given  notice  of  the  approach  of  the  officers  and 
the  party  had  left  going  towards  the  Tuolumne 
river.  A  guard  was  set  at  Reynold's  ferry,  but  the 
robbers  did  not  attempt  to  cross.  The  next  day  the 
officers  visited  Tuttletown,  Sonora,  Campo  Seco,  and 
Jamestown.  At  the  latter  place  they  again  struck 
the  trail,  and  found  some  of  the  horses,  which  had 
been  stolen  at  Rancheria,  dying  of  exhaustion. 

The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  the  ground  at 
this  season  of  the  year  (August)  is  hard  as  a  rock, 
receiving  scarcely  any  impression  from  a  hoof  or 
a  shoe  passing  along;  and  besides  the  Mexicans 
traveled  in  the  night  time,  concealing  themselves  in 
the  thick  chaparral,  with  which  the  hills  around 
Bear  mountain  abound  during  the  day,  so  that 
closely  following  the  trail  was  out  of  the  question; 
but  it  was  now  evident  that  they  were  nearing  the 
objects  of  their  search.  Chinese  Camp  and  a  Mexican 
camp,  at  what  is  called  Old  Chinese  Camp,  were 
visited.  At  the  latter  place  was  a  large  dance-house 
near  the  hills,  the  thick  chaparral  coming  down  close 
to  the  house.  It  was  out  of  the  question  to  get  any 
correct  information  with  regard  to  the  party  they 
were  in  search  of,  but  they  concluded  to  stop  awhile 
and  watch  events.  Drinks  around  and  the  usual 
hospitalities  followed,  as  a  matter  of  course.  While 
some  of  the  party  engaged  the  senoritas  in  conver 
sation,  others  kept  a  general  lookout.  A  girl  at  the 
door  was  seen  making  signals  to  some  one  in  the 
rear,  as  if  to  go  away.  Durham  sprang  to  the  door, 
and  saw  some  of  the  men  they  were  in  search  of. 
Phoenix  was  anxious  to  capture  them  alive,  and  to 
this  reluctance  to  kill  them,  was  due  the  fatal  result; 
but  shooting  commenced  at  once.  It  is  difficult  to 
recall  events  in  their  order,  in  which  two  or  three 
seconds  make  a  failure  or  success  of  a  movement; 
but  in  the  affray  Phoenix  was  the  first  to  fall;  his 
slayer  the  next — the  latter  though  severely  wounded, 
still  kept  fighting,  being  finally  dispatched  by  a  blow 


on  the  head  with  an  axe.  The  party  dispersed  in  a 
short  time,  the  officers  holding  the  ground.  A  boy, 
who  had  witnessed  the  affair  from  a  distance,  told 
the  officers  that  he  had  seen  a  wounded  man  crawl 
into  a  cloth  shanty,  blood  stains  indicating  the  cor 
rectness  of  the  statement.  The  man  was  told  to 
come  out,  but  as  no  answer  was  received,  the  hut 
was  set  on  fire,  as  it  was  deemed  dangerous  to  follow 
him  in.  Not  until  it  was  blazing  all  over,  so  that  it 
was  thought  impossible  for  any  living  being  to  be 
there,  did  he  appear.  He  rushed  out,  covered  with 
blood,  clothes  and  hair  on  fire,  with  a  pistol  in  each 
hand,  shooting  as  he  came.  He  was  more  frightful 
than  dangerous,  and  was  soon  quieted.  Phoenix 
was  shot  through  the  heart,  dying  immediately.  He 
was  buried  by  the  Masonic  order  at  Sonora.  He  was, 
perhaps,  thirty  years  old,  of  social  character,  open- 
hearted,  holding  malice  towards  none,  and  was 
universally  esteemed.  He  was  in  poor  health  at  the 
time,  hardly  fit  for  such  an  enterprise,  as  he  took 
upon  himself  to  lead.  On  his  return  from  the 
unsuccessful  search  in  El  Dorado,  he  was  urged  to 
rest;  was  told  that,  considering  the  disturbed  con 
dition  of  the  county,  his  presence  was  needful — which 
was  true.  But  he  replied  that  if  he  should  decline 
pursuing  the  murderers,  his  courage  would  be  called 
in  question,  and  he  started  the  same  evening.  His 
attempt  to  capture  the  men  alive,  was  a  fatal  mis 
take.  It  was  no  kindness  to  the  party,  for,  in  the 
excited  condition  of  the  people,  every  one  taken  was 
sure  to  be  hung  without  a  trial. 

This  affair  occurred  Sunday  evening,  August  12, 
1855. 

A  day  or  two  after  these  occurrences,  Marshall 
Wood,  of  the  town  of  Columbia,  telegraphed  the 
party  that  ho»4iad  arrested  forty  or  more  Spaniards, 
and  thought  that  some  of  the  men  they  were  in 
search  of,  were  among  them.  On  visiting  Sonora, 
Durham  recognized  one  of  the  party,  a  well-dressed, 
educated,  young  man,  who  had  formerly  lived  at 
Dr3Ttown.  At  first,  he  understood  no  English,  knew 
nothing  about  the  matter,  but  upon  being  called  by 
name,  Manuel  Escobar,  and  being  told  that  Garcia, 
the  one  taken  at  Camp  Seco,  had  given  the  names  of 
the  whole  party,  he  commenced  cursing  in  good 
English,  and  did  not  deny  his  connection  with  the 
murders.  He  was  taken  to  Jackson,  and  hung,  being 
the  tenth  and  last  hung  on  the  famous  tree.  A 
photograph  was  taken  of  the  scene,  and  the  picture 
lithographed,  some  copies  of  which  are  still  pre 
served  by  the  people  of  Jackson. 

Shortly  after  this,  an  old  Mexican  from  Algerino 
Camp,  told  the  officers  that  the  man  who  had 
killed  Phoenix,  came  to  his  house  wounded  in  sev 
eral  places,  he  thought  fatally,  wanting  to  be  taken 
care  of;  that  he  did  not  wish  to  harbor  him,  as  he 
thought  that  the  Americans  would  kill  him  if  they 
found  it  out,  and  so  told  the  wounded  man,  who, 
however,  threatened  to  kill  him  if  he  refused  assist 
ance.  The  old  Mexican  had  put  him  down  a  shaft 


RANCHERIA  MURDERS. 


87 


which  had  a  short  tunnel  connected  with  it,  in  which 
the  wounded  man  was  hiding.  Durham  and  his  party 
visited  the  place,  and  called  upon  the  man  to  come 
out;  receiving  no  answer,  some  brush  was  thrown 
into  the  shaft  and  set  on  fire,  shortly  after  which 
the  report  of  a  pistol  was  heard.  He  had  shot  him 
self  rather  than  surrender.  When  the  fire  had  gone 
out,  he  was  brought  out  dead.  He  was  shot  in  five 

o 

places  around  the  neck,  and  could  hardly  have  recov 
ered  under  any  circumstances. 

EXPULSION     AND     DISARMING     OF     THE      MEXICAN 
POPULATION. 

The  excitement  all  through  the  county  was  such 
that  business  was  nearly  suspended.  Extravagant 
rumors  of  the  intention  of  the  Mexican  population 
to  rise  and  take  the  county,  got  into  circulation.  The 
same  excitabilit}^  that  demanded  the  hanging  of  a 
whole  nationality,  formed  a  good  material  to  float 
impossible  stories  of  an  insurrection.  The  second 
day  after  the  murders,  a  great  number  of  people 
came  around  Rancheria.  The  Mexicans  had  left  the 
day  of  the  hanging.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the 
wives  and  friends  of  the  executed  had  hardly  time  to 
bury  the  dead.  VV^hen  the  crowd  came  the  second 
day  they  destroyed  all  the  huts  and  houses  belong 
ing  to  the  Mexicans.  It  was  then  resolved  that  they 
should  leave  the  country.  A  large  body  of  those 
that  had  been  expelled  from  Rancheria  were  en 
camped  in  Mile  gulch,  which  runs  north  into  Dry 
creek,  its  head  being  near  the  town.  Thither  the 
party  proceeded.  An  indiscriminate  shooting  com 
menced.  Some  Indians,  who  seemed  to  be  watching 
the  Spanish,  were  told  to  kill  all  they  could.  Some 
were  known  to  be  killed — it  is  hoped,  however,  not 
as  many  as  were  reported — but  the  whole  people 
left  as  rapidly  as  they  could.  One  Mexican  was  seen 
packing  two  trunks  on  each  side  of  a  donkey.  The 
overloaded  animal  could  not  keep  up  and  he  was 
obliged  to  abandon  them.  They  were  broken  open 
and  found  to  be  filled  with  shirts  and  finery,  appar 
ently  goods  plundered  from  Francis'  store.  The 
Indians  drew  these  on,  one  over  another,  until  they 
would  have  on  five  or  six  each.  This  prevented  the 
Indians  from  killing  many  of  the  fugitives,  though 
when  questioned  about  it  afterwards,  they  said  they 
had  killed  ocho,  meaning  eight.  Some  were  found 
dead  in  holes  and  shafts,  others  at  springs,  where 
they  had  dragged  themselves  after  being  wounded. 
Several  persons  say  they  have  seen  the  hogs  devour 
ing  the  bodies  of  the  slain.  Pork  was  at  a  discount 
during  the  season,  on  that  account.  At  Sutter 
Creek  an  extravagant  rumor  got  into  circulation  that 
five  hundred  men  were  coming  to  take  the  town.  A 
committee  of  safety  was  organized,  and  some  fifty  or 
sixty  Mexicans  who  were  mining  on  Gopher  flat, 
were  arrested  and  brought  to  town.  One  man  was 
unfortunate  enough  to  have  some  connection,  in  some 
way,  with  the  Rancheria  affair.  He  was  traced  into 
the  Mexican  camp  and  a  thorough  search  made  for 


him.  It  was  about  to  be  abandoned  when  a  large 
pile  of  clothes,  just  ironed,  lying  on  a  bed,  attracted 
attention.  Underneath  was  found  the  man.  He  was 
dragged  out  and  hung  on  a  gibbet  made  by  lashing 
wagon-tongues  together,  forming  an  A,  the  wagons 
being  locked  to  prevent  separation.  The  fifty  on 
Gopher  Flat  were  ordered  to  leave,  which  they  con 
sented  to  do  provided  an  escort  was  given  them,  for 
they  dared  not  leave  the  town  disarmed  and  alone. 
They  were  escorted  across  the  Mokelumne  river.  At 
that  time  nearly  the  whole  of  the  street  below  the 
bridge,  was  occupied  by  the  Mexican  population. 
They  were  ordered  to  leave  and  senoras  and  senoritas, 
as  well  as  the  children  (of  which  there  was  a  con 
siderable  number),  were  seen  climbing  the  hills  on 
their  way  out  of  the  town.  At  Nacalitas,  the  camp 
where  the  banditti  stayed  the  Sunday  night  previous 
to  the  outrage,  the  people  were  disarmed  and  ordered 
to  leave.  One  white  man  was  left  to  make  out  the 
passports,  the  others  leaving  for  a  similar  duty  at 
another  camp.  The  Mexicans  at  Hacalitas  pleaded 
utter  ignorance  of  any  knowledge  or  participation 
in  the  operations  of  the  murderers,  but  went  without 
making  any  resistance.  A  company  from  Dry  town 
went  towards  El  Dorado  county,  disarming  and  driv 
ing  all  the  Mexicans  away.  Men  came  back  with 
numbers  of  revolvers  and  other  arms  taken  from 
them. 

OUTRAGES   AT   DRYTOWN. 

There  were  but  few  Mexicans  at  Drytown,  the 
Spanish  population  being  mostly  Chilenos;  hence, 
the  name  Chile  Flat,  the  portion  of  the  town  where 
they  lived.  Though  speaking  the  same  language, 
the  Chilenos  and  Mexicans  had  very  little  to  do 
with  each  other;  and,  consequently,  the  Chilenos 
were  not  charged  with  any  complicity  in  the  out 
rages  at  Rancheria,  and  were  generally  living  on 
good  terms  with  the  people  of  Drytown. 

On  the  following  Sunday,  about  dark,  some  fifteen 
or  twenty  men  on  horseback,  came  into  Drytown, 
and  set  fire  to  the  Chilenian  part  of  it,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  whole  was  in  a  blaze.  The  people, 
most  of  whom  were  poor,  some  being  women  and 
children,  ran  in  dismay  to  some  of  their  friends, 
among  the  Americans.  It  is  said  that  William  O. 
Clark's  house  was  filled  with  crying  women  and 
children,  who  had  fled  from  their  burning  homes. 
One  man,  by  the  name  of  Williston,  usually  called 
Boston,  from  his  native  city,  set  fire  to  the  Catholic 
church,  which  was  soon  in  ashes.  The  persons 
engaged  in  this  evening's  work,  seemed  to  have  had 
all  their  plans  laid  before  coming  into  town,  appar 
ently  consulted  no  one,  and  permitting  no  interfer 
ence.  Some  of  the  citizens  of  Drytown  have  been 
charged  with  assisting  the  rioters,  but  a  thorough 
investigation  fails  to  connect  any  one  of  its  citizens 
with  the  affair,  which  was  generally  condemned  as 
cruel  and  wanton. 


88 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


CONVENTION,    OR   MASS    MEETING,    AT   JACKSON. 

A  meeting  was  called  to  consider  the  propriety 
of  outlawing  all  of  the  Mexican  population.  Some 
of  the  more  violent  approved  of  the  measure,  but 
the  hanging  of  the  men  at  Jackson  and  Rancheria, 
the  excesses  committed  at  Mile  gulch  and  vicinity, 
had  caused  the  more  thoughtful  to  doubt  the  pro 
priety  or  necessity  of  turning  all  the  blood-thirsty 
loose,  with  license  to  kill  Mexicans  wherever  they 
could  be  found,  for  such  would  be  the  result  of  out 
lawry.  R.  M.  Briggs,  especially,  violently  opposed 
the  measure,  and  it  was  abandoned.  Most  of  the 
Mexicans  had  left  the  county,  and  the  necessity  of 
such  a  measure,  was  questionable  on  several  grounds. 
W.  O.  Clark,  who  opposed  it,  perhaps  in  imprudent 
words,  came  near  being  lynched,  his  speeches  at 
Rancheria,  the  day  after  the  murders,  being  remem 
bered.  Many  of  the  Mexicans  who  fled  the  county 
on  that  occasion,  settled  near  Jenny  Lind,  in  Cala- 
veras  county,  where  they  have  made  peaceable  and 
quiet  citizens. 

GENERAL  FEELING  A  QUARTER  OP  A  CENTURY  AFTER. 

There  are  few,  and  the  number  is  few,  who  helped 
to  vindicate  justice,  as  they  term  it,  who  are  proud 
of  the  part  they  took  in  the  matter.  But  the  more 
thoughtful  look  at  it  as  one  full  of  excesses  to  be  re 
gretted.  There  are  many  who  believe  that  the  three 
persons  hung  at  Rancheria  the  day  following  the  out 
rage  were  entirely  innocent  of  any  complicity  in  the 
crimes  committed.  There  appeared  to  have  been 
two  classes  of  the  Mexicans,  the  caballeros  or  horse 
men  and  the  peons  or  laboring  class.  The  first  were 
accustomed  here,  as  they  were  in  Mexico,  to  help 
themselves  to  whatever  they  wanted  of  the  peons. 
who  occupied  much  of  the  former  position  of  the 
blacks  in  the  Southern  States,  having  no  rights  which 
a  caballero  was  bound  to  respect.  It  is  said  that  when 
ever  these  gentry  were  known  to  be  in  a  Mexican 
camp,  or  expected,  the  lights  were  blown  out  and 
everything  kept  as  quiet  as  possible  so  as  to  at 
tract  no  attention.  Old  residents  say  that  though 
a  Mexican  with  a  crowbar  and  bataya  might  steal 
an  axe  or  a  piece  of  meat,  he  was  never  known 
to  commit  an  outrage.  The  fact  that  half  a  dozen 
white  men  would  go  to  a  Mexican  camp  of  ten  times 
their  number  and  disarm  them  does  not  prove  them 
very  belligerent.  It  would  seem  that  most  of  the 
crimes,  and  they  were  many,  committed  by  the  Mex 
ican  population  may  be  justly  charged  to  the  cabal- 
leros.  who  were  generally  gamblers  and  horse-thieves, 
or  worse;  who  never  worked  for  themselves  but 
appropriated  the  results  of  others'  industry,  not  hes 
itating  at  murder  when  necessary  to  accomplish  their 
object. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

POLITICAL   PARTIES   IN    1855. 

Success  of  the  American  Party — List  of  Officers  Elected — 
Rivalry  Between  Towns — Financial  Matters — Efforts  to 
Suppress  Gambling — Political  Parties  in  1856 — Names  of 
Officers  Elected — Calaveras  Indebtedness — Tax  Levy  in  1857 
— Disbursements  for  1857 — Table  of  Receipts  for  all  Moneys 
up  to  1857 — Political  Parties  in  1857 — Officers  Elected  in  , 
1857 — Officers  Elected  1858— Tax  Levy  1858 — Condition  of 
Treasury — Financial  Matters  in  1859 — Condition  of  Polit 
ical  Parties. 

THE  Know-Nothing,  or  Native  American  Party, 
had  become  the  most  numerous  of  any.  The  almost 
annihilation  of  the  Whig  party  in  the  Presidential 
contest  of  1852,  and  the  subsequent  growth  of  the 
free  soil  element  into  a  party,  had  left  the  Whigs  to 
form  new  combinations.  As  the  defeat  of  the  Whigs 
was  largely  due  to  the  solid,  foreign  Democratic 
vote,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  defeated  Whigs  should 
organize  to  control  or  resist  the  foreign  element. 
The  epithet,  "  Know-Nothing,"  seems  to  have  been 
first  given  in  derision,  from  a  constant  assertion,  "I 
know  nothing  about  it,"  when  the  members  were 
interrogated  about  the  existence  of  such  an  organi 
zation,  and  afterwards  partially  adopted,  or,  at 
least,  quietly  received  by  them.  The  object  was  a 
practical  exclusion  from  power  of  the  foreign  ele 
ment.  It  was  urged  that  a  few  individuals  often 
controlled  hundreds  of  votes,  and  could  be  influ 
enced  by  improper  means;  that  the  foreigners,  as  a 
rule,  when  they  come  to  this  country,  had  no  knowl 
edge  of  the  nature  of  our  institutions,  and,  from  hav 
ing  been  subjected  to  unjust  laws  in  Europe,  were 
instinctively  opposed  to  all  wholesome  restraints; 
that  the  percentage  of  crimes  and  misdemeanors 
committed  by  the  foreign  element  was  much  greater 
than  their  percentage  of  the  population.  The  meet 
ings,  at  first,  were  held  secretly,  and  nearly  all  the 
members  of  the  Whig  party,  as  well  as  many  Dem 
ocrats,  were  induced  to  act  with  them,  so  that  until 
the  day  of  the  election,  few  men,  not  belonging  to 
it,  were  aware  of  the  extent  of  the  organization, 
and  were  surprised  to  find  the  new  party  in  posses 
sion  of  nearly  all  the  offices,  from  the  Governor 
down.  When  the  election  was  over,  and  conceal 
ment  no  longer  necessary,  the  members  showed 
themselves  in  processions  and  public  meetings. 

RIVALRY    BETWEEN    TOWNS. 

While  Volcano  was  making  some  pretensions  to 
superior  size,  the  /Sentinel  at  Jackson  published,  as 
amusing  matter,  the  experience'  of  a  Jackson  man 
in  Yolcano;  the  latter  town  being  represented  as  so 
poverty-stricken,  that  a  five-dollar  piece  had  not 
been  seen  for  weeks.  When  our  Jackson  friend  was 
transacting  some  little  business,  he  accidentally  dis 
played  a  ten-dollar  piece.  The  sight  was  so  unusual 
that  a  crowd  immediately  gathered  around  to 
admire  and  wonder.  He  good-naturedly  allowed 
them  to  view  and  handle  it,  after  which  ho  treated, 
paid  his  bill,  and  left.  The  Sentinel  made  quite  an 
amusing  article  of  it;  but  the  Yolcano  man  was  to 


VOLCANO   LIVERY  STABLE  ,  STAGED  EXPRESS   OFFICE. 

R.S.HINKSDN  &  BRO.  PROP.?  VOLCANO,  AMADOR    C°    DAL.. 


ST.  GEORGE  HOTEL. 

A.  PETTY,  PROP.,    VOLCANO,  AMADOR  C.9  CAL. 


OF  THE 

TJNIVERSITT^ 

OF 


POLITICAL  PARTIES  IN  1856. 


89 


have  his  turn  now.  He  acknowledged  the  story  as 
true  in  most  of  the  statements.  "It  was  astonish 
ing  that  a  man  coming  from  Jackson  should  have  ten 
dollars,  and  still  more  unusual  for  a  Jackson  man  to 
treat;  but  when  he  paid  his  bill  before  leaving,  the 
astonishment  of  the  people  exceeded  all  bounds; 
they  were  still  talking  about  it." 

LIST   OF   OFFICERS   ELECTED    IN    1855. 

Members  of  the  Assembly — J.  T.  Farley,  G.  W. 
Wagner. 

Public  Administrator — Wm.  Jennings. 
School  Commissioner — J.  Goodin. 
County  Surveyor — David  Armstrong. 

JUSTICES   OF   THE   PEACE. 

Township  No.  1 — Bruce  Husband,  Hugh  Robin- 
son. 

Township  No.  2— J.  W.  D.  Palmer,  N.  C.  F.  Lane. 

Township  No.  3 — Geo.  L.  Gale,  N.  Harding. 

Township  No.  4— E.  B.  Howe,  W.  C.  Bryant. 

Township  No.  5— J.  B.  King,  W.  B.  Caswell. 

Township  No.  6 — E.  R.  Yates,  James  Burt. 

E.  B.  Howe  and  E.  R.  Yates  were  elected  Associate 
Justices  to  act  with  JVL  VV.  Gordon. 

FINANCIAL. 

Jan.   1, 1855,  the  total  amount  of  warrants 

issued  since  Sept   14,  1854,  was $41,144.78 

Warrants  redeemed  during  same  time   ....  $41,041.29 

Total  amount  outstanding 103.49 

Amount  on  hand $6,117.07 

The  second  assessment  for  taxes  was  as  follows : 

On  personal  and  real  property  for  county  purposes, 
on  each  $100 , 50c. 

For    school     purposes,    on  each  $100 lOc. 

Support  of  indigent  sick,      "          "     lOc. 

Roads  and  highways,  "         "     ...    2c. 

State  purposes  "          "     .     60c. — $1.32 

Poll-tax 3.00 

On  January  1, 1856,  the  Supervisors  made  the  fol 
lowing  report: — 

Jan.  1,  1855,  cash  on  hand $6,117.07 

Received  during  the  year  on  account  of  prop 
erty  tax 3,068.24 

On  account  of  poll  tax 2,270.90 

Foreign  miners'  licenses 10,309.68 

County  licenses 13,258.75 

Fees  from  Probate  Court . .  61.50 

Sale  of  county  property 120.00 

Refunded  from  State  treasury 182.18 

Total  receipts  for  1855 $35,957.67 

Total  disbursements  for  1855 34,741.10 

Balance  on  hand  Jan.  1,  1856 $1,216.57 

Total   amount   of    warrants  issued    since 

Sept.  14,  1854,  to  present $41,144.78 

Amount  redeemed 40,041.29 

Outstanding $103.49 

EFFORTS  TO  SUPPRESS  GAMBLING. 

At  the  February  term,  1856,  the  Grand  Jury  made 
some  effort  to  suppress  gambling.  Up  to  this  date 
monte,  faro,  and  other  games  were  openly  dealt  in 
many  places  in  the  county,  demoralizing  a  great 
many  men.  Laws  against  banking  games  had  been 
passed  a  year  or  two  previous,  but  it  was  thought  to 


be  impossible  to  enforce  them  in  the  mountain  towns. 
All  laws  are  inoperative  until  sanctioned  by  public 
opinion;  in  this  instance  only  a  movement  was 
needed  to  show  that  public  gambling  was  not  coun 
tenanced  by  the  community  at  large.  The  names  of 
the  Grand  Jury  that  first  grappled  with  this  evil  are 
S.  G.  Hand,  who  acted  as  foreman,  John  Bean,  Thos. 
Luther,  Elias  Kratzer,  Z.  Crane,  Wm.  Cochran,  Wm. 
Goode,  David  Beach,  A.  P.  Clough,  Samuel  Folger, 
Heman  Allen,  Ellis  Evans,  Thomas  Skidmore, 
Luther  Morgan,  Wm.  Glenn,  D.  B.  French,  B.  Dav 
enport,  J.  H.  Young,  D.  W.  Aldrich,  E.  W.  Rice,  and 
S.  M.  Streeter.  Several  indictments  were  found 
against  persons  for  gaming,  also  against  the  own 
ers  of  houses  permitting  it.  Though  gambling  never 
was  entirely  suppressed  it  was  forced  to  retire  from 
public  sight. 

POLITICAL   PARTIES   IN    1856. 

Three  parties  made  their  appearance  this  season: 
The  Democratic  party,  confident  in  strength  from  a 
sway  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century;  the  Know- 
Nothing,  flushed  with  a  recent  victory;  and  the 
Republican,  having  nothing,  with  everything  to  hope 
for.  The  fact  that  the  Republicans  had  carried  sev 
eral  Eastern  States  with  rapid  increase  of  numbers 
everywhere,  encouraged  them  to  nominate  a  full 
county  ticket.  They  first  called  a  general  meeting 
at  Drytown  on  the  4th  of  October,  met  in  mass  meet 
ing  numbering  about  seventy-five,  and  nominated  a 
full  ticket.  Col.  Baker  addressed  the  meeting  in 
the  evening  and  spoke  afterwards  at  several  places 
in  the  county.  Some  little  disposition  to  mob  out  the 
Republicans  was  manifested  in  several  places.  At 
Yolcano  the  sign  of  the  Republican  club  was  torn 
down  and  destroyed  an  da  notice  served  on  Mahoney, 
the  owner  of  the  hall,  that  if  the  meetings  were  per 
mitted  his  hall  should  be  torn  down.  Leading  Dem 
ocrats  hastened  to  disavow  any  countenance  of  the 
violent  proceedings  and  assured  the  Republicans 
that  they  should  not  be  molested  again.  At  Lancha 
Plana,  M.  Frink,  a  candidate  for  the  Assembly,  was 
torn  from  the  stand,  though  this  was  said  to  have 
been  in  consequence  of  remarks  of  a  personal  nature. 
The  fact  that  mobbing  a  speaker,  however  obnoxious 
his  sentiments  are,  is  an  argument  generally  in  his 
favor,  is  well  known  and  serves  to  keep  the  appear 
ance  of  peace  at  least. 

The  Know-Nothings  held  an  imposing  convention. 
J.  T.  Farley,  flushed  with  the  honors  of  Speaker  of 
the  Assembly,  acted  as  president.  A  huge  cannon 
was  fired  at  intervals  of  a  few  minutes  through  the 
day,  reminding  the  people  for  twenty  miles  around 
that  the  Know-Nothing  Convention  was  in  session. 

The  Democratic  ticket  was  elected,  the  Republi 
cans  casting  a  little  over  six  hundred  votes,  or  about 
one-sixth  part  of  the  entire  vote. 

The  vote  for  President  was:  Buchanan  (Dem.), 
1784;  Fillmore  (K.  N.),  1557;  Fremont  (Rep.),  657. 


90 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


OFFICERS    ELECTED   NOVEMBER,    1856. 

Assemblymen — Wm.  M.  Seawell,  James  Livermore. 

Sheriff— W.  J.  Paugh. 

County  Clerk— H.  S.  Hatch. 

District  Attorney — S.  B.  Axtell. 

Treasurer — Ellis  Evans. 

Assessor — H.  A.  Eichelberger. 

Public  Administrator — J.  B.  King. 

County  Surveyor — James  Masterson. 

Coronor — A.  B.  Kibbe. 

SUPERVISORS. 

District  No.  1 — J.  G.  Severance. 

District  No.  2 — E.  A.  Kingsley 

District  No.  3 — J.  A.  Brown. 

Superintendent  Common  Schools — E.B.  Mclntyre. 

JUSTICES   OF   THE   PEACE. 

Township  No.  1 — L.  N.  Ketchum,  Bruce  Husband. 
Township  No.  2— N.  C.  F.  Lane,  J.  W.  D.  Palmer. 
Township  No.  3 — A.  M.  Ballard,  Geo.  Monkton. 
Township  No.  4— E.  B.  Mclntyre,  D.  R.  Gans. 
Township  No.  5 — C.  N.  W.  Hinkson,  G.  W.  Haynes. 
Township  No.  6 — Stephen  Kendall,  I.  F.  Ostrom. 

CALAVERAS   INDEBTEDNESS. 

When  Amador  was  set  off  from  Calaveras  a  pro 
vision  was  made  that  the  new  county  should  assume 
a  just  proportion  of  the  common  debt.  As  no 
especial  methods  of  determining  this  amount  was 
provided,  the  matter  was  neglected  until  Calaveras 
brought  suit,  January  27,  1857,  against  J.  C.  Ship- 
man,  as  Auditor  of  Amador  county,  to  recognize  the 
obligation.  James  H.  Hardy  was  employed  as  a 
lawyer  to  defend  Amador  county,  and  was  allowed  . 
one  thousand  dollars  as  a  fee  for  his  services.  Feb 
ruary  3d  there  is  a  minute  to  the  effect  that  the 
Board  adjourned  to  meet  the  Board  of  Calaveras 
county  to  effect  an  amicable  arrangement.  The 
records  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  do  not  make 
mention  of  the  matter  again  until  the  7th  of  August 
following,  when  Alonzo  Platt  and  James  F.  Hubbard 
were  appointed  as  a  Commission  to  meet  an  equal 
number  on  the  part  of  Calaveras  county,  to  deter 
mine  the  amount  of  the  indebtedness.  This  confer 
ence  resulted  in  fixing  the  ameunt  at  twenty-six 
thousand  five  hundred  and  seventeen  dollars  and 
thirty-two  cents.  A  warrant  was  issued  for  this 
amount,  and,  as  Number  103,  became  famous  in  the 
financial  history  of  the  county  as  the  source  of  eva 
sions,  injunctions  and  lawsuits. 

The  Board  of  Supervisors  ordered  that  one-half 
of  the  general  fund  should  be  set  aside  for  the  pay 
ment  of  this  warrant.  From  the  records,  it  appears 
that  an  arrangement  had  been  made  with  the  Cala 
veras  authorities,  that  evidence  of  Calaveras  indebt 
edness,  or  "  county  scrip,"  might  be  applied  in  pay 
ment  of  this  debt.  George  Durham  was  appointed 
a  broker,  to  buy  up  the  scrip,  sixty-five  cents  on  the 
dollar  being  the  price  he  was  to  be  paid  for  it,  "  and 
no  more."  One  thousand  dollars  was  advanced  to 


him,  as  capital  to  begin  with,  and  directions  made 
that  he  should  settle  as  often  as  once  a  month.  J. 
C.  Shipman,  Alvinza  Hayward,  John  C.  White,  Will 
iam  Sharp,  and  Wesley  Jackson,  were  his  sureties 
for  the  faithful  performance  of  the  duties.  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  the  records  of  the  Board  of  Super 
visors  are  not  more  complete.  The  high  price  of 
ink,  or  some  other  freak  of  economy,  kept  them 
from  keeping  a  full  account,  and  we  are  obliged  to 
write  history  out  of  hints  and  disjointed  memoranda. 
The  purchase  of  scrip  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
satisfactory,  for  suit  was  commenced  against  Dur 
ham  on  account  of  the  matter.  There  is  a  minute 
to  the  effect  that  the  District  Attorney  be  directed 
to  suspend  the  suit  against  Durham,  as  long  as  M. 
W.  Gordon  should  pay  to  the  County  Treasurer  fifty 
dollars  a  month;  that  the  stay  of  proceedings  should 
cease  whenever  the  said  M.  W.  Gordon  should  neg 
lect  or  refuse  to  pay  the  fifty  dollars  per  month. 

TAX   LEVY   OF    1857. 


.50c. 
.10c. 
.20c. 
.30c. 
.70c.—  $1.80 


For  county  purposes,  on  eack 

School  purposes,         " 

Indigent  sick, 

Calaveras  Fund,          " 

State  taxes, 

A  poll-tax  of  $3.00  was  ordered  on  account  of  roads,  and  the 
same  also  for  State  and  county  purposes. 

January    1,  1858,   the   Supervisors  made  the  fol 
lowing  report: — 

Warrants   issued  during  the  year  exclusive  of    the 

famous  103  for  Calaveras  indebtedness  was $42,457.27 

Outstanding  for  previous  year ' 103,49 

$42,560.76 
Warrants  redeemed  during  the  time $35,078.40 


Warrants  outstanding $  7,482.36 

26,517.32 


Including  Calaveras  indebtedness $33,999.68 

Inventory  of  county  property. 

Delinquent  taxes $  5,881.40 

County  jail  and  improvements 7,017.80 

*Court  House  and  lot  improvements 2,379.10 

Furniture  of  clerk's  office 400.00 

Sheriff's  and  other  offices 270.00 

County  hospital 200.00 

Total $16,148.30 

September  18,  1857,  the  Supervisors  ordered  the 
Treasurer  to  make  no  payment  at  all  to  S.  L.  McGee, 
the  holder  of  warrant  No.  103,  drawn  on  account  of 
the  Calaveras  indebtedness.  From  this  item  it 
would  appear  that  McGee  had  become  the  owner  of 
the  warrant,  and  refused  to  take  script  on  it. 

The  funds  set  aside  for  the  payment  of  this  war 
rant  accumulated  until  they  amounted,  in  January, 
1859,  to  $20,198.27,  less  $605.00,  which  had  been 
allowed  the  outgoing  Treasurer  as  percentage. 

This  concatenation  of  awkward  events  was  inau 
gurated  by  J.  G.  Severance,  E.  A.  Kingsley,  and 
James  A.  Brown,  acting  as  the  Board  of  Supervisors. 

*  The  Court  House  having  been  donated  by  the  town  of  Jack 
son,  only  the  improvements  are  estimated. 


POLITICAL  PAUTIES  IN  1857. 


91 


ACCOUNTS    ALLOWED    PROM     JANUARY    1,    1857,  TO    JAN 
UARY  1,  1858. 

County  Judge $  2,500  00 

County  Clerk  and  Auditor 3,104  53 

District   Attorney 1,810  00 

Associate   Justices ....    874  00 

Assessor , 2,653  34 

Sheriff. : 7,406  22 

Supervisors.. . . 1,095  55 

Justice's  Fees 624  10 

Constable's   Fees 1,318  49 

Witnesses'  Fees 113  50 

Jurors. 4,384  50 

Superintendent  and  Marshals  Common  Schools 581  00 

Hospital 4,33661 

Officers  of  Election 568  00 

Repairs  on  Court  House  and  Jail 1,550  92 

Stationery 494  92 

Scaffold  and  Execution  of  Cottle 100  00 

Attorneys'  Fees  in  Criminal  Cases 135  00 

P.  M.  Examinations  and  Taking  Insane  to  Asylum . .  484  30 

Attorneys'  Fees  in  County  Suits 1,400  00 

Supplies  for  Jail 27500 

Printing 917  00 

Roads 12  25 

Taxes  Refunded 45  24 

Miscellaneous 224  80 

Total $37,039  35 

Table  Showing  the  Amounts  of  Money  Received  into  the 
Treasury  to  1 857. 

COMPILED   BY   F.  MCBRIDE,    THOMAS  H.  LOEHR,    AND   T.  G.  HOARD, 
SUPERVISORS. 


ON   WHAT  ACCOUNT. 

1854. 

1855. 

1856. 

1857. 

TOTAL. 

Property  Tax  

$7561  30 
6946  50 
6951  36 
2671  50 
380  10 
464  40 

$  7172  02 
14061  25 
24065  7'2 
4138  33 
569  35 
182  18 
61  50 
120  00 

1  9054  10 
14736  25 
18248  04 
3414  12 
357  20 
1848  44 
42  00 
100  00 
1821  99 
S06  25 
161  24 
408  00 

$30144  77 
142S2  62 
22944  16 
9234  85 
626  20 
1372  53 
53  00 

'5659"  62 
5020  41 

$5393-2  79 
50026  62 
72209  28 
19458  80 
1932  85 
3867  55 
156  50 
220  00 
9951  66 
5826  66 
361  24 
453  00 
5841  85 
872  00 
197  38 

State  and  County  Licenses 
Foreign  Miners'  Tax  
Poll-Tax  

Fines         

Refunded  from  State  
Probate  Court   

Sale  of  County  Property. 
School-Tax  

Hospital 

Propertv  Tax  (Roads)  .... 

Jurors'  Fees  

45  00 
5841  85 
872  00 
80  38 

Calaveras  Tax  

Bridge  and  Ferry  Licenses 

45  00 

63  00 

Total   

$250-20  76 

^50370  35 

$51129  93 

195586  89 

$222108  93 

POLITICAL   PARTIES   IN    1857. 

Three  tickets  were  put  into  the  field  as  usual. 
The  Democrats  flushed  with  the  recent  Presidential 
victory,  and  strong  in  the  possession  of  the  public 
funds,  the  other  two  suffering  from  overwhelming 
defeats.  E.  M.  Briggs,  of  the  moribund  Know-Noth 
ing  party,  was  the  only  one  elected  on  that  ticket 
in  the  county,  and  almost  the  only  one  in  the  State. 
In  the  Assembly,  "he  chewed  the  bitter  cud  of  Know- 
nothingism,  to  the  end,  alone."  There  was  little 
interest  in  the  election  outside  of  the  scramble  among 
the  office-seekers.  Every  town  had  a  full  set  of 
candidates  for  all  the  positions. 

The  following  list  was  elected: — 

State  Senator — L.  N.  Ketchum. 

Assemblymen — E.  M.  Briggs,  Homer  King. 

County  Surveyor — John  E.  Dicks. 

Superintendent  Common  Schools — E.  B.  Mclntyre. 

JUSTICES    OF    THE    PEACE. 

Township  No.  1 — J.  M.  Douglass,  Geo.  S.  Smith. 
Township  No.  2— J.  T.  Poe,  J.  W.  D.  Palmer. 
Township  No.  3 — John  Doble,  Geo.  Monkton. 
Township  No.  4 — D.  E.  Gans,  E.  B.  Mnlntyre. 


Township  No.  5— C.  N.  K.  Hinkson,  E  B.  Styles. 
Township  No.  6.— Steve  Kendall,  Hugh  Bell. 
Vote  for   Governor— J.  B.  Weller   (Dem.),  1619; 
G.  W.  Bowie  (K.  N.),  997;  Ed.  Stanley  (Eep.),  492. 

OFFICERS   ELECTED    IN    1858. 

Assembly — W.  W.  Cope,  J.  A.  Eagan. 

County  Judge — M.  W.  Gordon. 

Sheriff— W.  J.  Paugh. 

County  Clerk— T.  M.  Pawling. 

District  Attorney — J.  G.  Severance. 

Treasurer — C.  A.  Lagrave. 

Assessor — F.  P.  Smith. 

Public  Administrator — E.  Gallagher. 

Superintendent  Common  Schools — H.  H.  Eheese. 

Coroner — John  Vogan. 

Surveyor — Albert  Moore. 

SUPERVISORS. 

District  No.  1— E.  D.  Stiles. 
District  No.  2 — Eobert  Stewart. 
District  No.  3 — Jacob  Linzee. 

JUSTICES   OF   THE   PEACE. 

Township  No.  1— Geo.   S.  Smith,  J.  W.  Hutchins. 
Township  No.  2— C.  English,  J.  C.  Wicker. 
Township  No.  3— John  Doble,  A.  M.  Ballard. 
Township  No.  4— E.  B.  Howe,  D.  E.  Gans. 
Township  No.  5— E.  B.  Stiles,   C.  N.  W.  Hinkson. 
Township  No.  6— Hugh  Bell,  B.  Nichols. 
Township  No.  7 — SamLoree,  D.  Cartmill. 

RATES    OF    TAXES  FOR  1858. 

For  State  purposes   on  each  $100 50c. 

County  purposes,  50c. 

School  purposes,  10c. 

Indigent  Sick,  20c. 

Calaveras  Fund,  30c. 

Board  purposes,  , 15c. — $1.75 

Also  $3.00  poll-tax  for  roads,  and  also  the  same  for  general  pur 
poses. 

There  is  no  report  found  of  the  state  of  the 
finances  at  the  end  of  the  year.  Ellis  Evans,  the 
County  Treasurer,  reports  the  total  indebtedness  at 
$24,409.43.  This  must  have  been  a  balance,  as  the 
famous  warrant,  No.  103,  still  remained  with  no  por 
tion  paid,  with  accumulated  interest.  On  the  first 
of  July,  in  his  second  quarterly  report,  he  fixes  the 
amount  of  outstanding  warrants  at  $46,717.77. 

There  was  in  the  Treasury  credited  to  the 

General  Fund $  1,799.02 

Hospital  Fund 305.73 

Road  Fund 74.84 

Calaveras  Fund 14,897.45— $17,077.45 

Total  indebtedness $29,640.63 

At  the  end  of  1858  the  Calaveras  Fund  had  accu 
mulated  until  it  amounted  to  $20,198.27,  which,  less 
3  per  cent.,  $605.94,  Treasurer's  commission,  was 
turned  over  to  the  incoming  Treasurer,  C.  A. 
Lagrave. 

FINANCIAL    MATTERS    IN  1859. 

Rates  of  taxes  for  State  purposes  on  each  $100 60c. 

County  purposes,  "         "       50c. 

School  purposes,  "         "       lOc. 

Calaveras  Debt,  "         "       20c. 

Road  purposes,  "         "         5c. — $1.45 

Poll-tax,  $3.00  for  roads,  and  the  same  for  general  purposes. 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


During  the  first  quarter  of  the  year  there  was  paid  on  the  Cal- 
averas  debt  (warrant  103)  the  sum  of  $19,005.50,  leaving  due  the 
sum  of  $19,577.75,  of  which  sum  $9,281.05  was  interest. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  Treasurer  Lagrave  reported  the 
county  debt,  exclusive  of  warrant  103, "at  $6,644.18;  Calaveras 
debt,  $9, 109. 17;  making  a  total  of  $15,753.35. 

This  estimate  was  made  after  deducting  moneys  on  hand 
which  were  as  follows: — 

General   Fund $7,168.91 

Hospital  Fund $2,248.82 

School  Fund 2,348.42 

Road  Fund 567.72 

Calaveras  Fund 3,759.40— $16,091.27 

DISBURSEMENTS   PROM   JULY     1,    1858,   TO   AUG.    1,    1859. 

Salary  of  County  Judge $  2,499.96 

County  Clerk  and  Auditor 3,231.73 

District  Attorney,  salary  and  fees 2,175.00 

Associate  Justices 726.00 

Assessor 2,880.00 

Sheriff  fees  in  criminal  cases $4,189.95 

"      boarding  prisoners 3,426.50 

"     jailor  and  assistant 1,886.00—9,502.45 

Supervisors  per  diem  and  mileage 1,063.05 

Hospital  expenses  and  burials 5,596.57 

Officers  of  election 561,00 

Supplies  for  Court  House  and  jail 1,387.07 

Stationery 

Attorneys'  fees  in  criminal  cases 884.95 

Printing 1,385.00 

Road  purposes 1,367.02 

Inquests 298.60 

Interpreting 98.00 

Collecting  county  licenses  extra  per  cent ....  129.47 

Deficiences  in  gold-dust 156.25 

Miscellaneous  expenses 1,303.19 

Total  warrants  issued $43,995.86 

The  interest  on  the  Calaveras  debt  had  accumulated  to 
$9,281.05,  making  the  whole  debt  $35,798.37  before  any  payment 
was  made  thereon. 

CONDITION   OP   POLITICAL    PARTIES. 

With  the  close  of  the  election  of  1857,  the  Know- 
Nothing  party  ceased  to  be  a  formidable  element  in 
politics.     The  leaders,  generally,  having  been  promi 
nent  members  of  the  defunct  Whig  party,  now  found 
little  difficulty  in  falling  into  the  ranks  of  their  ancient 
foemen,  the    Democrats.     Early   in    the   season   of 
1857,  a  number  of  prominent  Know-Nothings,  J.  O. 
Goodwin  of  Yuba,  and  James  T.  Farley  of  Amador, 
being  of  the  number,  agreed  that,  in  view  of  the 
breaking  up  of  old  parties,  and  the  formation  of  new 
parties  in  the  East,  and  the  expressed  sentiments  of 
President  Buchanan  in  regard  to  some  of  the  objects 
sought  by  the  American  party,  it  was  not  necessary 
to    continue    the    organization.     Farley    became    a 
member  of  the  party,  working  in  the  ranks,  until, 
as  he  was  wont  to  say,  he  had  been  forgiven.     R. 
M.  Briggs  also  trained  with  the  Democrats  until  the 
Spring  of  1861.     W.  W.  Cope,  D.  W.  Seaton,  J.  W. 
Bicknell,    and    others,   old    Whigs,    also    fell    into 
the  Democratic  ranks.     The  Republican  party  was 
mostly  made  up'  of  men  who  did  not  put  themselves 
forward  for  office.     A  lawyer  was  not  often  to  be 
found  in  their  ranks,  occasioning  some  trouble  to 
find   a    suitable    candidate    for    District   Attorney. 
Hearing  some  Republicans  lamenting   the  want   of 
a  suitable  man  in  their  ranks  to  run  for  attorney, 
D.  W.  Seaton  remarked:   "Never  mind.     You  will 
have  lawyers  enough  on  your  side  when  you  come 
to  a  majority."     During  the  first  four  years  of  the 
organization,  it  was   in   a   hopeless   minority,  with 


few  politicians  or  orators  to  meet  the  attacks  of 
ridicule  and  sarcasm,  always  given  to  the  hindmost 
in  the  race. 

With  the  breaking  up  of  the  Know-Nothing  party, 
and  the  affiliation  of  most  of  the  members  with  the 
Democratic  party,  came  the  distinction  "Lecompton" 
and  "Anti-Lecompton,"  growing  out  of  the  attempt 
of  Northern  and  Southern  men  to  colonize  the  Terri 
tory  of  Kansas,  and  bring  it  in  as  a  free  or  slave 
State;  one  wing  of  the  Democratic  party  favoring, 
and  the  other  opposing  the  admission  of  Kansas 
with  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  which  established 
slavery. 

The  vote  for  Governor,  stood  as  follows:  Latham 
(Democrat),  2,023;  John  Curry  (Anti-Lecompton), 
985;  Stanford  (Republican),  232. 

OFFICERS   ELECTED   IN    1859. 

State  Senator — J.  A.  Eagan. 

Assemblymen — P.  C.  Johnson,  J.  H.  Bowman. 

Coroner — J.  C.  Shepherd. 

SUPERVISOR. 

District  No.  1 — C.  Y.  Hammond. 

JUSTICES  OF  THE  PEACE. 

Township  No.  1— J.  W.  Hutchins,  G.  S.  Smith. 

Township  No.  2 — Chas.  English,  J.  A.  Peters. 

Township  No.  3 — John  Doble,  S.  S.  Hartram. 

Township  No.  4— D.  R.  Gans,  H.  Wood. 

Township  No.  5— C.  N.  W.  Hinkson,  R.  C.  Brown. 

Township  No.  6— H.  Bell,  B.  Nichols. 

Township  No.  7 — Jacob  Emminger,  Sam  Loree. 

About  this  time  the  office  of  Supervisor  was  made  of 
three  years  duration  and  the  elections  so  arranged 
among  the  districts  that  one  new  member  should  be 
elected  each  year. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

AMADOR  COUNTY    AT  THE   BEGINNING  OF   1860. 

County  Officers — Financial  Situation — Political  Parties — First 
Appearance  of  R.  Burnell — First  Appearance  of  Tom  Fitch 
—Officers  Elected  in  1860— Amador  Wagon  Road  Voted 
On — Names  of  Amador  Mountaineers — Financial  Affairs  in 
1861 — Calaveras  Indebtedness  Denied — Enormous  Profits 
of  Officers — Political  Parties  in  1861 — The  Amador  Wagon 
Project  Renewed — Vote  on  the  Project,  May  10,  1862 — 
Rates  of  Toll — Impeachment  of  James  H.  Hardy — Political 
Parties  in  1862 — Great  Fire  in  Jackson — Petition  of  M.  W. 
Gordon — Supervisors  Order  the  Building  of  a  Court  House 
— Political  Parties  in  1863 — French  -Bar  Affair — Officers 
Elected  in  1863— General  Vote— Political  Parties  in  1864— 
Vote  of  1864— Financial  Matters— Political  Parties  in  1865 
— Arrest  of  Hall  and  Penry— Election  Returns  by  Precincts, 
1865 — Seaton's  Defection — Counting  the  Votes  —  Clinton 
Vote— List  of  Officers  Elected  in  "1865— Death  of  G.  W. 
Seaton,  and  Election  of  A.  H.  Rose,  his  Successor — Finan 
cial  Matters  in  1865. 

UP  to  this  period,  which  seems  a  natural  point  in 
time  for  a  review,  Amador  county  met  with  unre 
mitting  prosperity.  The  placers  were  yielding 
undiminished  sums;  the  quartz  mines  were  begin 
ning  to  show  their  inexhaustible  treasures;  agricul 
ture  had  assumed  a  permanent  and  profitable 


RESIDENCE ,  RANCH  *»*  ORCHARD   OF  J.  W.  VIO  LETT,     IONE   VALLEY,   AMADOR  COUNTY,  CAL. 


RESIDENCE    or     j.  M  EEHAN, 

JACKSON,  AMADOR  COUNT/,  CAL. 


AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  1860. 


93 


character;  schools  were  established,  and  in  working 
condition;  churches,  and  other  beneficiary  institu 
tions  were  prosperous,  proving  that  society  was  being 
built  on  a  healthy  basis;  and,  last  though  not  least, 
the  county  finances  had  been  generally  economically 
managed,  so  that,  notwithstanding  the  inevitable 
expenses  of  organization  and  commencing  a  govern 
ment,  moderate  taxes  were  sufficient  to  liquidate  all 
expenses.  According  to  the  Assessor's  report  there 
were  fifteen  saw-mills  cutting  11,500.000  feet  of 
lumber  per  year;  thirty-two  quartz-mills  crushing 
yearly  61,000  tons  of  quartz;  six  hundred  miles  of 
main  canal,  besides  distributors;  10,000  acres  of  cul 
tivated  land,  yielding  6,000  tons  of  hay,  34,800 
bushels  of  wheat,  46,000  of  barley,  28,000  of  corn, 
besides  other  produce.  There  were  nearly  10,000 
head  of  cattle,  1,700  head  of  horses,  6,000  swine, 
60,000  fruit  trees,  and  300,000  grape  vines. 

This  condition  of  affairs  would  justify  a  hope  that 
prosperity  might  continue;  but  the  failure  of  the 
placer  mines,  disastrous  fires,  injudicious  manage 
ment  of  county  finances,  with  unfortunate  national 
affairs,  so  changed  the  current  of  events,  that 
Amador  came  near  taking  her  place  among  the 
bankrupt  counties  of  California. 

January  1,  1860,  found  the  following  persons  in 
office: — 

District  Judge — Chas.  Creanor. 

County  Judge — M.  W.  Gordon. 

District  Attorney — J.  G.  Severance. 

County  Clerk  and  Eecorder — T:  M.  Pawling. 

Sheriff— W.  J.  Paugh. 

Treasurer — C.  A.  LaGrave. 

Supervisors — District  No.  1,  E.  D.  Stiles;  District 
No.  2,  Eobert  Stewart;  District  No.  3,  J.  Linzee. 

February  6,  1860,  the  Supervisors  allowed  J.  C. 
Shipman  one  hundred  and  sixty  dollars  for  acting  as 
Clerk  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  for  twenty  days, 
also  seventy-eight  dollars  for  acting  as  Clerk  of  the 
Board  of  Equalization.  These  allowances  seem  but 
the  entering  wedge  to  other  and  more  extravagant 
appropriations,  which  followed  in  the  course  of  a 
few  years. 

FINANCES. 

Tax  levy  for  1860,  adopted  February  9th. 

For  State  purposes,  on  each  $100 60c. 

County         "  "         "   50c. 

School  "        "  .10c. 

Indigent  Sick,  ''        "   20c. 

Calaveras  indebtedness,  on  each  $100 30c. 

Road  Fund  "         "    5c.— fl.75 

In  the  following  report  of  the  indebtedness  of  the 
county  the  interest  seems  to  have  been  omitted: — 

May  1,  1860— 

Warrants  outstanding  on  General  Fund.$ll, 581.44 

"    Calaveras    "      10,797.57— $22,379.01 
Cash  on  hand — 

General  Fund $2,990.36 

Hospital    "    .36 

School       "     1,797.23 

Road          "     ...    .  . 19.80 

Due  from  Sacramento  County 426.85 

Calaveras          "        94.38 

State  to  Hospital  Fund 156.68—$    5,485.66 


On  the  7th  of  November  previous,  the   Calaveras  debt   was 
estimated  at  $19,577.75,  of  which  sum  $9,281.05  was  for  interest. 

July  7,  1860,  F.  Eichling,  Geo.  L.  Gale,  and  D.  L 
Triplett,  appointed  a  commission,  by  Board  of  Super, 
visors,  to  purchase  a  site  for  hospital  grounds;  which 
was  done,  for  the  price  of  sixteen  hundred  dollars. 
The  erection  of  a  suitable  building  on  this  tract 
commenced  a  series  of  debts  which  hung  over  the 
tax-payers  for  the  next  twenty  years. 

REPORT   NOVEMBER  5,  1860. 

Calaveras  indebtedness,  excluding  interest $10,086.05 

Other  "  "  "         12,249.51 


Total $22,335.56 

Cash  on  hand — 

Calaveras  Fund $4,108.05 

General        "    7,907.47 

Hospital      "     2,575.98 

Road  "     684.56 

Due  from  Sacramento  county 2,120.00 

"        Calaveras         "  116.00 


Total $17,512.06 

Total  debt,  exclusive  of  interest,  and  less  the  amount  in 

the  treasury $,823.504 

This  method  of  making  reports  was  not  well  cal 
culated  to  give  the  people  any  correct  idea  of  the 
state  of  the  finances.  The  interest  on  warrant  103 
alone,  now  amounted  to  twenty  thousand  dollars  or 
more;  much  of  it  was  due,  having  accumulated 
to  upwards  of  ten  thousand  dollars  before  any  por 
tion  of  principal  or  interest  was  paid. 

The  Supervisors,  beginning  with  September  3d} 
were : — 

District  No.  1 — C.  Y.  Hammond. 

District  No.  2 — E.  Stewart. 

District  No.  3 — Geo.  McWilliams. 

The  latter  taking  his  seat  September  3d,  succeed 
ing  J.  Linzee. 

POLITICAL   PARTIES   IN    1860. 

Some  of  the  waves  raised  by  the  political  storm  that 
was  raging  in  the  Eastern  States  began  to  be  felt  in 
California.  The  prospect  of  carrying  the  Presiden 
tial  election  and  sharing  the  official  patronage 
induced  the  Eepublicans  to  put  forth  greater  efforts, 
and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  party,  it 
looked  possible  to  carry  some  of  the  county  offices. 
The  Democratic  party  seemed  to  be  disintegrating, 
having  divided  into  the  Douglass  and  Breckenridge 
factions,  while  members  of  the  old  Whig  party,  con 
fident  in  their  principles,  thought  to  rally  round 
them  all  the  conservative  elements  and  quiet  the 
storm  which  threatened  to  engulf  the  nation.  There 
are  some  questions  that  are  so  positive  in  their 
nature  as  to  admit  of  no  compromise;  all  or  nothing 
being  the  only  terms  of  settlement.  The  Eepublicans 
took  strong  ground  against  the  extension  of  slavery, 
though  denying  any  thonght  of  interfering  with  it 
where  it  then  existed.  The  Douglass  Democrats 
wished  to  leave  it  to  the  Territories  and  States  to 
determine  for  themselves  whether  slavery  should  or 
should  not  exist  within  their  boundaries,  thus  exclud 
ing  the  matter  from  Congressional  action.  The 
Breckenridge  party  contended  that  having  been 


94 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


recognized  by  the  Constitution  as  an  element  in  the 
social  compact  of  States,  it  could  not  be  excluded 
from  the  Territories  either  by  National  or  Territorial 
legislation  without  manifest  injustice  to  the  States 
wherein  slavery  existed.  Each  party  endeavored  to 
prove  that  a  true  interpretation  of  the  Constitution 
would  justify  the  proposed  measures  of  exclusion,  rele 
gation  of  the  matter  to  the  States  and  Territories, 
or  general  protection  and  recognition  everywhere 
under  the  flag.  Careful  readers  of  the  early  history 
of  the  United  States  cannot  fail  to  discover  the  ten 
derness,  evasion  even,  with  which  the  subject  of 
slavery  was  treated.  The  word  slavery  had  no 
mention  in  the  Constitution,  those  opposed  to  it  hop 
ing  that  it  would  cease  of  itself;  those  in  favor  of  it 
satisfied  with  its  partial  recognition.  Able  writers 
on  political  economy  assert  that  Constitutions  are 
growths  of  public  opinion;  that  no  constitutional 
enactments  can  stand  long  against  overwhelming 
public  sentiment;  that  the  courts  and  government 
shape  the  enactment  when  they  execute  the  law,  and, 
that  public  sentiment  establishes  the  government. 
Three  large  parties  accused  each  other  of  trying  to 
subvert  the  Constitution,  each  professing  to  see,  in 
the  success  of  either  of  the  others,  utter  ruin  and 
destruction.  We  shall  see,  as  history  progresses,  the 
truth  of  the  principles  alluded  to,  for  the  meaning  of 
the  Constitution  was  eventually  fixed  at  a  cost  of  a 
million  of  lives  and  billions  of  money. 

First-class  orators,  as  well  as  many  who  were 
not  rated  at  all,  traversed  the  country,  not  omitting 
Amador  in  their  labors.  Thousands  of  documents 
bearing  on  the  question,  were  sent  through  the  mails 
or  circulated  by  means  of  committees. 

R.  Burnell,  afterwards  conspicuous  in  Amador  poli 
tics,  made  his  appearance  for  the  first  time.  He  was 
a  lawyer  by  profession,  from  the  central  part  of  New 
York.  Having  accumulated  considerable  money  by 
raising  stock  on  the  plains  around  Sacramento,  he 
spent  a  Winter  in  the  capital,  took  a  notion  to  mingle 
in  political  affairs,  and  made  Amador  County  a  start 
ing-point.  He  was  a  man  of  graceful  presence, 
pleasing  address,  a  fluent  speaker,  with  a  good  train 
ing  in  the  New  York  school  of  politics,  of  which 
Martin  Van  Buren  was  the  best  specimen  and  ideal, 
whose  political  gospel  was  "  neither  give  nor  take 
offense."  He  rapidly  made  his  way  upwards,  being 
first  elected  to  the  Assembly,  where  he  was  elected 
Speaker,  and  afterwards  two  terms  to  the  Senate. 
He  was  also  a  prominent  candidate  for  Congress. 

FIRST   APPEARANCE    OP    TOM    FITCH. 

This  celebrated  orator  was  sent  into  the  country 
to  try  his  strength  of  wing  in  the  woods  and  chap 
arral.  Though  he  had  spoken  once  or  twice  on  the 
steamer  on  which  he  was  a  passenger  to  this  State, 
and  again  once  or  twice  after  landing,  the  general 
impression  was  that  he  was  speaking  a  piece  that 
some  one  had  written  for  him.  His  appearance  was 


boyish  in  the  extreme.  His  plump  and  rather  girlish 
face,  his  lips  with  the  babyish  cupid's  bow  still  giving 
them  shape,  and  his  extremely  youthful  appearance, 
(not  over  twenty  at  least),  did  not  impress  one  at 
first  sight,  or  give  any  indication  of  his  oratorical 
powers.  The  first  meeting  at  which  he  appeared 
was  in  lone.  Very  few  had  heard  of  him,  and  it  was 
supposed  that  the  State  Central  Committee  had  sent, 
as  they  often  had  done  before,  some  troublesome 
aspirant  for  oratorical  honors,  where  he  would  do  the 
least  harm.  James  M.  Hanford,  M.  W.  Belshaw  and 
two  or  three  local  politicians  were  announced  to 
speak,  and  confident  in  their  strength,  inquired  of 
Fitch  which  part  of  the  evening  he  would  prefer,  and 
also  how  much  time  he  Avould  like  to  occupy,  for  it 
was  intended  to  give  the  boy  a  chance  for  success.  He 
rather  dignifiedly  answered  that  he  would  be  satis 
fied  with  any  arrangements  that  might  be  made;  so 
he  was  generously  allowed  the  closing  speech !  After 
the  several  speakers  had  plodded  wearily  through 
the  evening,  the  President  introduced  Thomas  Fitch. 
The  writer  of  this,  who  was  present,  recollects  well 
the  shade  of  disgust  that  passed  over  the  faces  of 
the  audience  at  the  prospect  of  sitting  out  another 
hour  of  dullness.  He  bowed  dignifiedly  to  the  Pres 
ident  and  audience.  His  boyish  appearance  was 
already  gone,  giving  place  to  the  ease  and  self-posses 
sion  born  of  conscious  strength.  He.  commenced 
with  a  few  long,  Ciceronian  sentences,  as  stately  and 
beautiful  in  structure  as  a.  Grecian  temple,  and  what 
was  more,  he  kept  them  up  for  a  full  hour,  never 
faltering  for  a  word,  never  missing  a  note  in  the  lofty 
song  which  he  commenced,  winding  up  with  a  bui-st  of 
eloquence  in  favor  of  universal  freedom  that  Colonel 
Baker  might  have  equaled,  but  never  surpassed. 
There  was  none  of  the  school-boy  in  the  oration. 
The  sentences,  ponderous  as  they  were,  came  out  of 
his  mouth  as  if  propelled  by  an  intellectual  steam 
engine.  Had  the  people  seen  a  train  of  cars  dragged 
by  a  single  pony,  going  a  hundred  miles  an  hour,  their 
astonishment  could  not  have  been  greater.  The  fol 
lowing  night  he  spoke  at  Lancha  Plana  to  a  large 
audience,  that  had  gathered,  as  much  out  of  cui'iosity 
as  anything  else,  to  hear  the  prodigy.  Those  who 
had  not  heard  him  still  contended  that  he  must  have 
repeated  what  had  been  written  for  him  by  some  one 
else;  but  a  circumstance  occurred  which  set  that 
question  at  rest.  A  few  minutes  before  he  ascended 
the  stand  the  news  came  that  Colonel  Baker  had 
been  elected  United  States  Senator  for  Oregon — 
Oregon,  the  home  of  Joe  Lane,  the  immovable  Dem 
ocratic  State!  The  subject  was  one  worthy  the 
power  of  an  orator,  and  Fitch  did  it  justice.  "  The 
waves  of  public  opinion,  sweeping  a  continent  in  their 
course,  are  rocking  the  strongest  citadels  of  slavery." 
Those  who  came  out  of  curiosity  remained,  entranced. 
Perhaps  he  was  the  only  man  who  ever  spoke  in 
Amador  county  that  would  hold  every  one  of  his 
audience  to  the  close. 

Though  a  born  orator,  of  unsurpassed  ability,  his 


AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  1860. 


95 


moral  qualities  were  not  of  corresponding  great 
ness.  He  sadly  disappointed  the  hopes  of  his  early 
admirers,  and  is  now  only  a  fourth  rate  lawyer. 

Among  the  prominent  speakers  engaged  in  this 
campaign  was  James  H.  Hardy,  candidate  for  Judge 
of  the  Sixteenth  Judicial  District,  who  ably  sup 
ported  the  Breckenridge  side  of  the  question. 

The  general  vote  was  :  Lincoln,  995;  Douglass, 
1866;  Breckenridge,  945;  Bell,  178;  total,  3984,  being 
the  largest  vote  ever  polled  in  the  county. 

OFFICERS  ELECTED  IN    1860. 

Judge  of  16th  Judicial  District — J.  H.  Hardy. 

Assemblymen — E.  Burnell,  Thomas  Horrell. 

Sheriff— E.  Cosner. 

Clerk— J.  W.  Bicknell  * 

Treasurer — C.  A.  LaGrave. 

District  Attorney — J.  Foot  Turner. 

Assessor — F.  McGrath. 

Public  Administrator — E.  Gallagher. 

Superintendent  of  Schools — Samuel  Page. 

Surveyor — J.  M.  Griffith. 

Coroner— W.  E.  Fifield. 

JUSTICES  OF  THE  PEACE. 

Township  No.  1 — H.  J.  Bostwick,  M.  J.  Little. 
Township  No.  2— W.  C.  Pratt,  Charles  English. 
Township  No.  3— J.  M.  Hanford,  S.  S.  Hartram. 
Township  No.  4 — Harvey  Wood,  D.  E.  Gans. 
Township  No.  5 — C.  W.  N.  Hinkson,  George  W. 
Haines. 

Township  No.  6— H.  Bell,  B.  Nicholls. 
Township  No.  7 — J.  McMurren,  S.  H.  Loree. 

AMADOR    WAGON   ROAD   VOTED    ON. 

The  discovery  of  the  Comstock  mines  gave  an 
increased  desire  for  the  building  of  a  wagon  road 
to  Carson  valley.  The  Legislature,  by  an  act  ap 
proved  March  23.  1861,  required  the  Board  of  Super 
visors  of  Amador,  to  call  a  special  election  of  the 
voters  of  Amador  county  to  submit  to  them  a  pro 
position  to  issue  bonds  of  said  county,  not  exceeding 
in  the  aggregate  the  sum  of  forty  thousand  dollars,  to 
be  expended  in  the  construction  of  a  wagon  road,  com 
mencing  at  Antelope  Springs,  in  Amador  county,  on 
the  ridge  dividing  the  waters  of  the  Mokelumne  and 
Cosumnes  rivers,  and  following  thence  the  best  practi 
cable  route  to  Hope  valley  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  and  for  the  purpose  at  the 
same  time  of  electing  one  Eoad  Commissioner  in  each 
Supervisor  District  of  said  county. 

The  proposition  was  rejected  by  the  folio  wing  vote: 
For  building  the  road,  1495;  against,  1683. 

A  year  later  the  subject  was  revived  and  carried 
through. 

*J.  W.  Bicknell  was  nominated  in  the  Convention  by  a  bit  of 
sharp  practice.  Alviaza  Hayward,  a  friend  of  Bicknell's,  went 
around  among  the  delegates,  asking  them  to  give  the  old  gentleman 
a  complimentary  vote,  saying  that  he  could  not  get  the  nomi 
nation,  but  it  would  please  him  to  get  a  good  vote.  When 
the  complimentary  vote  was  counted,  it  was  found  to  lie  the 
requisite  number  to  nominate  him.  There  was  no  chance  to 
retreat;  so  the  Convention  bore  the  joke  as  well  as  they  could. 


NAMES     OF    AMADOR    MOUNTAINEERS, 

Enrolled  1861,  for  service   on  the   plains,  guarding 
the  mail  route  to  Fort  Laramie: — 

Wm.  McMullen,  Capt.  A.  E.  Abbott, 

D.  B.  Haskell,  1st.  Lieut.     John  Davis, 

E.  M.  Crandall,  2d.  Lieut.     Joseph  Willet, 
John  Parsons,  Brev.  Lieut.   J.  Dennis, 


F.  Eobjent, 
John  Ennis, 
J.  P.  Ewing, 
Albert  Moore, 

D.  B.  Trimble, 
J.  Hall, 

T.  J.  Yager, 
B.  J.  Thompson, 
Geo.  Monroe, 
John  Evans, 
H.  E.  Brown, 
John  Dickinson, 
T.  H.  Dickin, 
Chas.  Walton, 
A.  Carpenter, 
P.  Brady, 

E.  McCaugherty, 
W.  Kelly, 


W.  L.  Ehynerson, 
J.  M.  Griffith, 
J.  H.  Bradley, 
A.  Allen, 

W.  E.  McCormick, 
C.  H.  Ashby, 
L.  D.  Winchester, 
Geo.  Teas, 
John  Ferguson, 
I.  N.  Swan, 
F.  Brill, 
J.  Johnson, 
P.  H.  Eepp, 
John  Morris, 
Isaac  Perrin, 
W.  S.  Cooledge. 
Joseph  Alyea, 
A.  E.  Martin, 
J.  C.  H.  Wagner. 

[The  publishers  intended  to  furnish  a  list  of  all  the 
volunteers  who  left  the  county,  but  were  unable  to 
get  their  names.] 

The  Supervisors  made  the  following  report  of  finan 
cial  matters  May  7,  1861: — 

Amounts  of  all  warrants  drawn  on  Treas 
ury  from  Nov.  5,  1860,  to  May  7,  1861, 

on  General  Fund $22,991.26 

Total  receipts  for  same  time  exclusive  of 

Calaveras  and  School  Funds 31,366.81 

Total  amount  of  indebtedness  exclusive  of 
interest  on  outstanding  warrants  and 

Calaveras  debt 4,936.05 

!    Calaveras  indebtedness  'including  interest 

on  same 5,769.69— $10,754.74 

i    Assets — County  buildings  and  furniture. .   14,500.00 

Cash  on  hand  including  solvent  debts  . .     6,955.86 — $21,455.86 
:    Above  indebtedness .' $10,701.06 

RATE  OF  TAXES  FOR  1861. 

For  State  purposes  on  each  $100 60c. 

.50c. 
.10c. 
.20c. 
.30c. 
.  5c — $1.75 


County  purposes, 

School  purposes, 

Indigent  sick, 

Calaveras  debt, 

Road  purposes, 

Also  $6. 00  poll-tax  for  State  and  County  purposes. 

CALAVERAS   INDEBTEDNESS    DENIED. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  Decem 
ber  26,  1861,  the  following  proceedings  were  had: — 

"WHEREAS,  By  the  quarterly  financial  report  of 
the  Auditor  and  Treasurer  of  Amador  county,  sub 
mitted  to  the  Board  on  the  first  Monday  of  Decem 
ber,  1861,  it  appears  that  there  was,  upon  that  day, 
in  the  hands  of  said  Treasurer,  the  sum  of  six  thou 
sand  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  dollars  and  four 
cents,  credited  to  a  fund  known  as  the  Calaveras 
County  Fund;  and, 

"  WHEREAS,  It  is  the  opinion  of  this  Board  that 
the  object  for  which  said  fund  was  created,  no  longer 
exists  (the  debt  formerly  due  from  Amador  county 
to  said  Calavcras  county,  having  been  fully  paid). 

"It  is  therefore  ordered  that  the  said  Treasurer  of 
Amador  county  be,  and  is  hereby  directed,  to  trans- 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


fer  from  the  said  Calaveras  County  Fund  to  the  Gen 
eral  Fund  of  Amador  county,  the  sum  of  six  thousand 
dollars,  and  also  that  all  such  sum  or  sums  as  may 
be  paid  into  the  said  Treasury  after  the  said  first 
Monday  of  December,  1861,  upon  said  Calaveras 
County  Fund,  be  credited  to  the  General  Fund  of 
Amador  county." 

From  the  records  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  it 
appears  that  on  the  second  day  of  December,  1861? 
they  entered  into  an  agreement  with  J.  Foot  Tur 
ner,  by  which  the  said  Turner  agreed  to  evade  or 
satisfy  the  payment  on  the  part  of  Amador  county, 
of  the  sum  of  six  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  dollars,  then  on  hand  and  in  the  treasury,  due 
to  the  county  of  Calaveras  as  a  part  of  the  Cala 
veras  indebtedness  on  warrant  103,  which  he  seems 
to  have  done,  as  he  was  allowed  the  commission  of 
ten  per  cent,  on  the  same,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board 
September  1,  1862.  Subsequently,  however,  the  mat] 
ter  came  before  the  District  Court.  In  the  suit 
of  Beals,  the  holder  of  warrant  No.  103,  against  the 
Supervisors  of  Amador  county,  in  1864,  the  records 
showed  that  a  writ  of  mandamus  was  issued  from 
the  District  Court,  S.  W.  Brockway  presiding,  to 
the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Amador  county,  requir 
ing  them  to  levy  a  special  tax  for  the  payment  of 
the  balance  of  the  Calaveras  indebtedness,  amount 
ing  to  $7,556.16,  in  accordance  with  a  law  approved 
April  27,  1855.  The  matter  was  appealed  to  the 
Supreme  Court,  where  the  decision  of  Judge  Brock- 
way  was  confirmed.  The  amount  of  the  warrant 
when  drawn,  was  $26,517.32;  up  to  1865,  $31,292.83 
had  been  paid  on  it  when  the  county,  by  the  advice 
of  J.  Foot  Turner,  refused  to  pay  anything  further. 
The  judgment  given  by  Brockway,  $7,556.16,  was 
avoided  until  it  amounted  to  $11,000,  making  over 
$40,000  in  all  that  was  paid  on  the  warrant,  the 
costs,  and  attorneys'  fees,  swelling  it  to  at  least  $50,- 
000,  before  the  demand  was  settled. 

ENORMOUS   PROFITS  OF  THE  OFFICE-HOLDERS. 

It  is  said  that  the  offices  of  Sheriff  and  County 
Clerk  were  worth  from  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand 
dollars  per  year.  The  latter  was  also  Recorder  of 
Deeds,  and  acted  as  the  Clerk  of  the  Board  of  Super 
visors  and  Equalization;  also,  as  Auditor  of  Accounts, 
for  all  of  which  he  drew  high  pay.  At  a  meeting  of 
the  Board  of  Supervisors,  February  6, 1861,  present, 
James  H.  Allen  and  George  McWilliams,  it  was 
ordered  that  the  Auditor,  J.  W.  Bicknell,  be  paid,  as 
salary,  two  hundred  and  forty  dollars  per  month,  in 
quarterly  installments;  though  October  9th,  follow 
ing,  his  salary  was  reduced  to  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  dollars  per  month.  The  following  items  from 
the  records  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  will  show 
how  the  money  went: — 

November  18,  1861— Allowed  J.  W.  Bicknell  $300 
for  making  assessment  roll;  also,  $58  as  Clerk  to 
the  Board  of  Equalization. 

October  3,  1862— $100  per  month  for  signing  poll- 
tax  receipts,  and  foreign  miners'  licenses. 


October  3,  1862— (Page  435,  Vol.  B,  minutes  of 
Board  of  Supervisors.)  Allowed  J.  W.  Bicknell  quar 
terly  salary  as  Auditor,  $495;  quarterly  salary  as 
Clerk  of  Board  of  Supervisors,  $167.50. 

October  8th — Recording  bonds  of  county  officers, 
$153. 

November  8th — Allowed  for  acting  as  Clerk  of 
Supervisors,  $96.  Each  of  the  Board  also  allowed 
themselves,  November  8,  1862,  $48,  as  members  of 
the  Board  of  Equalization. 

July  1,  1861 — George  F.  Tripp,  allowed  fees  in 
criminal  cases,  $2,155,  a  fourth  claim — $810 — being 
rejected.  For  a  few  minutes'  services  as  interpreter, 
involving  no  loss  of  time  worth  mentioning,  $5.00 
was  allowed.  $24  was  allowed  for  moving  a  person 
twelve  miles. 

February  14,  1863 — Treasurer  LaGrave  allowed 
three  per  cent.,  amounting  to  $64,  for  apportioning 
School  Fund. 

June  2,  1862 — C.  Y.  Hammond  and  other  Super 
visors  allowed  each  $32  for  services  on  the  wagon- 
road  election,  which  services  should  have  been 
included  in  the  ordinary  duties  of  Supervisor.  The 
Chairman  was  allowed  $25  per  month  for  signing 
road  receipts. 

July  7,  1863 — Board  of  Supervisors  allowed  them 
selves  $8.00  per  day  for  twenty-three  days,  for  act 
ing  as  members  of  the  Board  of  Equalization. 

July  7,  1863— Allowed  fees  to  Sheriff  for  month  of 
June,  $549  53;  also,  for  copying  summons  to  Jurors, 
$339. 

March  3,  1863— Allowed  County  Treasurer  $143 
for  signing  licenses;  same  date,  J.  W.  Bicknell  $330 
for  acting  as  County  Auditor. 

April  8,  1863— Treasurer  allowed  $88.40  for  appor 
tioning  School  Fund;  June  6th,  for  same,  $119.34. 

January  6,  1863 — For  printing  blank  road  receipts, 
$150. 

April  8,  1863 — Allowed  $251  for  printing  county 
blanks;  also,  June  2d,  for  same,  $120. 

June  6,  1863 — Quarterly  salary  of  $495  allowed 
J.  W.  Bicknell  as  Auditor. 

September  9th — $285  rent  allowed  for  county 
buildings  for  month  of  August. 

September  9,  1863— $627  allowed  as  Sheriff's  fees 
for  last  month. 

September  21,  1863 — Supervisors  allowed  them 
selves  $8.00  a  day  as  canvassers  of  the  election 
returns. 

October  7,  1863— J.  W.  Bicknell  allowed  $200  for 
making  out  duplicate  military  list. 

December  16,  1863 — County  Auditor  allowed  $495 
as  quarter's  salary. 

All  services  rendered  seemed  to  be  the  subject  for 
special  fees.  It  is  not  strange  that  candidates 
should  spend  a  thousand  or  two  in  trying  to  get  a 
nomination  when  a  nomination  was  equivalent  to  an 
election,  or  as  much  when  the  result  of  the  election 
was  doubtful. 

POLITICAL    PARTIES  IN  1861. 

Soon  after  the  election  of  Lincoln,  the  old  land 
marks,  which  had  stood  for  many  years  as  guides  to 
the  various  political  crafts,  went  down  out  of  sight. 
Men  who  had  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  anchored  to 
the  Whig  or  Democratic  doctrines,  found  themselves 
without  soundings.  Professed  politicians,  who  were 
accustomed  to  weigh  public  opinion  and  move 
accordingly,  were  now  unable  to  tell  where  the 
surging  waters  and  contrary  currents  would  permit 


RESIDENCE  OF    D.  B.  SPAGNOLI,  JACKSON, AMADOR COUNTY,  CAL. 


SPRINGDALE        R  ESI  DENCE  >"D  FARM    of    A.  CAMINIETTl 
FOUR   MJLES    N.  E. OF  JACKSON,  AWADOR  COUNTY,  CAL. 


OF  THE 

[TJNIVERSITT, 


AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  1860. 


97 


secure  anchorage.  When  everything  is  in  confusion, 
it  sometimes  happens  that  a  single  commanding 
voice  will  turn  a  wavering  crowd  to  its  own  course. 
The  steady  disruption  of  the  Southern  States,  the 
boldness  of  their  friends  in  California,  who  certainly 
evinced  no  fear  of  consequences,  made  the  prospect 
of  cutting  out  California  from  the  Union,  quite 
imminent.  The  newspapers,  usually,  are  but  the 
mouth-pieces  of  public  sentiment.  During  this  uncer 
tain  condition  of  affairs,  the  Ledger,  which,  since 
1856,  had  been  acting  with  the  Democratic  party, 
while  speaking  of  the  breaking  off  from  the  Union  of 
Southern  States,  remarked:  "  For  the  present  the 
interests  of  California  seem  to  be,  to  remain  with  the  old 
Union." 

This  sentiment  prevailed  to  a  great  extent  among 
the  politicians.  Among  the  first  to  raise  the  alarm 
of  danger,  was  E.  M.  Briggs,  a  Douglass  Democrat, 
who  called  public  meetings  in  different  parts  of  the 
county,  and  proclaimed  to  the  people  the  designs  of 
some  of  the  ultra-Breckenridge  Democrats  to  carry 
California  out  of  the  Union.  He  made  speeches  in 
his  peculiar  style  of  oratory,  in  several  of  the  larger 
towns;  introduced  strong  Union  resolutions,  with  no 
uncertain  sound,  which  were  usually  adopted.  At 


lone  he  was  met  with  a  solid  Union  club  of  one 
hundred,  from  Muletown,  headed  by  the  president, 
Jack  Miller,  who  pledged  his  company  to  the  main 
tenance  of  the  Union,  though  some  of  his  political 
friends  persuaded  him  afterwards  that  he  was  a  little 
premature  in  his  promises.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
these  demonstrations,  made  previous  to  the  firing  on, 
and  surrender  of,  Fort  Sumter,  helped  to  shape 
public  sentiment,  so  that  when  the  time  came  for  an 
expression  of  public  opinion,  it  was  overwhelmingly 
in  favor  of  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union.  The  Fourth 
of  July  celebrations  in  the  different  towns  of  the 
county  were  hearty  and  enthusiastic — nearly  the 
whole  population  participating. 

The  Douglass  Democratic  Convention  at  Sacra 
mento,  which  met  to  nominate  a  candidate  for 
Governor,  took  strong  Union  grounds,  denouncing 
hesitation  as  cowardice,  and  doubt  as  treason. 

The  three  parties  put  forward  full  sets  of  candi 
dates.  All  professed  to  be  in  favor  of  union.  The 
Eepublicans  favored  the  maintenance  of  the  Union 
by  prosecuting  the  war  until  all  rebellion  was  crushed 
out,  at  whatever  expense;  the  Douglass  Democrats,  by 
conducting  the  war  according  to  the  Constitution, 
with  Democratic  generals  under  a  Democratic  admin- 


ELECTION    RETURNS    BY    PRECINCTS- 1861. 


PRECINCTS. 

GOVERNOR. 

LT.    GOVERNOR. 

MEMBERS   OF   CONGRESS. 

ASSEMBLYMEN. 

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Amador  

11 

10 
16 
18 
23 
17 
27 
46 
45 
2 

17 

W 

51 
1 
12 
11 
21 
28 
53 
14 
101 
14 

73 
11 
25 

"ii 

45 
8 
68 
73 
16 
32 
8 
128 
117 
48 
4 
25 
4 
21 
c 

27 
18 
35 
186 
39 
236 
6 
15 

22 
10 
14 
18 
25 
21 
26 
48 
46 
3 
20 
33 
131 
232 
62 
6 
8 
35 
30 
25 
36 
24 
33 
112 
21 
236 

O" 

50 
1 
14 
11 

22 
28 
53 
14 
101 
14 

"l2 
67 
97 
38 

7 

12 

8 

"e 

21 
84 
55 
100 

64 
11 
25 

12 
42 
9 
64 
71 
15 
29 
8 
112 
103 
47 
2 
24 
4 
6 
8 
25 
20 
30 
106 
38 
195 
5 
15 

23 
10 
14 
18 
26 
23 
26 
49 
48 
4 
20 
30 
139 
328 
67 
5 
8 
37 
31 
25 
36 
26 
33 
113 
25 
241 
37 

22 
10 
14 
18 
25 
22 
26 
49 
46 
4 
20 
30 
136 
328 
66 
6 
8 
37 
30 
25 
36 
25 
31 
112 
25 
241 
36 

51 
1 
14 
11 
22 
28 
53 
15 
102 
14 

51 
1 
14 
11 
22 
28 
53 
15 
102 
14 

64 
11 

25 

62 
11 

25 

63 
11 

25 

1 

18 
12 
17 
9 
24 
20 
17 
81 
48 
5 
18 
30 
111 
275 
58 
6 
1 
35 
29 
21 
35 
23 
32 
106 
41 
231 
29 

22 
11 
12 
18 
24 
30 
29 
49 
30 
3 
21 
33 
127 
329 
86 
6 
8 
36 
30 
25 
35 
24 
33 
110 
33 
233 
35 

48 

52 

65 
9 
24 

63 
10 
26 

Badger's  Store  

9 
20 
19 
48 
51 
15 
98 
14 

14 
11 
9 
48 
52 
13 
103 
14 

Buena  Vista  

12 
40 
9 
63 
72 
15 
29 
8 
106 
97 
42 
3 
24 
2 
6 
8 
25 
18 
30 
103 
35 
189 
3 
15 
8 
1 

11 
41 
9 
62 

68 
15 
29 
8 
109 
96 
42 
2 
24 
2 
6 
8 
24 
19 
27 
107 
35 
189 
3 
15 
8 
1 

11 

37 
9 
63 
8 

11 
35 
9 
38 
63 
13 
27 
11 
j07 
jlS 
42 
2 
31 
2 
7 
7 
23 
19 
25 
99 
19 
188 
6 
15 
8 
1 

13 
41 
10 
59 
83 
14 
28 
8 
112 
108 
40 
2 
24 
2 
5 
12 
24 
19 
27 
102 
26 
195 
6 
15 
8 
1 

Butte  City  

Clinton  

Drytown  

Fiddletown  

29 
8 
109 
62 
5 
2 
19 
2 

Iowa  Flat  

33 
117 
306 
61 
4 
7 
35 
15 
24 
33 
26 
28 
34 
22 
201 
34 

12 
66 
97 
38 

8 

12 

8 

"e 
"21 

82 
53 
95 

12 
66 

98 
38 

7 

12 
66 

98 
38 
8 

12 
63 
95 
29 
8 

12 
64 
100 
31 
8 

lone  City   

Jackson  

Lancha  Plana  

Martin's  Ranch  

Middle  Bar 

Muletown  

12 

7 

12 

8 

12 

7 

12 

8 

Rich  Bar 

8 
24 
18 
26 
72 
35 
179 
3 
15 

"26 

Pine  Grove  

6 

6 

7 

7 

Putt's  Bar 

Ranch  

21 
84 
54 
102 

21 
84 
55 
101 
1 

23 

84 
50 
105 

21 
83 
50 
101 
1 

Sutler  Creek  

Upper  Rancheria  

Volcano  

Willow  Springs  

White's  Bar 

4J 

22 
1 

t 
1 

2 
43 

22 
1 

9 

1 

2 
43 

2 
43 

22 
1 

22 
1 

2 
36 

2 
43 

21 
1 

21 
1 

French  Bar  :    

Totals  

1258 

827 

1299 

1448 

838 

1099 

1487 

1478 

841 

844 

1063 

1058 

843 

27 

1370 

1477 

819 

826 

1024 

1083 

13 


98 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


istration,  believing  that  genuine  Democracy  was  a 
cure  for  all  the  ills  that  could  befall  a  State.  The 
Breckenridge  Democrats  were  supposed  to  be,  to 
some  extent,  in  sympathy  with  the  Rebellion,  but 
they  confined  their  arguments  mostly  to  charging 
the  Administration  with  numerous  faults,  and  a 
systematic  violation  of  the  Constitution.  Axtell, 
Farley,  and  Eagan  were  able  speakers,  and  repre 
sented  the  Nation  as  having  been  hurried  into  a 
needless  war  by  the  infatuation  of  half-crazy 
fanatics,  who,  unless  prevented,  would  ruin  every 
thing  to  give  liberty  to  a  race  that  was  little  above 
the  beasts  of  the  field  in  intellectual  and  moral  devel 
opment.  It  was  their  object  generally  to  represent 
the  South  as  the  aggrieved  party,  that  was  willing, 
even  anxious,  to  return  to  the  Union  when  their 
rights  were  secured  to  them.  Occasionally  a  speaker, 
like  the  Hon.  A.  B.  Dibble,  of  Nevada,  would  take 
up  the  old  story  of  negro  equality,  and  draw  a  lively 
picture  of  a 

"Nigger  in  the  bed 
With  your  sister  wed." 

But  the  more  thoughtful  knew  that  two  opposing 
civilizations  had  met  in  the  "  irrepressible  conflict;" 
the  one  based  on  the  rights  of  all  men  to  pursue 
their  own  substantial  happiness;  the  other,  on  the 
customs  which  made  privileged,  classes  of  kings, 
nobility,  and  hereditary  masters,  with  the  concom 
itants  of  subjects  and  slaves.  It  must  be  confessed 
that  in  the  history  of  the  ages  that  have  gone  before, 
the  privileged  classes  have  usually  won  the  field. 

The  relative  strength  of  the  parties,  as  manifested 
by  the  vote  for  Governor,  was:  For  Stanford  (Repub 
lican),  1,299;  Conness  (Douglass  Democrat),  1,258; 
McConnell  (Breckenridge  Democrat),  827. 

The  following  persons  were  elected  in  Amador 
county: — 

State  Senator — R.  Burnell. 

Assemblymen — G.  W.  Seaton,  W.  A.  Waddell. 

Supervisor,  District  No.  3 — James  H.  Allen. 

JUSTICES  OF   THE   PEACE. 

Township  No.  1— J.  G.  High,  G.  S.  Smith. 
Township  No.  2 — Chas.  English,  J.  A.  Peters. 
Township  No.  3 — H.  T.  Barnum,  John  Doble. 
Township  No.  4— J.  S.  Hill,  H.  Wood. 
Township  No.  5— R.  C.  Brown,  E.  B.  Styles. 
Township  No.  6 — Green  Aden,  B.  Nichols. 
Township  No.  7 — S.  H.  Loree,  N.  Yipon. 

AMADOR   WAGON   ROAD   REVIVED. 

The  increasing  importance  of  the  Nevada  mines, 
the  discovery  of  the  veins  at  Markleeville,  Silver 
City,  and  other  places  in  the  eastern  part  of  Amador 
county,  the  transportation  of  enormous  quantities 
of  goods  over  the  Placerville  route,  and  the  conse 
quent  prosperity  of  that  portion  of  El  Dorado  county, 
traversed  by  the  road,  induced  the  friends  of  an 
Amador  tramontane  road,  to  make  another  effort. 
Accordingly,  in  answer  to  the  requests  of  a  large 
number  of  petitioners,  the  Legislature  granted  a 


second  trial,  specifying  how  the  road  should  be  built, 
in  case  the  people  voted  for  it.  An  election  was 
held  May  10, 1862.  About  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  popu 
lation  voted,  the  measure  being  carried  by  less  than 
half  of  the  voters  in  the  county.  Towns  along  the 
proposed  line  of  the  road,  or  connected  with  it, 
voted  nearly  unanimously  for  it.  Towns  outside, 
like  Lancha  Plana,  were  equally  opposed  to  it.  The 
question  was  decided  by  a  vote  of  1,307  for,  and  542 

against. 

VOTE    BY    PRECINCTS 
For  or  Against  the  Amador  Wagon  Road,  May  10,  1862. 


PRECINCTS. 

For  the  Road  and 
Issuance  of  Bonds 

$s$ 

§  &§. 
^PS- 
Is 

g§^ 

§  w 

o 
0  & 

i-n  PJ 

Amador  

14 

54 

Sutter  Creek  

117 

29 

Badgers  Store  

40 

8 

Forest  Home  

34 

1 

Fiddletown  

209 

Dry  town  

18 

80 

Arkansas  

19 

Aqueduct  City  

30 

5 

Fosters  Ranch  

24 

Upper  Rancheria  

50 

13 

Pine  Grove  

64 

1 

Volcano  ;  

416 

7 

Butte  City  ,   

22 

9 

Clinton  

21 

7 

Lancha  Plana  

126 

Q.  Ranch  

25 

3 

New  York  Ranch  

26 

9 

Jackson  

97 

101 

French  Bar  •  

15 

1 

lone  City  

65 

64 

Iowa  Flat  

1 

24 

Total  -  

1307 

542 

A.  J.  Potter,  Wm.  Crangle,  and  W.  C.  Jennings 
were  chosen  a  Board  of  Commissioners  to  build  the 
road. 

The  franchise  for  building  this  road  was  granted 
to  C.  D.  Burleson,  James  Tullock,  E.  B.  Wooley,  Geo. 
Johnson,  R.  M.  Briggs,  David  Coblentz,  M.  Tynan, 
and  Leroy  Worden.  The  county  was  permitted, 
by  Act  of  the  Legislature,  to  assist  these  parties 
to  the  extent  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  in 
bonds  bearing  twelve  per  cent,  interest  per  annum, 
payable  in  one,  two,  three,  four  and  five  years  from 
date.  In  case  the  county  donated  these  bonds,  the 
road  was  to  be  finished  by  the  1st  of  October  of  the 
same  year,  or  the  franchise  was  to  be  forfeited.  The 
road  was  to  be  sixteen  feet  wide,  and  the  maximum 
grade  eighteen  feet  to  the  hundred.  Tolls  were  per 
mitted  as  follows: — 

For  each  loaded  wagon,  one  dollar;  for  each  ani 
mal  attached,  twenty-five  cents;  loaded  pack-ani 
mals,  each  twenty -five  cents;  pleasure  carriages 
and  buggies,  one  dollar;  empty  freight  wagons  and 
unladen  pack-animals,  half  rates.  The  tolls  were  to 
be  reduced  twenty  per  cent,  at  the  end  of  five  years. 

The  route  was  divided  into  five  sections,  begin 
ning  at  Antelope  Springs,  thence  to  Tragedy  Springs, 
which  formed  section  No.  1;  thence  to  the  crossing 


AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  1860. 


99 


of  the  outlet  of  Silver  lake,  which  formed  section 
No.  2;  thence  to  Carson  Spur,  No.  3;  to  Summit  lake, 
No.  4;  and  Hope  valley,  No.  5;  the  road  at  the  latter 
place  intersecting  the  Big  Tree  and  Carson  Valley 
road.  The  payment  of  the  bonds  was  provided  for 
by  taxes  as  follows,  levied  on  all  property: — 

1862 — Twenty-five  cents  on  each  $100. 

1863— Fifty  cents  on  each  $100. 

1864— Forty-five  cents  on  each  $100. 

1865 — Forty  cents  on  each  $100. 

1866— Thirty-five  on  each  $100. 

1867— Thirty  cents  on  each  $100. 
When  the  vote  was  found  to  be  in  favor  of  the  road, 
quite  a  rush  was  made  to  get  favorable  locations  for 
public  houses,  and  several  fine  buildings  were  erected 
at  different  points  along  the  road.  Saw-mills  were  con 
structed  with  the  expectation  of  supplying  both  the 
W  ashoe  mines  and  the  Sacramento  market.  On  com 
pletion  of  the  road  a  stage  line,  in  connection  with  the 
Sacramento  and  Stockton  lines,  took  passengers  to 
Silver  Lake  and  other  way  places.  Quite  a  trade 
sprang  up  over  the  road,  the  farmers  carrying  their 
fruit  and  produce  to  Washoe.  The  travel  had  to  be 
abandoned  as  winter  came,  on  account  of  the  snow, 
which  fell  to  the  depth  of  from  three  to  twenty  feet, 
the  last  named  being  the  usual  depth  at  Silver  Lake. 
The  deep  snow  very  often  crushed  the  houses  and 
destroyed  the  furniture.  A  fine  house  near  Corral 
Flat,  owned  by  Goldsworthy  and  Mayo,  was  de 
stroyed  in  this  way.  The  road  did  not  answer  the 
expectations  of  thepublic.  Thetrade  was  not  diverted 
from  the  Placerville  road,  and,  on  the  completion  of 
the  railroad  to  Nevada,  both  roads  fell  into  compara 
tive  disuse.  The  lower  portion  of  the  road  is  used 
to  take  lumber  from  the  mountains,  and,  in  Summer, 
a  few  visitors  to  Silver  Lake  give  a  little  life  to  the 
higher  portion. 

IMPEACHMENT  OF  JAMES  H.  HARDY. 

Hardy  was  Judge  of  the  Sixteenth  Judicial  District 
comprising  the  counties  of  Amador  and  Calaveras. 
He  was  a  man  of  undisputed  talents,  great  inde 
pendence  of  character,  amounting  to  recklessness. 
Like  all  men  of  that  character,  he  took  no  middle 
course,  was  always  in  one  extreme  or  the  other, 
and  made  hosts  of  friends  as  well  as  enemies.  Early 
in  the  contest  he  took  the  side  of  the  South;  often 
boasted  of  being  a  rebel,  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
Government  had  gone  to  hell,  drank  to  the  success 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  conducted  himself 
generally  in  a  way  hardly  suitable  to  the  position 
he  occupied.  'Early  in  the  session  of  the  Legislature 
of  1862,  Judge  Campbell  of  Calaveras,  prepared 
articles  of  impeachment,  numbering  some  twenty  or 
more,  charging  him  with  malfeasance  in  office  on 
divers  occasions;  one  specification  being  a  charge 
of  violating  his  oath  of  office  in  procuring  the  dis 
charge  of  David  S.  Terry,  on  his  trial  for  killing 
Broderick.  The  article  alleged  that  a  change  of 
venue  had  been  made  to  Marin  county,  where  Hardy 


was  holding  Court;  that,  with  his  knowledge  and 
consent,  the  clock  had  been  put  forward;  that  he 
opened  Court  at  ten  according  to  the  clock,  although 
it  was  much  earlier  by  the  true  time;  that  the  trial 
was  hastily  and  indecently  hurried  through,  with 
out  giving  time  to  get  the  witnesses  on  the  part  of 
the  State;  that,  although  the  important  witnesses 
were  then  on  the  way  from  San  Francisco,  and, 
even  in  sight  on  the  bay,  being  detained  by  con 
trary  winds  (there  then  being  no  steam-ferry),  ho 
refused  to  continue  the  Court,  and  ordered  the  jury 
in  the  absence  of  the  witnesses,  to  find  for  the 
acquittal  of  Terry,  setting  him  free.  On  this  charge, 
the  Assembly,  sitting  as  a  High  Court  of  Impeach 
ment,  was  evenly  divided,  standing  eighteen  to 
eighteen.  On  the  charge  of  uttering  disloyal  senti 
ments,  and  using  language  unbecoming  his  high  posi 
tion,  he  was  found  guilty,  and  suspended  from  per 
forming  the  duties  of  the  office. 

Judge  W.  H.  Badgely,  afterwards  unanimously 
elected  to  the  position,  was  appointed  to  fill  the 
unexpired  portion  of  the  term. 

POLITICAL   PARTIES   IN    1862. 

The  disruption  of  the  Douglass  Democracy,  became 
apparent  early  in  the  season.  The  efforts  put  for 
ward  by  the  South  to  maintain  the  Confederacy, 
and,  by  the  Administration  to  break  it  down,  con 
vinced  the  most  skeptical  that  peace  could  come 
only  by  the  utter  defeat  of  one  or.'  the  other.  The 
Democracy  now  assumed  a  stronger  tone.  The 
Dispatch,  their  ably  edited  organ,  did  not  hesitate 
to  avow  its  sympathy  for  the  Kebellion,  and  kept  in 
its  columns  the  Kentucky  resolutions  of  1798,  which 
held  to  the  right  of  each  State  to  judge  of  any  infrac 
tion  of  the  compact  by  any  other  State,  as  well  as 
the  right  to  choose  it  own  remedy  therefor,  mean 
ing  that  each  and  every  individual  of  the  family 
of  States  had  a  right  to  step  out,  at  its  will  or  con 
venience.  About  this  time,  the  "  Knights  of  the 
Golden  Circle  "  were  organized  in  different  parts  of 
the  county.  Their  meetings  were  generally  held 
in  out-of-the-way  places,  and  as  quietly  as  possible. 
The  object  of  the  organization  was  probably  made 
known  to  but  few  of  the  members  even,  the  design 
being  to  have  the  material  well  in  hand  to  use  in 
case  an  opportunity  offered,  rather  than  the  execu 
tion  of  any  well-digested  plan  of  aiding  the  .Rebellion, 
or  carrying  the  State  of  California  out  of  the  Union. 
A  hundred  and  twenty-eight  men  had  monthly 
meetings  in  the  hills  west  of  the  Blue  Eidge,  near 
where  Stony  creek  comes  into  Jackson  creek; 
though,  it  is  said,  that  a  few  meetings  were  held 
near  Buena  Vista.  The "  organization  was  met  by 
another,  the  "Loyal  League,"  and  also  by  the 
organization  of  the  "  Home  Guards,"  who  were  sup 
plied  with  guns  and  ammunition  by  the  Govern 
ment.  The  fact  that'  the  population  of  California 
was  composed  of  people  from  all  the  States,  ren 
dered  it  quite  certain  that  an  insurrection  would  be 


100 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


attended  with  a  fearful  destruction  of  life  and  prop 
erty.  Property  is  always  a  powerful  conservator 
of  the  peace;  and  it  was  much  harder  to  arouse  the 
people  into  a  war  of  ideas  than  it  would  have  been 
ten  years  before,  when  the  farms,  residences,  and 
valuable  stores,  had  not  yet  made  their  appearance; 
and  no  insurrection  occurred. 

When  the  Republican  Convention  met,  a  petition, 
signed  by  three  hundred  Douglass  Democrats,  was 
handed  in,  asking  the  Convention  to  drop  the  name 
"Republican,"  disorganize,  and  form  a  Union  party. 
As  there  was  nothing  in  a  name,  and  the  objects  of 
the  two  were  essentially  the  same,  the  request  was 
acceded  to.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Doug 
lass  Democrats  in  the  county,  only  a  year  before, 
had  a  much  larger  number  of  votes  than  the  Breck- 
enridge  Democrats;  the  relative  numbers  of  the 
parties  on  the  vote  for  Governor  being  for  Stanford, 
1,299;  Conness,  1,258;  McConnel,  827. 

They  had  swept  all  the  county  offices  by  majori 
ties  from  three  to  eight  hundred. 

The  vote  for  State  Senator  in  1861  was:  For  Bur- 
nell,  1,546;  Farley,  1,029;  Hanford,  753. 

Mr.  Burnell  joined  the  Union  party.  The  move 
ment  seems  to  have  been  preconcerted  throughout 
the  State,  as  from  this  date  the  Douglass  party  dis 
appeared.  The  Democratic  party  ceased  to  wear 
any  qualifying  prefix,  and  became,  thenceforth,  the 
"  Simon  Pure."  The  old  and  well-known  war  horses, 
Farley,  Gordon,  Axtell,  and  Eagan,  still  held  their, 
places  as  leaders  in  the  ranks;  but  Porter  and  Briggs 
were  now  found  with  the  Republicans.  It  will  be 
seen  that  Wm.  H.  Badgely,  who  had  been  appointed 
to  fill  the  unexpired  term,  made  vacant  by  the 
impeachment  of  James  H.  Hardy,  received  the  unani 
mous  vote  of  all  parties. 

ELECTION  RETURNS  IN  1862. 
(Showing  the  relative  standing  of  parties. )   • 

State  Supt.  Public  Instruction.       VOTES. 

John  Swett  (Rep.) . . 1497  - 

J.  D.  Stevenson  (Dem.) 1327 

0.  P.  Fitzerald  (A.  D.) 391 

District  Judge. 
Wm.  H.  Badgely  [wt'ce  Hardy  impeached] 

received  the  entire  vote  of ...    3067 

Assembly. 

A.  B.  Andrews  (Dem.) 1563 

E.  M.  Simpson  (Rep.) 1550 

Edward  Gallagher  (Dem.) 1496 

J.  G.  Severance  (Rep.) 1524 

County  Judge. 

M.  W.  Gordon  (Dem.) 1595 

J.  M.  Porter  (Rep.) 1560 

County  Clerk. 

James  W.  Bicknell  (Dem.) 1712 

C.  C.  Belding  (Rep.) 1464 

County  Recorder. 

A.  Day  (Dem.) 1692 

Isaiah  Heacock  (Rep.) ....      1501 

Sheriff. 

R.  Cosner  (Dem.) •_ .   1765 

S.  F.  Dexter  (Rep.) .    1431 


District  Attorney. 

S.  B.  Axtell  (Dem.) 1657 

R.  M.  Briggs  (Rep.) .   1505 

County  Treasurer. 

F.  McGrath  (Dem.) 1609 

Antonio  Arata  (Rep.) 1556 

Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 

Samuel  Page  (Dem.) 1790 

E.  B.  Mclntyre  (Rep.) 1403 

Public  Administrator. 

Geo.  W.  Beers  (Dem.) 1668 

Wm.  Pitt  (Rep.) -   1510 

Coroner. 

Louis  Wentzel  (Dem.) .    1670 

J.  Shumer  (Rep.) 1506 

Surveyor. 

Geo.  Kress  (Dem.) 1633 

J.  M.  Griffith  (Rep.) .    1500 

Supervisor,  District  No.  1. 
I.  B.  Gregory  (Dem.). 769 

G.  W.  \V  ithington  (Rep.) 502 

Township  System. 
For... 327     Against 2075 

THE    GREAT    FIRE 

On  the  23d  of  August,  1862,  will  be  more  particu 
larly  described  under  the  head  of  "  Jackson,"  in  the 
township  histories.  The  principal  interest  at  this 
point  of  our  view  is  the  destruction  of  the  county 
buildings.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  town  of 
Jackson  donated  the  Court  House,  costing  some  ten 
thousand  dollars,  to  the  county,  the  jail  being  after 
wards  added  at  an  expense  of  more  than  six  thousand 
dollars.  On  the  morning  of  the  24th,  the  county 
was  without  a  place  of  meeting  for  the  Courts. 
Rooms  were  hired  in  different  places  for  transacting 
the  county  ^business,  at  high  rates — one  hundred 
dollars  per  month  being  paid  for  the  use  of  a  hall  in 
which  to  hold  Court.  The  offices  of  Sheriff',  County 
Clerk,  Treasurer,  and  District  Attorney,  were  kept 
from  necessity  in  inconvenient  and  improper  places. 
These  circumstances  induced  Judge  Gordon  to  set 
forth  the  necessity  of  erecting  county  buildings,  and 
the  powers  of  the  Supervisors  in  the  premises,  in  the 
following  petition: — 

PETITION  OF  M.  W.  GORDON. 

"To  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  of  Amador  county,  Cali 
fornia:  Your  petitioner,  a  resident  citizen  and  tax 
payer  of  said  county,  respectfully  represents  to  said 
Board,  that,  by  article  eleven,  section  five,  of  the 
Constitution  of  said  State,  the  Legislature  thereof 
"have  power  to  provide  for  the  election  of  a  Board 
of  Supervisors  in  each  county;  and  that  these  Super 
visors,  shall  jointly  and  individually  perform  such 
duties  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law."  Your  peti 
tioner  states,  that,  in  pursuance  of  said  law,  the  said 
Legislature,  at  its  sixth  session,  by  ait  Act  approved 
March  20,  1855,  did  create  and  establish,  in  each  of 
the  counties  of  this  State,  a  Board  of  Supervisors. 

"  Your  petitioner  says,  that,  both  by  the  said  Con 
stitutional  provision  and  by  the  provisions  of  said 
law,  the  sole  power  over  the  property  of  each  county, 
is  given  to  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  and  is  pro 
hibited  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  the  Legisla 
ture  having  the  power  to  provide  only  for  the  election 
of  a  Board  of  Supervisors,  who  shall  perform  such 
duties  as  may  be  prescribed  by  law. 


...  ......  •:-:,.-.  ;,,•:  • 


nc.aiuE.riwE.  AND    RANCH  OF  JAMES  W.  SHEALOR. 
6    MILES    E.  FROM    VOUCANO,  AMAPOR    COUNTY,    CAL 


RESIDENCE  AND  SAWMILL  OF  F.  M.WHITMORE. 
ANTELOPE  CREEK  .NEAR  VOLCANO,  AMADORCOUNTY,CAU. 


AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  1860. 


101 


"  Your  petitioner  says  that  amongst  the  duties  pre 
scribed  by  law,  to  be  performed  by  said  Board, 
(Wood's  Digest,  page  692,  section  91),  is  the  duty 
"  To  cause  to  be  erected  and  furnished  a  Court  House, 
jail,  and  such  other  public  buildings  as  may  be  neces 
sary,  and  to  keep  the  same  in  repair."  It  is  true, 
that  section  16,  page  696,  says:  "The  Board  of 
Supervisors  shall  not,  for  any  purpose,  contract  debts 
or  liabilities,  except  those  fixed  by,  or  in  pursuance  of 
law;  and  whenever  debts  or  liabilities  shall  have  been 
created,  which,  added  to  the  salaries  of  county 
officers  and  other  estimated  liabilities  fixed  by  law 
for  the  remainder  of  the  year,  will  equal  the  revenue 
of  the  county  for  current  expenses,  no  allowance 
whatever  shall  be  made  of  any  account;  nor  shall 
any  expense  be  incurred  other  than  the  salaries  and 
fees  expressly  prescribed  by,  or  in  pursuance  of,  the 
law."  But  it  will  be  observed  that  the  erection  and 
furnishing  of  a  Court  House  and  jail  are  fixed  bylaw 
in  section  91,  clause  11. 

"  Your  petitioner  says  that  the  granting  of  the 
powers  in  said  Act  to  the  Board  of  Supervisors  by 
the  Legislature,  and  the  specification  of  the  duties 
to  be  performed  by  said  Board  excludes  the  Legis 
lature  from  all  power  over  the  :  airs  of  each  and 
every  county  in  the  State,  and  iixes  those  duties 
exclusively  on  the  Board  of  Supc  visors. 

"  Your  petitioner  says  that,  by  article  514,  section 
2,  page  127,  Wood's  Digest,  Jac  son  is  the  county 
seat  of  Amador  county;  and  tnat,  by  article  670, 
section  59,  page  154.  the  Court  House  must  be  situated 
at  the  county  seat. 

"  Your  petitioner  says  that  the  Court  House  and 
county  jail  of  Amador  county  was  destroyed  by  fire 
on  the  23d  of  August,  1862;  that  these  public 
buildings  are  necessary  for  the  conducting  of 
the  civil  and  criminal  business  of  the  county, 
and  that  the  public  business  cannot  be  transacted 
without  them;  that,  as  already  shown,  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  to  proceed,  as  soon 
as  practicable,  to  erect  and  furnish  a  Court  House 
and  jail  at  Jackson,  for  the  use  of  said  Amador 
county. 

"Your  petitioner,  therefore, 'moves  the  Honorable 
the  Boajd  of  Supervisors  of  Amador  county,  on  the 
3d  of  October,  A.  D.  1862,  to  hear  this  petition, 
to  examine  the  law  and  the  facts  in  said  petition 
alleged;  and  upon  the  allegations  herein  being 
proved,  that  said  Board  will  decide  upon  erecting,  as 
soon  as  practicable,  a  Court  House  and  county  jail,  on 
the  site  of  the  late  Courc  House  and  jail,  not  to 
exceed  in  cost  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

September  15,  1862.  M.  W.  GORDON." 

Board  of  Supervisors — District  No.  1,  J.  B.  Greg 
ory;  District  No.  2,  H.  B.  Bishop;  District  No.  3, 
J.  H.  Allen. 

On  the  4th  of  October  the  Supervisors  invited  pro 
posals  for  the  building  of  a  Court  House  and  jail, 
according  to  plans  presented,  but  on  opening  the 
bids  at  the  following  session  they  were  found  too 
indefinite  for  acceptation,  and  new  ones  were  called 
for,  according  to  a  plan  presented  by  S.  D.  Mandell, 
architect  of  the  M.  E.  Church  of  lone.  It  will  be 
seen  that  during  this  year  the  debts  were  made 
which  hung  over  the  county  for  twenty  years, 
bonds  being  issued  for  Amador  wagon  road, 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars;  for  Court  House  and 
jail  an  indefinite  sum;  for  hospital,  also  uncertain. 


October  3d,  the  Commissioners  reported  the  com 
pletion  of  the  wagon  road,  and  the  full  amount  of 
the  bonds  authorized  to  be  issued  was  paid  over  to 
the  contractors. 

POLITICAL  PARTIES  IN  1863. 

The  doubtful  result  of  the  war,  the  loss  of  friends 
and  relatives  on  one  side  or  the  other  by  nearly  all, 
begat  an  ill-feeling  between  the  two  parties  that,  at 
times,  looked  like  the  forerunner  of  hostilities.  The 
Ledger  and  Dispntch  now  flung  terms  of  reproach, 
more  true  than  polite,  perhaps,  but  bitter  and  unre 
lenting.  It  was  difficult  to  tell  whether  national 
issues,  personal  animosity,  or  desire  for  office,  was 
the  greatest  motive  in  the  conduct  of  the  campaign. 
Men  would  be  found  first  on  one  side  and  then  on 
the  other,  as  one  or  the  other  of  these  motives  pre 
vailed,  and,  it  would  seem,  buried  all  doubts  by  an 
increased  or  simulated  enthusiasm  for  the  side 
adopted.  An  old  politician  expressed  the  sentiment 
that  each  side  accused  the  other  of  all  kinds  of  venal 
ity,  and  knew  themselves  guilty  of  it.  Every  tech 
nicality  was  used  to  further  the  interests  of  the  dif 
ferent  individuals. 

Some  men  were  bold  enough  to  throw  technicali 
ties  to  the  winds,  and  fix  up  ballots  by  the  hun 
dred.  The  famous 

FRENCH  BAR   AFFAIR 

Occurred  this  season.  At  night  the  poll  list  num 
bered  twenty-six,  but,  during  the  counting,  it 
swelled  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight,  with  votes 
in  the  ballot-box  to  correspond.  Jim  Saultry  was 
credited  with  planning  and  executing  this  brilliant 
raid  on  the  enemy's  ranks,  which,  however,  failed  to 
elect  anybody.  The  names  were  said  to  have  been 
taken  from  a  Panama  passenger  list. 

The  eastern  part  of  the  county,  up  among  the 
pine  trees,  had  rather  uncertain  boundaries,  and 
pleasure  parties,  or  others  could,  according  to  the 
existing  law,  get  up  a  precinct*  almost  anywhere, 
and  shape  or  influence  elections.  When  the  tempta 
tions  for  fraud  were  so  great,  and  the  opportunities 
so  frequent,  nothing  less  than  divine  strength  would 
take  the  just  course,  and  we  have  to  look  in  century- 
old  annals  for  politicians  of  that  character. 

Complaints,  that  the  collecting  of  taxes  by  the 
Sheriff  gave  too  much  importance  to  that  office,  hav 
ing  become  general,  the  Legislature  provided  for 
township  Assessors  and  Collectors;  and  for  six  years, 
from  1863  to  1869,  the  latter  method  was  in  use. 

At  the  election  for  Supervisors,  held  in  1863,  quite 
a  contest  occurred  as  to  the  boundaries  of  Amador 
County  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Summit.  The  follow 
ing  extract  from  the  Ledger  will  show  the  animus  of 
the  affair: — 

".Out  of  curiosity,  however,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
branding  Copperhead  demagogues  with  the  eternal 
and  ineffacable  stamp  of  burning  infamy  and  dis 
grace  which  of  right  belongs  to  them,  the  recount 
was  made,  and  that  same  count  did  disclose  and  fasten 


102 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


upon  the  so-called  Democratic  party  of  Amador 
county,  the  most  disgraceful,  hellish,  diabolical,  and 
deep-dyed  villainous  scheme  to  commit  a  crime  upon 
the  body  politic  that  ever  disgraced  the  criminal 
calendars  of  the  whole  world.  The  bare  thought  of 
what  he  has  done  to  the  "  tool  "  employed  to  execute 
it,  must  be  a  coal  of  fire  in  his  brain,  an  enraged 
adder  in  his  heart.  He  must  feel  as  if  every  hair  of 
his  head  were  a  serpent,  like  the  hair  of  Eumenides, 
and  his  aids  and  abettors,  the  devil's  scanty  leavings, 
over  whom,  in  their  last  hours,  black  despair  shall 
sit,  with  carrion  birds  and  secesh  owls  hovering  over 
their  heads." 

As  the  article  does  not  give  any  clue  to  the  crime, 
it  may  be  explained  that  tampering  with  the  votes 
was  suspected. 

Having  given  a  sample  of  the  editorial  style  of 
the  Ledger,  the  Dispatch  must  be  equally  favored.  In 
the  edition  of  June  4,  1864,  referring  to  Lincoln, 
it  said: — 

"Is  it  possible  that  this  long-shanked,  flop-eared, 
jimber-jawed,  mule-countenanced,  backwoods,  rail- 
splitting  boor  is  wiser,  purer,  more  far-seeing,  and 
understands  better  the  power.8  of  the  Government 
than  the  great  Father  of  bis  country,  who  presided 
over  the  deliberations  of  the  Convention  that  made 
it?" 

OFFICERS   ELECTED   IN    1863. 

State  Senator — R.  Burnell. 

Members  of  Assembly — Wm.  B.  Ludlow,  A.  C. 
Brown. 

County  Judge — J.  Foot  Turner. 

District  Attorney — R.  M.  Briggs. 

County  Clerk— E.  S.  Hall. 

Recorder — H.  Wood. 

Sheriff— B.  B.  Redhead. 

Treasurer — Otto  Walther. 

Surveyor — J.  M.  Griffith. 

Supt.  Schools — D.  Townsend. 

Public  Administrator — H.  Robinson. 

Coroner— C.  II.  Kelly. 

From  the  minutes  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  it 
appears  that  some  doubt  existed  as  to  who  was 
elected  Supervisor  from  District  No.  3.  E.  B. 
Woolley  and  E.  A.  Kingsley  both  appeared  and 
claimed  the  seat.  The  latter  had  acted  as  Super 
visor  one  month,  and  drawn  pay  therefor.  On  the 
22d  of  November,  Bishop  and  Gregory  recognized 
E.  B.  Woolley  as  the  member,  Kingsley  filing  a  pro 
test  thereto.  The  latter  appeared  for  several  days  as 
a  claimant  to  the  seat.  November  6th,  he  was 
allowed  thirty-seven  dollars  salary  and  mileage, 
Woolley  retaining  his  position. 

GENERAL    RESULT    IN    1863. 

Governor. 

F.  F.  Low  (Rep.) 2,245 

J.  G.  Downey  (Dem.) 2,046 

Congress. 

T.  B.  Shannon  (Rep.) 2,25g 

Wm.  Higby  (Rep.) 2,256 

C.  Cole  (Rep.) 2,257 

John  B.  Weller  (Dem.) 2,042 

John  Bigler  (Dem.) 2,043 


N.  E.  Whitesides  (Dem.) ...  - .  2,044 

County    Ticket. 
Senator. 

R,  Burnell  (Rep.) 2,165 

J.  T.  Farley  (Dem.) ...  2,022 

Assemblymen. 
W.  B.  Ludlow  (Rep.). 2,166 

A.  C.  Brown  (Rep.) ...   2,182 

Woodburn  (Dem.) 1,908 

Lea  (Dem.) 1,948 

Sheriff. 

B.  B.  Redhead  (Rep.) ..2,153 

R.  Cosner  (Dem.) 2,043 

County  Clerk. 

E.  S.  Hall  (Rep.)... 2,152 

J.  W.  Bicknell  (Dem.) 2,036 

Treasurer. 

Otto  Walther  (Rep.) 2,184 

Francis  McGrath  (Dem.) 2,008 

District  Attorney. 

R.  M.  Briggs  (Rep.) ..2.210 

S.  B.  Axtell  (Dem.) ... 1,869 

Public  Administrator. 

H.  Robinson  (Rep.) 2,196 

-  Beers  (Dem.) 2,009 

Surveyor. 

J.  M.  Griffith  (Rep.) 2,185 

-Kress  (Dem.)... .2,003 

This  estimate  includes  the  vote  of  the  territory 
afterwards  incorporated  into  the  territory  of  Alpine. 

TOWNSHIP   ELECTIONS,  1863. 

No.  1— John  Burke,  Collector;  J.  G.  High,  C.  Y. 
Hammond,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  2 — J.  Farnsworth,  Collector;  H.  M.  Roberts, 
Chas.  English,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  3— T.  A.  Goodwin,  Collector;  H.  T.  Barnum, 
J.  H.  Bradley,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  4— Thomas  Dunlap,  Collector;  J.  S.  Hill,  J. 
S.  Porter,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  5— Chas.  D.  Smith,  Collector;  W.  W.  Swadley 
R.  C.  Brown,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  6— A.  P.  Wood,  Collector;  J.  T.  Phelps,  B. 
Nichols,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  7 — M.  B.  Oliver,  Collector;  W.  H.  Jones,  Jacob 
Emminger,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  8 — S.  A.  Hawkins,  Collector;  O.  Bonney,  J. 
B.  Marshall,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  9 — D.  N.  McBeth,  Collector;  Geo.  J.  Newman, 
J.  C.  Ransom,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

TAXES    FOR    1863    BY    TOWNSHIPS. 

Township  No.  1 $11,349.11 

2  (for  '63-' 64) 24,681.41 

3 10,252.30 

4 10,389.33 

5 6,674.34 

6 7,219.63 

"    7.. 1.034.91 

TAXES   ASSESSED   FOR    1863. 

For  State  purposes,  on  each  $100 62c. 

Federal  Tax  «'  62c. 

Road  Fund  10c. 

School  purposes       "  20c. 

Hospital       "  "  25c. 

Sierra  Wagon  road  "  50c. — $2.29 


AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  1860. 


103 


During  this  season  the  Court  House,  which  was  to 
cost  $18,900,  was  swelled  into  a  $50,000  structure, 
by  the  changes  from  the  original  plan,  involving 
stone  basement  and  water  tables,  and  stone  steps 
in  front  and  rear. 

March  3,  1863. — "Ordered  (by  the  Supervisors) 
that  the  steps  to  the  Court  House  be  made  of  stone 
instead  of  brick,  as  specified  in  the  original  plan; 
also,  that  the  balustrade  of  the  steps  be  made  of 
stone,  and  that  the  top  step  be  made  four  feet 
wide."  A  special  superintendent,  Francis  McGrath, 
was  employed  to  measure  and  examine  the  work. 

February  3,  1864. — The  Supervisors  ordered  a 
warrant  to  be  drawn  for  $9,174.76,  in  favor  of  Mat. 
Canavan,  assignee  of  Epley,  Canavan,  and  Meloney, 
he  having  obtained  a  judgment  in  the  District  Court 
to  that  amount,  as  a  balance  due  on  the  Court  House 
contract.  Farley  and  Armstrong,  attorneys  for  the 
county,  were  allowed  $500.00  as  fees. 

During  1863,  townships  eight  and  nine  were 
organized  east  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  out  of  terri 
tory  that  was  afterwards  incorporated  into  Alpine 
county;  also  the  election  precincts  of  Silver  Mount 
ain,  Mogul,  Mineral  City,  and  Markleeville.  The 
uncertainty  of  the  boundaries  of  these  precincts, 
especially  on  the  Calaveras  side,  was  the  source  of 
much  trouble  until  the  final  separation  of  the  terri 
tory  from  Amador  county.  Communication  could 
only  be  maintained  in  the  Summer  months.  In  the 
Spring  of  1864,  the  delegates  attending  the  Conven 
tions  for  nominating  delegates  to  the  Electoral  Con 
vention,  came  over  by  way  of  Placerville.  The 
county  of  Alpine  was  created  March  16,  1864,  by 
Act  of  the  Legislature,  out  of  territory  of  El  Dorado, 
Amador,  and  Calaveras.  By  this  Act,  the  eastern 
boundary  of  Amador  county  was  fixed  at  Hope 
valley,  Kirkwood's  house  being  just  within  Amador. 
Alpine  county  was  to  issue  two  warrants  in  favor 
of  Amador,  for  $5,000  each,  payable  out  of  the  gen 
eral  fund,  and  bearing  interest  at  the  rate  of  six 
per  cent,  per  annum,  payable  in  one  and  two  years, 
as  her  part  of  the  common  debt.  The  two  counties 
were  made  one  district,  for  choosing  Legislative 
officers. 

POLITICAL  PARTIES  IN  1864. 

Biennial  instead  of  annual  sessions  of  the  Legis 
lature  having  been  established,  and  the  election  of 
members  of  the  Legislature  made  to  correspond  in 
time  with  that  of  the  county  officers,  there  were  no 
local  interests  to  fan  politics  into  the  usual  white 
heat;  but  the  great  questions  of  union  and  freedom, 
which  had  convulsed  the  nation  for  years,  were  still 
in  abeyance  and  proved  ample  enough  to  arouse  the 
highest  feeling  and  bring  out  a  full  vote.  The 
habitual  leaders,  having  no  inducements  to  accom 
modate  their  sentiments  to  those  of  the  public,  were 
comparatively  candid  in  expressing  their  opinions. 
At 'the  Convention  held  to  elect  delegates  to  the 
Electoral  State  Convention,  John  Eagan,  J.  T.  Farley, 
E.  Stewart,  Long  Primer  Hall,  and  A.  H.  Eose, 


opposed  the  prosecution  of  the  war  as  unjust,  uncon 
stitutional,  and  inexpedient  under  any  circumstances. 
The  sentiment,  afterwards  incorporated  into  the 
National  Democratic  platform,  that  ''four  years  of 
war  having  demonstrated  the  impossibility  of  con 
quering  the  South,  hostilities  should  cease,  with  a 
view  of  peaceable  separation,  if  satisfactory  terms 
of  union  could  not  be  agreed  upon,"  was  generally 
advocated.  M.  W.  Gordon,  however,  was  opposed 
to  acknowledging  the  independence  of  the  Confed 
eracy,  under  any  circumstances,  but  believed  the 
Union  could  be  restored,  only  by  employing  Demo 
cratic  generals,  under  a  Democratic  Administration, 
with  a  Demoratic  President.  He  would  prefer 
Thomas  H.  Seymour,  of  Connecticut,  for  President, 
but  would  accept  Grant,  McClellan,  or  Sherman. 

These  sentiments  did  not  suit  the  majority  of  the 
Convention,  but  M.  W.  Gordon  was  a  man  of  too 
much  talent  andjnfluence  to  be  slighted  or  left  out 
in  the  cold,  and  J.  T.  Farley,  with  his  usual  skill  and 
tact,  advocated  his  having  a  place  in  the  delegation. 
James  Meehan,  J.  T.  Farley,  M.  W.  Gordon,  and  E. 
Cosnerf  were  sent  from  the  county  at  large,  and  T. 

D.  Wells, Lanning,  Gerhard  Sphon,  Eobert  Mc- 

Lellan, Dickinson,  and  J.   W.  Leslie,  from  the 

several  townships. 

Those  of  our  readers  who  are  not  old  enough  to 
remember  the  famous  campaigns  of  "  Tippecanoe 
and  Tyler  too,"  of  1840,  may  form  some  idea  of  that 
memorable  affair,  by  the  processions,  bon-fires,  and 
illuminations  of  this  season.  Every  town  had  its 
turn,  but,  as  usual  in  all  such  excitements,  the  active, 
the  aggressive,  swept  the  conservative  away,  and  the 
Union  demonstrations  were  the  most  brilliant  and 
noisy.  Long  processions,  with  all  trades  and  employ 
ments  in  active  operation,  were  the  usual  beginnings 
of  a  political  meeting.  Eail- splitting,  tailoring,  shoe- 
making,  blacksmithing,  weaving,  printing,  and  every 
thing  that  could  be  done  on  wheels,  were  made  parts 
of  the  display.  Abraham  Lincoln  split  a  lot  of 
rails  once,  and  the  three  or  four  stalwart  men  swing 
ing  the  mauls,  were  sure  to  bring  out  the  enthusiasm. 
There  was  a  touch  of  the  humorous  in  these  dis 
plays,  which  would  have  been  enjoyable,  but  for  the 
solemn  fact,  that  a  million  of  our  noblest  and  best, 
were,  at  the  moment,  locked  in  a  death  struggle. 
The  whole  nation  went  on  a  frolic  in  1840,  but  no 
such  shadows  of  death  rested  on  the  people  as  in 
1864.  But,  as  a  politician  expressed  it,  the  party 
that  could  do  the  most  of  this  work,  would  get  the 
bulge,  and  it  was  done. 

VOTE  OF  1864. 

Presidential  ticket  —  Eepublican,  1392;  Demo 
cratic,  1200. 

Congressional  ticket — Higby  (Eep.),  1390;  Coffroth 
(Dem.),  1200. 

TOWNSHIP  COLLECTORS  AND  JUSTICES  OF  THE  PEACE. 

Township  No.  1 — John  Burke,  Collector;  J.  G. 
High  and  T.  Masterson,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 


104 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Township  No.  2— J.  Farnsworth,  Collector;  J. 
Bo  wen  and  C.  English,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

Township  No.  3— T.  A.  Goodwin,  Collector;  H.  T. 
Barnum  and  H.  Cook,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

Township  No.  4 — I.  N.  Randolph,  Collector;  H. 
Wood  and  J.  S.  Hill,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

Township  No.  5 — F.  (or  N.)  King,  Collector;  J.  W. 
Morgan  and  R.  C.  Brown,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

Township  No.  6— A.  P.  Wood,  Collector;  J.  W. 
Whitaker  and  B.  Nichols,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

Township  No.  7 — M.  B.  Oliver,  Collector;  R. 
Saunders  and  A.  J.  Lucas,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

At  the  judicial  election  in  the  Autumn  of  1863, 
the  average  Republican  majority  was  seven  hundred, 
in  a  total  vote  of  about  three  thousand. 

FINANCIAL  MATTERS,  1864. 

The  rate  of  taxation  for  all  purposes,  made  May 
7th,  was  three  dollars  and  twenty-five  cents  on  each 
hundred  dollars. 

On  the  7th  of  June,  the  Treasurer  reported  out 
standing  warrants  over  and  above  sums  in  the 
Treasury  to  apply  on  General  Fund,  $74,159.42;  on 
Sierra  Wagon  Road  Fund,  $15,125.00;  on  Road  fund, 
$1,467.35;  making  a  total  of  $90,751.77. 

This  estimate  does  not  include  interest,  which 
would  swell  the  amount  to  $100,000.  The  extrav 
agance  of  the  two  previous  years,  laid  a  foundation 
for  the  permanent  debt. 

The  following  December  the  amount  of  the  debt, 
exclusive  of  interest,  was  estimated  at  $111,139.94. 
Before  the  taxes  were  collected,  it  was  apparent  that 
the  levy  was  insufficient  to  meet  current  expenses, 
and  a  new  schedule  was  made  out,  as  follows: — 


For  State  purposes 
County     " 

"      General   Fund 

"      Hospital    " 

"      School 

Sierra  Nevada  Wagon  Road 
Redemption  Road  Fund 


on  each  $100 


92c 
200c 
lOOc 

25c 

20c 

45c 

lOc— $4  92 


TAXES  ASSESSED  BY  TOWNSHIPS. 

Township  No.  1 $  9,597.71 

2  (for  1863-64)..   24,681.41 

3 4,947.48 

"  4: 9,701.93 

5 6,879.10 

6 6,844.26 

7 1,014.24 

8)    afterwards  j      9,627.72 
9  j    Alpine  Co.    }      3,030.46 

POLITICAL    PARTIES    IN    1865. 

This,  the  last  year  of  the  bitter  strife,  witnessed 
the  most  exciting  scenes  of  all.  The  year  opened 
with  the  defeat  of  the  rebel  armies  in  all  quarters, 
and  soon  saw  the  surrender  of  the  last  of  them* 
Whether  from  indiscreet  rejoicing  on  the  part  of 
the  Republicans,  or  embittered  feelings  on  the  part 
of  the  Democrats,  or  both,  the  Democratic  news 
papers  became  more  bitter  and  vituperative  than 
ever.  Public  opinion  was  in  a  highly  excited  con 
dition  in  consequence,  and  when  the  news  of  the 
assassination  of  Lincoln  was  flashed  across  the  Conti 


nent,  the  danger  of  riots,  and  destruction  of  life  and 
property,  was  imminent.  Human  nature  is  much  the 
same  the  world  over.  It  is  but  two  hundred 
years  since  our  ancestors  thought  it  expedient  and 
right  to  burn,  slay,  destroy,  torture,  and  harass,  all 
who  differed  with  them,  either  religiously  or  politi 
cally,  and,  notwithstanding  all  our  boasted  improve 
ment,  the  desire  to  do  so  is  still  an  active  element 
in  our  characters.  The  animus  of  the  parties  may 
best  be  shown  by  extracts  from  the  papers. 

Dispatch,  March  5,  1865: — 

"The  first  act  of  Lincoln's  administration  was 
stained  by  falsehood,  and  shortly  afterwards  by 
deliberate,  palpable,  tongue-blistering,  soul-damning 
perjury." 

"The  first  officer  under  our  Government,  whose 
moral  conduct  should  reflect  the  virtues  and  dignity 
of  a  great  country,  and  be  an  example  for  all  classes 
of  people  to  imitate,  stands  before  the  world  with 
the  brand  of  perjury  upon  his  brow!" 

"  The  rebels  fight  for  the  priceless  boon  of  liberty 
as  did  their  fathers  of  the  Revolution;  the  merce 
naries  of  the  federal  army,  for  Government  green 
backs." 

March  12,  1865:— 

"If  to  sympathize  with  a  brave  and  gallant  peo 
ple  who  are  struggling  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  a 
merciless  despot,  *  *  *  be  seeessionism,  then  we 
are  secessionists." 

March  26,  1865:— 

"Abraham  Lincoln,  the  self-confessed  perjurer; 
*  *  *  the  buffoon;  the  vulgar  joker;  the  spiritu 
alist;  the  abolitionist;  the  man  who  believes  the 
negro  his  equal." 

ARREST  OP  L.  P.  HALL  AND  W.  M.  PENRY. 

A  company  of  cavalry  had  been  stationed  in  lone 
valley  to  eject  settlers  from  the  Arroyo  Seco  grant. 
After  the  assassination  of  Lincoln,  persons  were 
arrested  in  different  parts  of  the  State  for  sympathy 
with  the  Rebellion,  or  for  treasonable  expressions. 
The  Dispatch  had  been  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
outspoken  Democratic  papers  in  the  State,  and 
although  not  coming  within  the  boundaries  of  giving 
"  substantial  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy,"  it  had 
advocated  the  right,  if  not  the  policy,  of  secession; 
had  eulogized  the  President  and  officers  of  the  Con 
federate  States;  had  abused  the  Union  President  in 
severe  terms,  and  had,  in  fact,  been  a  magazine  of 
Southern  ideas  and  arguments,  on  Northern  soil. 
Some  of  the  ablest  articles  in  defense  of  the  South  had 
come  out  in  the  Dispatch]  in  fact,  there  was  no  writer 
in  the  county,  on  the  Union  side  of  the  question, 
that  was  a  match  for  the  editor  of  the  Dispatch.  It 
was  quite  natural  that  the  wrath  of  the  Union  men 
should  seek  victims  in  the  editors  and  writers  of  the 
paper,  though  it  was  not  charged  that  it  had  ever 
sanctioned  the  assassination  of  Lincoln.  On  the 
morning  of  the  8th  of  May,  about  daylight,  the 
persons  mentioned  awoke  to  find  themselves  sur 
rounded  by  a  troop  of  cavalry  under  the  command 
of  Captain  Starr,  acting  presumably,  under  the  com 
mand  of  General  McDowell,  at  San  Francisco.  The 
printing  office  was  closed  up,  and  two  or  three  hours 


AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  1860. 


105 


afterwards  the  entire  party  left  for  Camp  Jackson,  in 
lone  valley,  our  friends  walking  through  the  hot 
sand,  with  the  thermometer  at  100°  in  the  shade. 
From  thence  they  were  taken  in  irons  to  Fort  Alca- 
traz,  where  an  eighteen-pound  ball  with  chain,  was 
attached  to  the  legs  of  each  man.  They  had  the 
choice  of  hard  labor  on  the  works,  under  guard,  or 
confinement  in  the  sweat-box,  and  wisely  chose  the 
former.  They  were  kept  here,  in  company  with 
other  sympathizers,  until  about  the  middle  of  the 
following  month,  when  peace,  law,  and  order  were 
so  far  established,  that  it  was  considered  safe  for 
them  to  be  at  large.  It  is  said  that  neither  of  the 
men  ever  had  the  remotest  suspicion  of  the  cause  of 
their  incarceration  ! 

In  justice  to  the  Dispatch  and  its  conductors,  it 
must  be  said  that  they  picked  up  the  cudgels  of  war 
fare  at  the  place  where  they  dropped  them  at  the 
time  of  the  arrest,  and  when  they  resumed  the  pub 
lication  of  the  paper,  which  they  did  on  the  23d  of 
September  following,  it  had  lost  none  of  the  vigor 
which  characterized  it  through  the  four  years  of  the 
great  Rebellion. 

L.  P.  Hall,  who  was  arrested  with  Penry,  was  one 
of  the  most  original  men  ever  connected  with  the 
press  in  Amador  county,  or,  perhaps,  in  the  State. 
He  was  able  to  stand  up  to  the  case  and  set  up  his  most 
vituperative  articles  without  manuscript,  a  feat  that 
few  editors  or  printers  are  capable  of.  He  was 
thoroughly  aggressive  in  his  character,  and  if  he  had 
been  on  "  Southern  Soil  "  at  the  time  of  the  breaking 
out  of  the  Rebellion,  his  temperament  would  have 
been  as  likely  to  have  carried  him  into  the  opposition 
as  anywhere.  He  was  previously  the  editor  of  the 
Equal  Rights  Expositor,  at  Visalia,  a  paper  as  pro 
nounced  in  its  disloyal  sentiments  as  the  Dispatch.  It 
was  suppressed  by  the  order  of  General  McDowell, 
and  the  editor,  and  three  others  arrested  with  him, 
set  free  on  taking  the  following  oath: — 
STATE  OF  CALIFORNIA,  ) 
County  of  Tulare.  \ 

We,  L.  P.  Hall, of  Tulare,  State  of 

California,  Citizens  of  the  United  States,  do  solemnly 
swear  that  we  will  support  the  Constitution  and  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  against  all  enemies, 
whether  foreign  or  domestic,  and  that  we .  will 
bear  true  faith  and  allegiance,  and  loyalty  to  the 
same,  any  ordinance,  resolution,  or  any  State  Con 
vention  or  law  of  any  Legislature  to  the  contrary, 
notwithstanding;  that  .we  will  give  no  aid,  assistance 
or  encouragement,  by  word  or  act,  to  any  person  or 
persons,  or  pretended  Government,  engaged  in 
rebellion  against  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.  And  further,  that  we  will  do  this  with  a 
full  determination,  pledge,  and  purpose,  without 
any  mental  reservation  whatsoever,  so  help  us  God. 
•  (Signed)  L.  P.  HALL,  * 

Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me,  this  fifth  day  of 
January,  1863.  M.  A.  MCLAUGHLIN, 

Cop'ain  %d  Cavalry,  C .  V.,  Commanding. 

Whatever  difference  of  opinion  may  have  existed 
with  regard  to  his  course  as  an  editor,  there  was 
none  with  regard  to  his  ability. 

14  *  There  were  three  other  signatures. 


John  Gaver,  of  Sutter  Creek,  who  had  written 
many  of  the  articles  in  the  Dispatch,  was  arrested 
about  the  same  time,  and  subjected  to  the  same 
treatment.  He  was  charged  with  rejoicing  over  the 
assassination,  which,  however,  he  denied,  or  asserted, 
that  if  he  did,  he  was  drunk,  and  unconscious  of 
what  he  said.  He  was  arrested  on  complaint  of 
0.  L.  Chamberlain,  F.  Tibbetts,  and  T.  Frakes. 

After  the  assassination  of  Lincoln,  more  than  one 
Union  meeting  was  held  to  consider  the  expediency 
of  demolishing  the  Dispatch  establishment,  but  better 
counsels  prevailed.  It  is  quite  likely,  however,  that 
the  arrest  of  Penry  and  Hall,  and  the  suppression  of 
the  paper  for  awhile,  saved  the  material  from 
destruction.  The  excitement  gradually  wore  away, 
and  better  feeling  began  to  prevail. 

SEATON'S  DEFECTION. 

There  was  a  full  set  of  county  officers,  as  well  as 
members  of  the  Legislature,  to  elect,  and  the  politi 
cians  set  about  arranging  these  matters.  The  national 
question  having  to  some  extent  been  settled,  per 
sonal  ambitions  and  antipathies  began  to  be  more 
manifest.  When  the  Republican  Convention  met, 
R.  Burnell  was  nominated,  after  some  opposition,  as 
candidate  for  Senator.  G.  W.  Seaton,  who  had  been 
acting  with  the  Republican  party  for  years,  arose 
and  denounced  Burnell  as  having  tried  to  throw  the 
State  into  the  hands  of  the  secessionists,  by  voting 
for  giving  the  seat  to  a  Democrat  in  a  contested 
election  case.  This  affair  had  happened  some  years 
before,  and,  if  true,  Burnell  was  only  voting  to 
decide  who  was  elected,  the  politics  of  the  man, 
properly,  having  nothing  to  do  with  his  right  to  a 
seat.  It  is  likely  that  personal  antipathy  was  the 
ruling  motive,  for  Mr.  Seaton  had  supported  Burnell 
in  Convention  and  on  the  stump,  after  the  occur 
rence  of  the  contested  election  case;  but,  at  any 
rate,  he  announced  his  intention  of  defeating  Mr. 
Burnell  if  it  cost  ten  thousand  dollars.  As  he  had  a 
very  rich  quartz  vein  just  then  to  draw  on  for  funds, 
the  threat  was  very  serious.  He  immediately 
announced  himself  as  an  independent  candidate  for 
Senator,  and  took  the  stump.  The  Democrats  left 
the  nomination  for  the  Senatorship  vacant,  with  the 
understanding  that  Seaton's  name  was  to  be  used. 
The  contest  of  course  was  very  spirited,  Seaton's 
gold  mine  being  a  powerful  influence  in  his  favor. 
It  is  not  supposed  that  votes  were  directly  pur 
chased,  but  money,  which  Seaton  had  in  abundance, 
would  purchase  fire-works,  orators,  music,  gun-pow 
der,  and  whisky,  which  certainly  have  the  power  of 
moving  many  people  in  their  political  opinions. 

It  is  generally  believed  too,  that  in  the  early  days 
the  Italian  vote  was  practically  purchasable,  that 
is  to  say,  that  from  fifteen  hundred  to  twenty-five 
hundred  dollars  would  buy  the  influence  of  one  or 
two  men,  who  would  control  the  greater  portion  of 
the  Italian  vote,  which  was  numerous  enough  to 
decide,  in  many  cases,  the  election.  (It  is  said,  now, 


106 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


by  those  best  acquainted  with  the  Italians,  that  that 
condition  no  longer  exists;  that  individual  indepen 
dence  is  becoming  as  common  with  them  as  with 
other  nationalities.)  When  the  contest  was  over, 
Seaton  was  elected.  Amador  and  Alpine  had 
remained  one  district  for  the  election  of  members  of 
the  Legislature,  Alpine  being  allowed  one  member 
and  Amador  the  other  three.  O.  F.  Thornton  and 
Harvey  Lee  were  candidates  by  the  respective 


parties,  Republican  and  Democratic  of  Alpine 
county — Lee  being  elected.  The  following  table  of 
the  returns  will  be  interesting,  as  not  only  showing 
the  names,  and  popularity  of  the  different  candidates, 
but  also  as  showing  the  names  of  many  precincts 
which  were  abolished  when  the  registry  law  was 
established,  this  election  being  the  last  held  under 
the  old  law: — 


ELECTION    RETURNS    BY    PRECINCTS,  SEPTEMBER    6,  1865. 


> 

03 

03 

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iddletov 

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CD 

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3 

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eomet. 

OFFICES. 

NAMES. 

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£ 

p 

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£T 
p 

CD 

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CD 

"C 

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c 

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CD 

W 
p 
p 

a 

p 

P 
P' 

OQ 
•-T. 

S  enators  •] 

R.  Burnell  
G.  W.  Seaton.  . 

12 
29 

33 
109 

15 
15 

27 
8 

25 

21 

21 
22 

33 
4 

28 
11 

6 
64 

19 
19 

55 
112 

92 
104 

13 

23 
20 

25 
24 

145 
65 

169 
221 

60 
39 

18 
10 

43 

122 
120 

8 
26 

157 

112 

17 

23 

33 
55 

1 

M.    Frink.  . 

|9 

40 

17 

96 

95 

19 

?9 

97 

6 

93 

,59 

88 

13 

98 

16 

115 

159 

78 

16 

44 

I3S 

S 

jg-T 

*">4 

31 

0.  F.  Thornton 
Assemblymen...  j  Harvey  Lee  .  .  .  . 

13 
29 

41 
104 

17 
14 

26 
8 

25 
21 

21 
22 

29 

7 

27 
12 

6 
64 

22 
16 

59 
105 

89 
104 

14 
11 

27 
14 

16 
30 

116 

88 

154 

233 

60 
30 

17 
13 

44 
32 

131 
112 

8 
26 

162 

10!) 

24 
17 

34 
56 

[A.  C.  Brown... 

29 

105 

14 

8 

21 

24 

7 

12 

64 

17 

107 

99 

13 

12 

26 

91 

232 

18 

14 

32 

107 

26 

107 

13 

56 

Sheriff  | 

I.  N.  Randolph 

11 

59 

13 

23 

25 

14 

25 

23 

7 

24 

71 

89 

14 

24 

15 

89 

155 

49 

18 

33 

145 

8 

143 

23 

44 

R.  Cosner  

3o 

So 

9(1 

IV 

9| 

99 

9(1 

IS 

liii 

lo 

9V 

1  16 

IV 

2C 

39 

|9(i 

94  | 

h9 

Id 

44 

101 

2G 

ISO 

IV 

53 

County  Clerk  j 

J.  A.   Robinson 
J.  C.  Shipman. 

15 
31 

41 
103 

14 
17 

23 
17 

26 
21 

21 
23 

27 
20 

28 
13 

20 
53 

24 

15 

71 
97 

90 
115 

14 
12 

27 
17 

16 
32 

120 

98 

176 

223 

49 

52 

18 
16 

42 

35 

133 
114 

8 
26 

158 
116 

29 
10 

38 
59 

•DA                             j 

M.  J.  Goodrich 

12 

39 

17 

26 

24 

22 

30 

28 

7 

25 

57 

90 

14 

27 

16 

118 

160 

56 

18 

43 

120 

8 

171 

26 

34 

A.  C.  Hinkson. 

32 

105 

15 

14 

23 

22 

16 

13 

66 

14 

111 

114 

11 

17 

32 

99 

240 

54 

14 

34 

124 

26 

101 

13 

61 

Otto  Walther.. 

13 

39 

19 

27 

23 

22 

30 

28 

10 

25 

75 

88 

15 

20 

16 

125 

169 

5(5 

16 

45 

114 

8 

188 

27 

33 

L.  Rabolt  

33 

ION 

13 

11 

2j 

9? 

17 

11 

63 

14 

93 

115 

11 

93 

39 

9" 

907 

45 

17 

39 

132 

og 

85 

IS 

61 

District  Attorney  j 

R.  M.  Briggs.  . 
J.  A.  Eagon.  .  . 

16 
30 

29 
107 

19 
13 

25 
15 

24 
23 

24 
20 

30 
17 

28 
13 

8 
64 

25 
14 

75 
94 

86 
116 

14 
11 

28 
16 

14 
33 

97 
112 

225 
170 

63 
34 

18 
16 

44 
33 

137 
110 

8 
26 

164 
1JO 

30 
10 

32 

65 

Supt.  Schools  j 

D.  Townsend  .  . 
S.  G.  Briggs... 

13 
33 

40 
103 

16 
16 

26 
14 

25 
21 

22 
22 

28 
17 

28 
13 

7 
66 

25 
14 

72 
96 

96 
110 

14 
11 

27 
17 

16 

32 

121 
96 

159 

L'.SS 

60 
39 

17 

17 

45 
32 

137 

109 

8 
26 

161 
113 

30 
10 

34 
63 

Pub.  Adminis'or.  -] 

H.   Robinson  .  . 
M.Tynan  

13 
33 

40 
103 

16 
16 

27 
13 

25 
21 

22 
22 

29 
17 

28 
13 

14 
56 

25 
12 

69 

98 

89 
114 

9 
17 

27 
16 

16 
32 

121 
95 

171 

228 

60 
39 

17 

17 

44 

33 

138 

107 

8 
26 

165 
109 

29 
11 

34 
62 

Surveyor  • 

J.  M.Griffith.. 
T.  C.  Stowers.  . 

13 
33 

40 
103 

16 

16 

'26 
14 

25 
21 

22 
22 

29 
16 

28 
13 

6 
66 

25 
14 

72 
97 

90 
115 

14 
11 

27 
17 

16 
32 

122 
95 

169 
230 

60 
40 

17 
17 

46 
30 

136 
109 

8 
26 

165 
107 

30 
10 

34 
63 

r                            j 

V.  Stacy  

13 

40 

16 

33 

25 

22 

29 

25 

7 

25 

71 

89 

14 

30 

16 

118 

157 

32 

18 

44 

135 

8 

163 

30 

34 

C.  Boarman  .  .  . 

33 

103 

16 

6 

21 

22 

18 

16 

66 

14 

96 

115 

11 

11 

32 

93 

243 

66 

16 

33 

110 

26 

109 

10 

62 

Sup.  Dist.  No.  1.  j 

C.  Ingalls  
James  Carroll  .  . 

25 
14 

17  ... 

25 
14 

25 
45 

12 
36 

110 

98 

203 
190 

40 

56 

18 
1(5 

COUNTING   THE   VOTES. 

It  is  difficult  to  gather  the  facts  in  the  matter  of 
the  counting  of  the  votes.  There  was  much  ill- 
feeling  about  it,  and  many  charges  of  fraud,  and 
much  filing  and  counter-filing  of  protects.  Judge 
Badgely  asked  that  the  Supervisor  votes  for  District 
No.  1  be  canvassed,  which  was  r6fused.  The  two 
candidates  were  James  Carroll  and  C.  Ingalls.  The 
custom  had  prevailed,  whether  lawful  or  not,  of 
holding  elections  in  the  camps  in  Arizona  and  Utah, 
where  the  volunteers  from  Amador  were  stationed, 
and  returning  their  votes  as  from  a  precinct.  Though 
these  soldiers  were  known  to  be  of  both  parties,  the 
returns  were  generally  all  one  way.  It  was  alleged 
by  the  Democrats  that  no  fair  election  was  held; 
that  the  officers  made  out  the  returns  to  suit  them 
selves.  The  Democrats  further  urged  that  voting 
in  Arizona  for  officers  in  Amador,  was  carrying  the 
doctrine  of  constructive  residence  a  little  too  far; 
that  it  was  unconstitutional.  The  Eepublican  argu 
ments  in  favor  of  counting  their  votes,  were  rather 
necessity  and  expediency,  than  law.  They  showed 


the  absurdity  of  the  Union  men  all  going  to  the 
war,  and  having  no  voice  in  the  choice  of  officers, 
and  leaving  the  secessionists  in  the  rear  to  rule;  and 
the  votes  were  counted,  though  protests  were  filed 
by  D.  Worley,  John  Eagon,  A.  C.  Brown.  Henry  Lee, 
James  Carroll,  E.  M.  Bradshaw,  and  John  Surface. 

There  were  also  other  irregularities.  At  Clinton, 
D.  B.  Spagnoli  acted  both  as  Inspector  and  Clerk. 
There  was  no  appearance  of  fraud  in  the  matter, 
though  the  proceeding  was  evidently  illegal.  Here 
was  a  chance  for  a  contest.  The  vote  was  generally 
six  Eepublican,  and  'sixty-four  Democratic,  making 
a  difference  of  fifty-eight  votes.  If  the  soldiers'  vote 
was  rejected  and  Clinton  accepted,  most  of  the 
Democrats  would  be  elected,  otherwise,  most  of  the 
Eepublicans.  J.  W.  Armstrong,  now  a  noted  law 
yer  in  Sacramento,  then  a  young  man,  taking  his 
first  flights  in  law  and  logic,  contended  for  the 
legality  of  the  Clinton  proceeding,  and  asserted  the 
principle,  that  the  statute  permitted  what  it  did  not 
prohibit.  The  returns  from  Lower  Eancheria  hav-. 
ing  no  certificate  attached,  were  rejected. 


END  OF  THE  SECOND  DECADE. 


107 


LIST   OF   OFFICERS   ELECTED   IN    1865. 

State  Senator — G.  W.  Seaton. 

Members  of  Assembly — M.  Frink,  H.  Lee. 

Sheriff — R.  Cosner. 

County  Clerk — J.  C.  Shipman. 

Recorder — A.  C.  Hinkson. 

Treasurer — Otto  AValther: 

County  Surveyor — T.  C.  Stowers. 

District  Attorney — R.  M.  Briggs. 

Superintendent  of  Schools — S.  G.  Briggs. 

Coroner — J.  Boarman.  

Public  Administrator — M.  Tynan. 
Supervisor  District  No.  1 — C.  Ingalls. 

TOWNSHIP  ELECTIONS. 

No.  1 — John  Burke,  Collector;  E.  Turner,  Thomas 
Jones,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  2— J.  W.  Surface,  Collector;  Wm.  H.  Scudder, 
Win.  Shelley,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  3— R.  M.  Bradshaw,  Collector;  H.  T.  Barnum, 
George  S.  Fake,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  4 — Thomas  Dunlap,  Collector;  C.  K.  Johnson, 
P.  Cook,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  5.— D.  Worley,  Collector;  R.  C.  Brown,  G. 
Devore,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

No.  6— A.  P.  Wood,  Collector;  W.  W.  Swadley, 
H.  D.  Ford,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

DEATH  OF  G.  W.  SEATON  AND  ELECTION  OF  HIS 
SUCCESSOR. 

This  was  caused  by  the  explosion  of  the  steamer 
To  Semite,  October  12,  1865,  between  Sacramento 
and  San  Francisco,  W.  A.  Rogers,  of  Jackson,  being 
killed  at  the  same  time.  A  more  particular  account 
of  his  life  will  be  given  in  the  account  of  the  Amador 
Bar.  This  accident  necessitated  the  calling  of  another 
election,  which  was  fixed  on  the  2d  of  December. 
A.  H.  Rose  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats  and  O. 
N.  Morse  by  the  Republicans. 

Quartz  again,  as  was  said,  influenced  the  election. 
Rose  had  money  to  loan  where  it  would  do  him  good. 
The  M.  E.  Church  Society  at  lone  borrowed  some 
$1,500.  It  was  not  charged  that  this  purchased  any 
votes,  but  having  shown  a  disposition  to  accommo 
date  the  church,  he  was  a  good  man  and  ought  to  be 
supported.  He  also  obtained  quite  a  support  from 
the  recently  ejected  settlers  in  lone,  inducing  them 
to  think  that  Congress  could  be  persuaded  to  remun 
erate  them  by  a  memorial  which  he  promised,  to  get 
through  the  Legislature.  His  part  of  the  contract 
he  fulfilled;  the  memorial,  containing  a  concise,  well- 
written  history  of  the  Arroyo  Seco  grant,  being  trans 
mitted  to  Congress  with  the  official  seal  of  the  State 
on  it.  These  things  are  not  related  to  cast  reflec 
tions  on  Mr.  Rose's  method  of  conducting  the  canvass, 
but  to  show,  as  a  soldier  would,  how  battles  are  lost 
and  won. 

The  returns  showed  the  following  result:  A.  H. 
Rose,  1,342;  0.  H.  Morse,  1,099. 

H.  Lee,  the  member  from  Alpine  county,  was  killed 
some  months  after  by  being  thrown  from  a  buggy. 


Miner  Frink's  seat  was  contested  by  A.  C.  Brown, 
who  received  but  two  or  three  votes  less  in  the  elec 
tion  than  Frink.  Brown  proved  that  two  or  three 
illegal  votes  were  cast  for  Frink,  and  obtained  the 
seat. 

Frink  afterward  got  a  position  in  the  office  of 
Internal  Revenue,  but  a  year  or  two  later,  was 
found  dead  in  his  bed  at  the  hotel,  in  San  Francisco. 

FINANCIAL    MATTERS. 

The  tax  levy  for  1865  was— 

For  State  purposes          on  each  $100 $1  15 

General  Fund  "        "  1  00 

Amador  Wagon  Road      "        "  40 

Hospital  Fund  "         "  25 

School   Fund  "        "  30 

Redemption  Road  Fund  "         "  10— $3.20 

In  February,  the  outstanding  warrants  were 
reported  as  being — 

On  General  Fund $74,308.18 

Hospital    Fund 11,619.71 

Wagon  Road  Fund 9,918.55 

Redemption  Fund. 185.27-$96.031.7l 

This  did  not  include  interest  which  was  then  accu 
mulating  at  the  rate  of  about  ten  thousand  dollars 
per  year,  which  would  have  carried  the  debt  up  to 
about  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  dollars. 

This  season  the  famous  warrant,  No.  103,  was 
liquidated,  the  balance  due  being  $7,556.16. 

REPORT  OF  AN  EXPERT,  1865. 

E.  G.  Hunt  was  appointed  to  examine  the  state 
of  the  finances,  and  reported  receipts  from  all 
sources,  from  March,  1864,  to  December,  1865,  as 
follows: — 

Credited  to  General  Fund $61,907.48 

"          State          '.'     58,751.63 

School        "     17,643.39 

"          Hospital     "     10,905.04 

Road          "     3,328.28 

"          Sierra  W.  R 13,906.57— $166,442.39 

Taxes  assessed  in  1864  amounted  to  $75,753.20; 
delinquent,  $15,072.26;  making  a  net  of  $60,680.94. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 
END    OF    THE    SECOND    DECADE. 

Politics  in  1866 — Financial  Matters— Rabolt  Declared  Ineligible 
to  the  Office  of  Treasurer,  and  Otto  Walther  Appointed- 
Political  Parties  in  1867— New  Registry  Law— Election 
Returns  Showing  the  New  Precincts— Judiciary  Election — 
Financial  Matters— Financial  Matters  in  1868 — Contest  for 
Supervisor  in  the  First  District— Ingalls  Declared  Unseated 
—Carroll  Installed— Act  of  the  Legislature  in  Reference 
Thereto— Wealth  and  Population— Political  Parties  in  1868, 
— Election  Returns  by  Precincts— Politics  in  1869 — Election 
Returns  by  Precincts. 

THE  year  1866  opened  with  little  attention  to 
politics.  No  elections  occurring  this  season,  the 
strife  was  over  the  far  away  subjects  of  reconstruc 
tion,  taxing  bonds,  and  negro  suffrage,  which  did 
not  immediately  concern  the  people. 

June  2d,  the  Treasurer  reported  outstanding  war 
rants  as  follows: — 


108 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


On  General  Fund 183,343.93 

Hospital  Fund 13,342.40 

Road  Fund 3,569.31 

To  this  must  be  added  the  bonds  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  Wagon  Road,  amount 
ing  to 6,000.00— $106.255.64 

This  does  not  include  interest,  which,  since  1863, 
has  been  steadily  accumulating,  at  the  rare  of  ten 
thousand  dollars  yearly. 

December  1st,  the  outstanding  warrants  were 
reported  as — 

On  General  Fund $92,229.30 

Wagon  Road  Fund 4,860.86 

Hospital  Fund 14,698.00—1111,788.16 

No  mention  made  of  interest. 

The  assessment  roll  was  reported  at  $1,874,817.75; 
taxes  on  same,  $58,685.70. 

L.  Rabolt,  who  had  been  elected  Treasurer  the 
previous  season,  was  declared  ineligible  to  the  posi 
tion,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not  a  citizen;  and 
the  office  being  vacant,  Otto  Walther  was  appointed 
to  fill  it. 

POLITICAL    PARTIES    IN    1867. 

The  election  of  State  and  county  officers,  as  well 
as  members  of  Congress,  caused  the  politicians  to 
set  their  standards  early  in  the  field. 

H.  H.  Haight  was  nominated  for  Governor  by 
the  Democrats,  and  George  C.  Gorham,  by  the 
Republicans.  Higby  and  Coffroth,  both  representa 
tive  men  from  the  mines,  were  put  forth  by  the 
Republicans  and  Democrats  respectively,  for  Con 
gress.  The  failure  to  impeach  Andrew  Johnson, 
which  project  was  a  Republican  measure,  had  given 
the  Democrats  courage  everywhere  in  the  county, 
State,  and  nation.  The  Democrats  had,  to  some 
extent,  adopted  his  financial  views  about  the  pay 
ment,  or  rather,  non-payment  of  the  national  debt; 
and  the  traveling  orators,  including  Farley  and  Cof 
froth,  roundly  asserted,  not  only  the  right,  but  the 
expediency  of  taxing  national  bonds,  while  Edger- 
ton,  and  other  Republican  speakers,  as  roundly 
denied  it,  and  referred  to  numerous  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  establishing  the  non-taxability  of 
national  securities.  The  bitterness  of  war  times 
was  evidently  passing  away.  The  discussion  of 
financial  questions  involved  figures  rather  than  feel 
ings;  and  not  every  one  was  capable  of  entering 
into  the  spirit  of  large  numbers.  Bloated  bond 
holders  and  prospective  negro  suffrage,  all  could 
understand,  and  a  general  interest,  rather  than  the 
intense  bitterness  of  former  years,  marked  the  cam 
paign. 

The  following  table  will  show  the  relative  strength 
of  the  parties,  and  the  names  of  the  new  polling 
places  under  the  registration  law,  which,  though 
somewhat  difficult  to  put  into  operation,  worked  to 
the  general  satisfaction  of  the  public.  Under  the 
old  form  of  election,  any  out-of-the-way  place  could 
get  up  a  precinct.  A  poll  list  was  kept,  it  is  true, 
but  so  loosely,  that  a  man  might  vote  in  several 
places,  or  several  times  a  day,  without  detection. 
Unnaturalized  foreigners  were  voted  in  some  places, 


by  the  dozens.  Men  were  chosen  for  judges  and 
inspectors,  who  could  hardly  read;  and  it  was  pos 
sible  to  make  up  a  general  result  only  by  condoning 
a  multitude  of  mistakes  and  irregularities. 

ELECTION    RETURNS-1867. 


OFFICES.                                  NAMES. 

Jackson  

Volcano  
lone  

Forest  Home. 

Drytown  

Kiddletown  .  . 

i 

p 

Sutler  

g 

E 

1  H  H  Ha  trht  (D  ) 

40:1 

147  280 

18 

6t> 

161 

4f. 

214 

13.;)8 

Governor  •<  p,      'n  ,-,fe_i        '  /;,'  \ 
(  woo.  o.  Urornam,  \K..^ 

286 

124  237 

9'J 

89 

4'J 

220 

1076 

Lieut.  Governor  .  .  -1  jf  u1.',  p°  jones  /«  ")'  ' 

401 
25S 

144  287 
137  245 

17 

73 
96 

1(14 
106 

44 

46 

215 

•_>:KI 

1345 
1147 

f,                                (  J.  W.  Coffroth,  (D.).  . 

897 

143  2S6 

17 

78 

KM 

44 

224 

1347 

Longressmen  -^  \Vm.  Higby,  (R.) 

260 

135  248 

SO 

90 

105 

46 

226 

1151 

(\.  B.  Gregory,  (D.).  . 

408 

154  286 

17 

59 

169 

6! 

•_'14 

1336 

Assemblymen  |  chas   D   SmiTh   (11)' 

405 
268 

154  286 
131  248 

17 
42 

M 
118 

104 
1(1(1 

47 
41 

228 
228 

1361 
1166 

^William  Pearson,  (R.j 

24* 

132  245 

36 

loo 

98 

42 

213 

1114 

„.      ._                       I  Geo.  Durham,  (D.).  . 

897 
259 

143  282 
141  253 

20 

ta 

71 

98 

168 

110 

53 
37 

199 

246 

1323 
1178 

•  '  (  Samuel  Smith,  (R.).  . 

County  Clerk  {  A;  £  Jg»  <2&; 

ill 
246 

142  28li 
135  24(i 

17 
35 

85 
82 

163 

111 

40 
BO 

237 
208 

1330 
1111 

Recorder            ..    \  £:  ^  ^1^  '  ^  \ 

390 
267 

125  236 
155  296 

IB 
B6 

61 
102 

188 
129 

40 
fiO 

220 
228 

1228 
1263 

(  Ph.  Seibenthaler,  (R.) 

)  James  Mcehan,  (D.).  . 
Treasurer  1  Henry  Ginnochio,  (R.) 

866 
287 

154  294 
137  246 

i; 
86 

74 
94 

169 

99 

f.l 
41 

2  IS 

227 

1341 

1146 

i  H.  L.  Waldo,  (D.).... 
District  Attorney.  -«  R  M  Br:ggs,  (R.).  .  .  . 

398 

262 

145  288 
137  246 

20 
81 

75 

114 

L66 
108 

46 

47 

219 

VS.4 

135-2 
1143 

q,._                            (  A.  Specr,  (D.)  

402 

145  283 

17 

75 

168 

44 

2i; 

1348 

Surve>  or  '(Sam  Loree  ,  (R.  )  

260 

134  248 

86 

96 

107 

46 

228 

114S 

Coroner                     i  Chas'  Boarllian-  (D-) 

409 

145  283 

17 

76 

168 

35 

216 

1342 

246 

138  249 

35 

97 

1*  )"• 

4*> 

230 

1148 

Public   Administ'r  -j  Q/L   Br-njiv  (R  ) 

867 

282 

144  291 
134  215 

17 
86 

75 
96 

1(14 
106 

45 
47 

16! 

280 

1256 
1229 

(  S.  G.  Briggs,'(D.)  .. 
bupt.  Schools  ]  j   D   Ma»0sn|  fej 

403  134  291 
253'l47  241 

17 
86 

71 

SMi 

168 
106 

45 
49 

•-'17 

1333 

1155 

The  entire  Democratic  ticket  was  elected  with  the 
exception  of  Seibenthaler,  for  County  Clerk,  who 
was  chosen  by  a  small  majority.  It  was  currently 
reported,  and  believed  by  many,  that  Otto  Walther, 
who  became  acting  County  Clerk,  owed  his  election 
to  a  commercial  transaction  rather  than  to  political 
preferences.  If  it  was  so,  it  was  so  quietly  done  that 
no  member  of  a  Grand  Jury  ever  got  an  inkling  of  it. 

The  Collectors  and  Assessors  for  1867  were — 

Township  No.  1 — N.  M.  Bowman. 

Township  No,  2— J.  W.  Surface. 

Township  No.  3 — J.  Foster. 

Township  No.  4 — Thomas  Dunlap. 

Township  No.  5— J.  T.  Maffitt. 

Township  No.  6 — F.  L.  Sullivan. 

At  the  judiciary  election,  J.  Foot  Turner,  Repub 
lican,  was  re-elected  over  J.  T.  Phelps,  Democrat,  by  a 
large  majority.  This  apparent  change  in  the  polit 
ical  cast  of  the  vote  was  explained  by  the  fact  that 
Judge  Turner  never  was  an  active  politician,  and 
was  supported  by  persons  of  both  parties. 

FINANCIAL  MATTERS  IN  1867. 

January,  1867,  the  reported  outstanding  warrants, 
over  and  above  the  funds  on  hand  to  meet  them, 
was — 

On  General  Fund $94,761  74 

Hospital  Fund 13,691  53— $108,453  27 

The  Wagon  Road  Fund  was  $122.19  in  excess  of 
liability.  This  did  not  take  into  account  the  fifth 
bond  which  matured  during  the  year,  as  the  next 
report  mentions  it  with  the  accrued  interest,  amount 
ing  to  85,510.  In  this  estimate  no  mention  is  made 
of  the  interest  which  is  steadily  increasing. 


RESIDENCE**'  RANCH.  *  CAPT.M.  J  .  LITTLE,  JACKSON/MADOR  COUNTY,  CAL. 


RESiOENCE  «>    R.C.  DOWNS, 

SUTTER  OR EEK.AMAOOR  COUNTY,  CAL. 


OF  THE 


END  OF  THE  SECOND  DECADE. 


109 


TAX    RATE    FOR    1867. 

For  State  Fund,  on  each  $100 $1   13 

General  Fund    "         " 1  00 

Wagon  Road  Fund     "       30 

Hospital  Fund  "       25 

School  Fund  "       35 

In  March  the  total  indebtedness,  exclusive  of  inter 
est,  was  reported  at  $84,110.01.  How  it  was  reduced 
$24.000  since  January  does  not  appear. 

March  12,  1867,  John  Burke,  Collector  of  Town 
ship  No.  1,  was  declared  defaulter  to  the  amount  of 
nine  hundred  and  eighty-three  dollars,  by  A.  C. 
Hinkson,  County  Auditor,  for  which  act,  as  well  as 
other  improper  transactions,  he  was  removed,  and  J. 
M.  Griffith  appointed  in  his  place.  Among  other  things, 
Burke  was  charged  with  making  out  receipts  with 
pencil,  and  collecting  money  thereon,  and  afterwards 
procuring  the  receipts  again  for  a  trifle,  erasing  the 
name  and  amount,  and  using  them  again,  or  return 
ing  them  to  the  Board  of  Supervisors  as  unused. 

FINANCIAL    MATTERS    IN    1868. 

Rate  of  taxes  for  State  purposes  on  each  $100 $1.00 

General  Fund,  "         "       60 

Hospital  Fund,  "         "       25 

School  Fund,  "         "       35— $2.20 

March  3d,  the  outstanding  warrants  were 

General  Fund $87,074.97 

HospitalFund. 11.403.20—  $98,478.17 

Exclusive  of  interest!! 

The  Supervisors  making  this  report  were  C.  In- 
galls,  L.  McLaine  and  D.  M.  Goif.  James  Carroll 
was  afterward  declared  by  Judge  Brockway  entitled 
to  the  seat  occupied  by  C.  Ingalls  for  nearly  three 
years.  Many  rumors  were  in  circulation  of  a  bar 
gain  between  Carroll  and  Ingalls,  that  the  latter 
should  allow  himself  to  be  ousted  that  the  former 
might  draw  a  salary  for  the  whole  term;  at  any  rate, 
Carroll  presented  a  bill  for  $1,665.50,  salary  for  the 
full  term,  which  was  allowed  by  the  Supervisors,  but 
payment  was  stopped  by  means  of  an  injunction 
served  on  the  Treasurer  by  District  Attorney  Waldo. 
In  1872  the  Legislature  ordered  the  Supervisors  of 
Amador  county  to  draw  a  warrant  for  $1,050  as  back 
salary,  II.  Waldo,  John  Eagon,  and  J.  T.  Farley 
being  members  for  Amador  county.  Since  the  allow 
ance  was  made  by  the  Supervisors,  lines  in  ink  have 
been  drawn  through  the  minutes  as  if  for  erasure. 
Carroll  took  his  seat  July  6th;  the  allowance  was 
made  August  3d,  following. 

THE    WEALTH  AND  POPULATION 

According  to  reports  were  as  follows:  Real  estate, 
$962,284;  improvements,  $247,549;  personal  property, 
$527,625;  total,  $1,737,458.  Population,  11,400; 
registered  votes,  2,552. 

POLITICAL   PARTIES   IN    1868. 

There  being  no  local  officers  to  elect,  this  was  the 
off  year  in  politics.  The  county  officers,  securely 
fixed  in  their  seats  for  a  year,  rested  serenely  on  their 
comfortable  salaries.  Some  of  the  politicians  and 
orators,  scenting  places  in  the  Custom  House  or  office 
of  internal  revenue,  put  on  their  armor,  loaded  their 


mental  guns  with  the  heaviest  shot,  and  plunged  into 
the  thickest  of  the  fight,  making  a  great  smoke  and 
noise  whether  they  hit  anybody  or  not. 

The  State  had  been  divided  into  Congressional 
Districts  so  that  but  a  single  Congressman  was  to  be 
voted  for.  Coffroth  and  Sargent,  Democratic  and 
Republican  candidates  respectively,  stumped  the  dis 
tricts,  taking  Amador  county  in  their  course.  The 
questions  of  payment  of  the  national  debt,  the  taxa 
tion  of  the  bonds,  and  the  reconstruction  of  the 
Southern  States,  again  came  before  the  people. 
Grant,  the  Republican  nominee  for  President,  was 
reviewed,  and,  as  was  to  be  expected,  was  bitterly 
assailed  and  as  warmly  defended.  The  danger  of 
electing  soldiers  to  office  was  held  up  to  view.  Many 
professed  to  believe  that  he  would,  with  the  aid  of 
the  army,  make  himself  Emperor;  that  in  case  he 
was  elected  he  would  be  the  last  President  the  United 
States  would  ever  have;  that  in  a  short  time  we 
should  have  an  order  of  hereditary  nobility  estab 
lished.  Others  professed  to  think  Grantonly  a  lucky 
fool,  who  would  be  the  tool  of  designing  politicians; 
that  he  was  not  much  of  a  General  anyhow;  that 
Sherman,  Thomas,  Sheridan,  Logan  and  others 
whipped  the  Rebellion.  On  the  other  hand  Seymour 
was  represented  as  heartless,  treacherous  and  un 
worthy.  The  microscope  was  turned  on  him  and 
every  possible  mistake  of  his  life  magnified  into  a 
monstrous  crime.  His  treatment  of  the  New  York 
rioters  at  the  time  of  the  draft  was  made  construc 
tive  treason.  "He  ought  to  have  turned  loose  the 
dogs  of  war  on  the  rioters;  ought  never  to  have 
addressed  them  calling  them  his  friends."  Illustrated 
editions  of  the  New  York  riots  in  which  brutal  Irish 
men  were  slaying  defenseless  negro  orphan  children 
were  everywhere  circulated;  in  short,  the  old,  old 
stories,  told  every  year  from  the  time  of  Jefferson 
down,  were  brought  out,  colored  and  re-shaped  to 
suit  the  times  and  persons,  so  that  they  were  almost 
as  good  as  new.  Strangers  to  our  country  and  its 
style  of  conducting  a  campaign,  whether  national  or 
local,  would  imagine  that  we  were  on  the  eve  of 

ELECTION  RETURNS  BY  PRECINCTS  IN    1868. 


PRECINCTS. 

SEYMOUR  . 

GRANT  .  .  . 

COFFROTH- 

SARGENT  . 

Jackson          .--  -  

H20 

236 

320 

223 

lone    City 

142 

127 

142 

157 

Lancha    Planu                 

42 

49 

42 

49 

Clinton                              - 

70 

23 

72 

21 

Volcano            .                 

246 

222 

247 

221 

Fiddletown               .  .        

91 

81 

92 

81 

Enterprise                              -  -  -  

54 

28 

54 

28 

Sutter  Creek                      .          -  -  . 

138 

188 

133 

188 

Amador                             -  -    

42 

48 

41 

48 

Drytown                             

62 

64 

62 

64 

Forest   Home  -  

16 

42 

16 

42 

Total                          -  

1223 

1098 

1221 

1112 

Democratic    majoritv 

125 

110 

110 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


anarchy,  a  general  breaking  up  of  all  order  and  indus 
tries;  but  the  elections  pass  away,  the  people,  satisfied 
with  masquerading,  return  to  their  avocations  and 
prosperity  continues. 

POLITICAL  PARTIES  IN  1869. 

A  full  set  of  county  officers  to  be  elected,  set  things 
to  going  early.  The  interest  was  the  most  intense 
in  the  Democratic  party  as  being  the  most  likely  to 
win,  though  much  of  the  work  was  given  to  obtaining 
the  nominations. 

The  railroad  question  began  to  be  agitated  this  year, 
the  question  of  regulating  fares  and  freights  having 
become  an  element  in  politics.  To  what  extent,  if 
any,  candidates  were  supplied  with  the  material  for 
making  a  successful  campaign,  by  pledging  them 
selves,  will  always  be  a  matter  of  mystery.  The 
Democrats,  as  usual,  elected  their  whole  ticket.  It 
will  be  observed  that  the  township  system  was 
discontinued,  a  County  Assessor  and  Collector  being 
chosen. 

ELECTION  OP  JUSTICES  OF  THE  PEACE,  1869. 

Township  No.  1 — E.  Turner,  J.  S.  Campbell. 
Township  No.  2 — Charles  Walker,  William  Shelby. 
Township  No. 3 — Louis  Miller,  Louis  Ludiken. 
Township  No.  4 — C.  K.  Johnson,  U.  Nurse. 
Township  No.  5— M.  B.  Church,  C.  D.  Smith. 
Township  No.  6— E.  R.  Yates,  F.  Shearer. 

ELECTION    RETURNS- 1869. 


NAME. 

Jackson  

Clinton  

; 

o 
O 
v? 

r 
g 

"r: 
9 

— 
^ 

Vol/ano  

Sutter  Creek  . 

Amador  

Drytown  

Forest  Home. 

Fiddletown  .  . 

-. 

9 

•o 

| 

H 
o 
£ 

STATE   SENATOR. 

J.  T.  Farley,  (D.)-              

::M 
ir;4 

293 

•J01 
196 

178 

:U7 

us 

808 

170 

889 

14!) 

887 
188 

876 
tat 

:',-2'.', 
\M 

:«>:: 
179 

78 
10 

77 
72 
•26 
20 

73 
23 

82 

14 

74 

a 

69 

26 

n 

'21 

!s2 
14 

77 
M 

126 

104 
122 

m 

105 

li  4 

110 
89 

l.'il 

or 
ISS 

01 

120 
00 

177 

40 

12.-, 

I  Of, 

12.-, 
Ulf, 

89 

25 

39 
86 

29 
2fc 

48 
IS 

37 

M 

40 

26 

U 

•20 

55 
11 

80 

27 

88 

ts 

2t5 

171 

203 
218 
189 
182 

10!) 
-01 

217 

1*4 

21  Hi 
177 

;>:;<.» 
100 

224 
178 

228 
L78 

2f,S 
142 

[94 

142 

166 

188 
168 

147 

228 

in 

176 

ICO 

107 
1:12 

170 

in 

198 

14.'. 

100 
14:, 

181 

156 

10 

86 

43 
46 
88 
88 

M 
86 

41 

12 

51 
31 

45 

:is 

47 

:;7 

M 

87 

45 

:i:i 

40 

M 

2:; 

44 

74 
JS 

50 

is 

11 
86 

40 
48 

86 

60 

81 

47 

4S 

50 

47 

BO 

B 

27 

T 

7 
80 
80 

10 

27 
(1 

81 

a 

29 

7 

8Q 

B 
if 

7 
80 

80 

98 

.-,!* 

7.r, 
SI 

M 

68 

S7 
68 

69 

75 

90 
66 

79 

BO 

:,d 

so 
56 

88 
66 

44 
22 

86 

44 

27 
21 

4ft 

21 

20 
37 

45 
21 

40 

2f> 

45 
21 

45 
21 

45 

21 

1209 
815 

1082 
1151 
946 
854 

1278 
749 

1107 
925 

1221 
780 

1156 
862 

1240 
795 

1222 
814 

1214 
824 

M.  W.  Goruon,  (R.)  

ASSEMBLYMEN. 

A.  C.  Brown,  (D.)  

J.  M.  Johnson,  (D.)  

Wm.  Jennings.    

—  Foltrer  

SHERIFF. 

Geo.  Durham.  (U.)  

Foster.  (R  )  

COUNTY   CLERK. 

D.  B.  Spagroli,  (D.).  . 

B.  F.  Richtmyer,  (R.) 

TREASURER. 

James  Meehan,  (D.)  

F.  McBride.  (R.)  

DISTRICT  ATTORNEY. 

H.  L.  Waldo,  (D..)  
E.  G.  Hunt,  (R.)  

COUNTY  ASSESSOR. 

James  Surface,  (D.)  

—  Getche)l,(R.(.  .. 

rUBLIC    ADMINISTRATOR. 

A.  Yoak  

W.  T.  Wildman. 

SUPERINTENDENT  SpIIOOLS. 

S.  G.  Britrgs  

E.  B.  Mclntyrc.    

CHAPTER      XXIII. 

CONDITION  OF  THE  COUNTY  AT  THE  BEGINNING 
OF  THE  THIRD  DECADE-- 1870. 

Condition  of  the  County  at  the  Beginning  of  the  Third  Decade — 
Statistics  of  the  Wealth  and  Indebtedness — Politics  in  1870 
— Financial  Condition — Redemption  Fund — Condition  of 
Other  Counties — The  Miners'  League — Death  of  McMenemy 
and  Hatch — Political  Parties  in  1872 — Election  Returns  by 
Precincts,  1871 — Persons  Elected  in  1871 — Financial  Mat 
ters  1872 — Political  Parties  in  1872 — Election  Returns  for 
1872 — Comparison  of  Vote  with  Previous  Years — Financial 
Matters,  1873 — Political  Parties  in  1873 — John  Eagon's  Posi 
tion — Judge  Gordon's  Stand — J.  T.  Farley's  Position — Elec 
tion  Returns  by  Precincts — Officers  Elected  in  1873 — Alpine 
county  Left  out  in  the  Election — Financial  Matters  in  1874 
— The  Funding  Project — Political  Parties  in  1874 — Financial 
Matters  in  1875— Robbery  of  the  Treasury  May  9,  1S75— 
Conclusion  of  Butterfield  Matter  in  1877 — Political  Matters 
in  1875 — Officers  elected  in  1875. 

ACCORDING  to  the  reports  of  the  Assessor  the  value 
of  all  property,  personal  and  real,  was  $2,241,070. 
The  county  debt  had  been  estimated  as  being  less 
than  $100,000,  but  as  was  written  in  the  previous 
chapters  of  the  history,  it  was  constantly  increasing, 
the  sums  paid  not  being  equal  to  the  interest,  and  con 
sequently  no  portion  was  applied  to  the  payment  of 
the  principal.  At  the  beginning  of  this  decade  the 
debt  was  nearly,  if  not  quite,  $200,000.  It  seems  to 
be  the  fate  of  political  organizations,  as  well  as  of 
individuals,  to  go  into  extravagant  and  wasteful 
expenditure  in  prosperous  times,  and  pay  up  when 
times  are  hard.  At  the  beginning  of  1860  we  found 
placer  mining  remunerative  to  a  high  degree;  quartz 
mining  established  on  a  paying  basis  and  agriculture 
and  horticulture  profitably  employing  a  great  num 
ber  of  men.  The  farms  on  the  Mokelumne  river,  in 
Jackson,  lone  and  Dry  Creek  valleys,  as  well  as  on 
the  heads  of  the  latter  creeks,  with  their  waving 
fields  of  grain,  orchards,  and  vineyards,  were  all  that 
could  be  desired. 

Many  causes  combined  to  arrest  this  tide  of  pros 
perity.  The  Frazer  river  excitement  drew  away  a 
great  many  miners.  Still  later  the  discovery  of  the 
Washoe  mines  caused  another  outflow  of  hundreds 
of  able,  industrious  men.  The  copper  excitement 
took  a  great  many  away  from  moderately  profitable 
work;  and,  when  copper  failed  in  the  subsequent 
years  to  prove  remunerative,  at  least  five  hundred 
men  were  set  adrift,  most  of  whom  left  the  county 
in  search  of  some  more  promising  place.  During 
the  years  of  1861-64,  the  price  of  cattle  of  all 
kinds  went  down  with  a  panic,  so  that  many,  who 
considered  themselves  well  fixed,  became  poor  men. 
The  wine  business,  which  promised  so  much,  had 
proved  an  utter  failure,  every  attempt  to  market  the 
wine  in  the  East  resulting  in  loss;  so  that  many  per 
sons  were  induced  to  tear  up  their  vineyards  and 
give  up  the  business.  The  orchards,  which  pro 
duced  a  great  quantity  of  the  finest  fruit,  were  also 
poor  property;  for  the  emigration  of  many  of  the 
miners  left  no  market  for  such  products.  The  quartz 
mining  alone  saved  the  county  from  comparative 
poverty.  The  mines  along  the  mother  lodes,  as  well 
as  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  county,  on  the  Volcano 


AT  THE  BEGINNING  O: 

F  THE  THIRD  DECADE.                                   Ill 

range    gave  employment  to  perhaps  one  thousand 

Number  of  Sheep                               23,914             3990 

"         Swine     .                             5,380 

Mahoney  and  Hayward  at  Sutter  Creek,  and  others  at 
Diytown,  Amador,    and  Plymouth,  took   out  sums 
varying  from  ten  thousand  to  sixty  thousand  dol 
lars  per  month.     Large  quantities  of  wood  and  lum 
ber  were  required,  which  furnished  labor  to  as  many 

Bushels   of    Wheat  raised             16,678           39,000 
"           Corn             «                   36,370            19,000 
Barley         "                    51,815           31,175 
Potatoes      "                     9,988             9,200 
"             "     Sweet  "                      1,060 

Pounds  of  Wool..  _.             73,010 

more  men  as  were  engaged  in  the  mines. 

Gals.  Wine    made                             54,165 

With  all  this  there  was  little  increase   in  the  pop 

Pounds  of  Butter  43,700 

ulation  and  prospective  wealth      The  vote  which  in 

"          Cheese  950 

Gals.  Milk  sold.                                   1  600 

1860  had  closely  reached  four  thousand,  in  ten  years 

Tons  Hay  raised  5.908              3000 

was  reduced  to  about  two  thousand,  though  there 

Pounds   of  Hops  12,050 

was  no  decrease  in  population  in  proportion  to  the 

"          Honey                               2,520 

vote,  as  the  roving  part  was  composed  mostly  of 

Quartz  Mills  .                    33                   27 

men  without  families 

Tons  of  Eock  crushed...    .             61,736            70,360 

The   gradual   improvement  in  financial  standing, 
through    wise    management,    and    a    gradual    and 
healthy  growth  in  all  the  business  industries  of  the 
country  will  appear  as  the  third  decade  passes  away. 

A    FEW    STATISTICS 

As  to  the  comparative  wealth  and  population  will  be 

POLITICAL   PARTIES     IN     1870. 

This  was  a  year  of  quiet,  as  neither  national,  State, 
or  county  officers  were  to  be  elected.     The  mutter- 
ings  of  the  storm,  that  was  prevailing  in  the  East, 
were  but  little  heeded  in  the  off  years.     It  took  the 
loaves  and  fishes  of  the  county  offices  to  arouse  the 

interesting: — 


PRECINCTS- 

Population  in  1870. 

Population 
in  I860.* 

§ 
ff 

^ 

S> 

ct-_ 

5' 

<t> 

1170 
1094 

840 
1157 

48(3 
702 

| 
CD 

CK)' 

| 

<rf-° 

CD 

1 

^O 

"o 
O 

9 

5 

CD 

B 
CD 

H 
1 

1344 
2712 
1545 
1214 
1559 
1191 
478 

10930 

g 

H-  '   • 

y 

Q 

c" 

i 
P. 

O 
g 

CD 
• 
CD 

Jackson  

2408 
1779 
1357 
196(5 
853 
1219 

1328 
685 
517 
809 
367 
517 

1988 
1330 
1218 
1858 
6iO 
849 

3 
24 
2 
30 
2 
5 

417 
425 
137 
7^ 
211 
3(35 

1822 
2098 
15-7 
1022 

852 
824 
382 

8527 

17 
21 

5 

IM 

IS 

6 
J 

81 

505 
539 
113 
179 
689 
361 
95 

2535 

lone  

Volcano  
Sutter  

Drytown  
Oleta  

Total  

9582 

5449 

4223 

7883 

72'l627 

In  making  these  estimates  the  Government  gave 
the  township  the  name  of  the  largest  town. 

1870  1860 

Assessed  value  of  Eeal  Estate  01,167,525 
"         <>       Pers.  Property        785,419 


Total $1,952,944    $2,395,684 

True  value.. $4,428,490 

State   Taxes $19,944     $28,855.90 

County    Taxes $29,293 


Total. 


County  Debt 

Improved  Land  (in  acres). . 
Unimproved  "  '• 

Cash  value  of  Farms 

"  '  Farm  Impl'ts..  .. 
"  •  Orchard  Products 
Farm  " 

Market  Gardens . . 
Manufacturies. . .. 
Animals  for  Food 

Live  Stock 

Number  of  Horses 

"         Mules 

"         Milch  Cows 

"         Working  Oxen... 
"         Other  Cattle. . 


$48,237 

$165,000 

41,534 

19,782 

$486,400 

4j,015 

43,350 

363,983 

11,605 

26,000 

62,232 

280,587 

1,686 

141 

MSI 


$4,823.50 
38,483 


1,749 


2,497 


68  v  -  -  -  9,633 


'  There  is  a  slight  discrepancy  in  the  census  returns . 


politicians  to  a  full  sense  of  the  dangers  impending 
over  our  Constitution,  our  country  or  our  race.  No 
livery  teams  were  hired  to  carry  the  men,  ambitious 
to  serve  their  country  in  easy,  lucrative  offices,  around 
to  alarm  the  people.  No  twenty-dollar  pieces  were 
left  at  the  saloons  to  pay  for  beer  doled  out  where  it 
would  do  the  most  good.  In  fact,  everything  was  dis 
tressingly  dull,  and  the  people  were  allowed  to  attend 
quietly  to  their  business. 

FINANCIAL    CONDITION    OF   THE   COUNTY. 

Nobody  knew  exactly  how  it  stood.  It  is  true 
that  quarterly  returns  were  made  by  the  Sheriff, 
Auditor,  Treasurer,  and  Supervisors,  and  occasion 
ally  the  Grand  Jury  would  have  a  spasm  of  economy 
and  make  an  inquiry  into  the  financial  condition;  but 
who  among  the  Grand  Jurors  had  time  to  look  over 
the  stubs  of  the  outstanding  warrants,  to  see  for 
what  purpose,  or  when  they  were  drawn,  or  how 
much  interest  had  accumulated,  or  whether  even  the 
interest  had  been  paid!  A  few  persons  were  con 
scious  of  the  painful  uncertainty  and  to  these  the 
county  is  indebted  for  the  arrangements  which  not 
only  brought  the  accumulating  debt  to  view,  but  pro 
vided  means  for  its  gradual  liquidation. 

REDEMPTION   FUND. 

As  early  as  February  7th  the  Supervisors,  L.  Mc- 
Laine,  Henry  Peck,  and  D.  M.  Goff,  took  the  matter 
under  consideration  and  recommended  a  plan  which, 
however,  was  said  to  have  been  first  suggested  by 
James  Meehan,  the  Treasurer,  that  sixty  cents  on 
each  one  hundred  dollars  should  be  raised  to  be  used 
as  a  sinking  fund  for  outstanding  registered  war 
rants.  Meehan  went  to  Sacramento  and  personally 
solicited  the  support  of  the  members  not  interested 
in  the  matter,  his  position  as  Treasurer  enabling  him 
to  explain  the  necessity  of  some  such  measure,  to 
prevent  the  county  from  becoming  bankrupt.  Messrs. 


112 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Farley  and  Brown,  Senator  and  Assemblyman 
respectively,  ably  supported  the  Bill,  and  on  the  12th 
of  March  it  became  a  law.  It  provided  a  sinking 
fund  of  sixty  cents  on  each  one  hundred  dollars 
which  was  sacred  for  this  purpose;  also  that  no  war 
rant  should  be  drawn  unless  there  was  money  to 
meet  it;  a  certificate  of  indebtedness,  bearing  no 
interest,  being  given  when  occasion  demanded. 
Though  the  sum  specially  assessed  was  sufficient  to 
check  the  accumulation  of  interest,  and  also  assisted 
materially  in  bringing  to  light  the  different  items,  it 
was  not  until  December  3,  1872,  that  the  full  amount 
of  liabilities  was  known  and  reported,  the  debt  having 
been  estimated  at  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  thou 
sand  dollars.  To  anticipate  the  result  it  was  then 
reported  that  the  outstanding  warrants 

On  General  Fund  with  interest  was..  .$157,126  02 
On  Hospital  Fund,        "  "...     38,00783 

On  New  Certificates  not  bearing  interest  13,751)  23— $208,884  58. 

CONDITION    OF    OTHER   COUNTIES. 

About  this  time,  general  attention  was  attracted 
towards  some  of  the  older  mining  counties,  which, 
in  former  years,  had  contained  much  the  largest 
share  of  the  population.  At  one  time,  El  Dorado 
county,  now  numbering  less  than  ten  thousand 
inhabitants,  had  fifty  thousand.  Tuolumne,  Cala- 
veras,  and  some  others,  aleo  showed  a  great  reduc 
tion.  In  Calaveras,  the  condition  was  much  worse 
than  in  Amador.  The  population  reduced  to  less 
than  ten  thousand;  the  assessment  roll  yearly 
decreasing;  the  debt,  principal  and  interest,  con 
stantly  accumulating,  so  that  five  per  cent,  taxes 
was  hardly  sufficient  to  meet  current  expenses;  was 
a  condition  calculated  to  depress  and  crush  out  all 
industrial  energy.  It  was  known  that  stock-men, 
who  grazed  their  flocks  in  the  mountains  of  Cala 
veras,  would  hold  them  in  other  counties,  where  the 
rates  of  taxation  were  lower,  until  the  time  for 
assessing  was  past,  before  they  would  drive  them 
to  their  pastures.  A  tax  rate  as  high  as  five  per 
cent,  was  considered  as  a  mortgage  for  all  the  prop 
erty  was  worth.  Things  were  looking  so  serious 
that  the  Legislature  felt  called  upon  to  investigate 
the  matter  before  the  question  of  State  responsibility 
for  county  indebtedness,  should  meet  them  in  the 
shape  of  a  judgment. 

In  making  these  investigations,  Amador  was  con 
sidered  one  of  the  counties  possibly  requiring  the 
aid  of  the  State.  Happily,  it  has  passed  any  such 
probable  contingency. 

THE  MINERS'  LEAGUE. 

Any  history  of  Amador  county  which  failed  to 
give  an  account  of  the  Miners'  League,  would  be 
lamentably  deficient.  This  Society  organized  as  a 
kind  of  mutual  benefit  association.  It  does  not 
appear  that  any  unlawful  measures  were  at  first 
contemplated;  but  organization  gave  the  members 
an  idea  of  strength  and  influence.  Merchants  joined 
the  league,  for  fear  of  losing  the  trade  of  the  miners; 


politicians,  to  make  a  few  votes;  and  the  lawless  and 
desperate,  to  work  against  law  and  order  in  society. 
In  Sutter  Creek,  it  numbered  about  three  hundred 
members,  composed  of  Irish,  Cornishmen,  Austrians, 
and  Italians,  and  had  a  membership  of  perhaps  as 
many  more  in  other  parts  of  the  county.  They 
built  a  large  hall,  costing  several  thousand  dollars. 
Luke  Burns,  who  had  had  some  experience  in  simi 
lar  associations  in  Virginia  City,  was  President,  and 
L.  J.  Marks,  Secretary. 

The  immediate  cause  of  the  outbreak  was  the 
reduction  of  twenty-five  cents  a  day  on  the  wages 
of  the  hands  working  on  the  surface,  in  the  Consoli 
dated  Amador  mine.  After  much  discussion  a  gen 
eral  strike  was  agreed  upon,  also  a  determination  to 
enforce  it  everywhere,  and  not  permit  the  working 
of  the  mines  unless  at  the  proposed  rates.  The 
schedule  of  wages  demanded  by  the  Miners'  League 
made  very  little  advance  over  the  existing  rates, 
but  the  right  to  make  even  a  small  advance  im 
plied  a  right  to  control  the  working  of  the  mines, 
and  the  mine  owners  refused  to  accept  the  rates. 
Members  of  the  league  to  the  number  of  two  hun 
dred  visited  the  different  mines,  and  ordered  the 
stopping  of  the  work.  They  carried  no  arms  that 
were  in  sight,  though  according  to  some  reports  they 
supplied  themselves  with  clubs  from  the  wood-piles 
of  the  mills.  It  is  now  contended  by  some  that  no 
threats  or  force  was  used;  that  the  miners  went 
rather  as  a  committee  of  conference  than  as  a  menac 
ing  party.  They  would  not  permit  any  work  to  be 
done,  not  even  allowing  an  engine  to  be  run  to  keep 
the  water  out.  John  Eagon,  since  State  Senator, 
and  James  Meehan,  as  well  as  other  prominent  men, 
were  members  of  the  league.  The  former  person 
accompanied  the  body  of  miners  to  the  mills,  as  he 
asserted,  to  prevent  them  from  committing  any 
excesses,  though  others  say,  that  having  raised  a 
storm  he  could  not  control  he  was  swept  along  in 
the  whirlwind.  The  mills  at  Amador,  Sutter,  and 
Oneida  were  all  stopped.  It  is  true  that  some  of 
these  mines,  like  the  Keystone,  Consolidated,  Ama 
dor,  and  others,  were  paying  mines,  and  could  have 
paid  higher  wages  and  dividends  also;  but  other 
mines  like  the  Oneida  had  never  paid  dividends,  but 
had  always  been  worked  at  a  loss.  The  wages  paid 
varied  from  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  day  for  top 
hands,  to  four  dollars  for  underground  men.  There 
was  no  plea  that  the  wages  were  insufficient  to  sup 
port  the  families,  or  less  than  were  paid  in  other 
laborious  occupations,  but  it  was  intended  to  raise 
them  to  the  Virginia  and  Gold  Hill  standard,  where 
the  expenses  of  living  were  much  higher.  The  daily 
threats  of  destruction  of  life  and  property  showed 
the  existence  of  so  much  ill-feeling  that  the  Governor 
was  invoked  for  aid,  and  a  body  of  volunteers, 
under  General  Cazenau,  came  from  San  Francisco 
and  camped  on  the  hill  near  the  old  Wolverine 
shaft.  They  had  several  pieces  of  artillery,  and 
formed  a  regular  military  camp,  sending  out  and 


RESIDENCE©'  JUDGE    GEORGE    MOORE 

JACKSON,  AMADOR    COUNTY.  GAL. 


RESIDENCE"   HO  N.JAMES  T.FARLEY. 

JACKSON. AMADOR  COUNTY,  CAL. 


AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  THIRD  DECADE. 


113 


relieving  guards  every  evening  for  the  different 
mines.  Correspondents  from  the  cities  accompanied 
the  troops,  and  reported  the  conditions  every  day. 

Never,  at  any  time  in  the  history  of  the  county, 
was  the  apprehension  of  danger  to  life  and  property 
so  strong.  The  members  of  the  league  were  men 
who  were  accustomed  to  danger,  for  what  does  a 
man  care  for  life  who  risks  it  every  day  as  a 
miner  does.  And  then  the  mass  of  the  miners  felt 
amenable  to  no  laws  but  their  own.  There  is  no 
class  of  people  who  have  so  little  intercourse  with 
the  outside  world,  who  have  their  own  codes  of 
ethics  and  modes  of  thought,  as  the  professional 
miners.  The  threats  of  life  and  property,  extended 
to  other  parts  of  the  county.  It  seemed  that  the 
officers  of  justice  were  paralyzed.  The  newspapers 
of  the  county  said  little  about  it,  as  if  fearful  that  a 
word  might  bring  destruction  upon  them. 

The  result  was  a  general  prostration  of  business. 
The  towns  around  the  quartz  mines  had  been  the 
principal  market  for  produce  for  some  years,  and 
when  a  thousand  or  more  men  were  thrown  out  of 
employment  and  the  money  which  was  usually  paid 
as  wages  ceased  to  circulate,  the  depression  in 
business  was  universal,  producing  in  some  instances 
actual  distress. 

The  soldiers  remained  in  the  county  for  several 
weeks,  and  prevented  any  destruction  of  pioperty. 
Some  kind  of  concession  was  made  which  termi 
nated  the  siege,  and  the  soldiers  left,  although  the 
ill-feeling  engendered  by  the  operation  remained  for 
some  time.  The  damage  to  the  county  by  this  affair 
can  hardly  be  estimated.  The  mines  of  gold  and 
copper,  as  well  as  other  minerals,  require  the  aid  of 
capital  to  be  made  profitable.  Capital  must  be  pro 
tected,  or  it  silently  shuts  itself  up.  In  subsequent 
years,  the  memory  of  the  Amador  war  diverted 
many  thousands  of  dollars  from  investment  in  the 
county. 

DEATH  OP  M'MENEMY  AND  HATCH. 

Several  altercations  grew  out  of  the  matter,  one 
resulting  in  the  death  of  two  men  and  the  wounding 
of  a  third.  The  following  from  the  Dispatch  of  July 
29,  1871,  gives  the  only  account  of  the  matter  to  be 
found: — 

"  The  wounds  received  by  Hatch  and  McMenemy 
have  both  proved  fatal.  Both  of  the  wounded  men 
were  attended  by  the  best  of  medical  aid,  but  human 
effort  proved  of  no  avail.  McMenemy  lingered 
until  half-past  twelve  p.  M.,  on  Wednesday,  when  he 
died;  Mr.  Hatch,  till  halt-past  four  the.  same  after 
noon,  when  he  breathed  his  last.  He  was  conscious 
to  the  last,  but  unable  to  speak  for  some  hours  before 
his  death. 

"  AVe  will  not  attempt  to  give  any  of  the  particu 
lars  of  this  truly  melancholy  affair,  as  there  are  so 
many  conflicting  statements  and  rumors  afloat  that 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  arrive  at  the  truth  of  the 
matter.  The  immediate  cause  of  the  shooting,  how 
ever,  grew  out  of  an  attack  made  on  Mr.  Hatch  the 
Friday  night  previous,  at  a  concert  given  in  Sutter 
Creek.  The  result  has  created  much  feeling  and 
15 


excitement  in  our  county, 
can  now  tell." 


Where  it  will  end  no  one 


Hatch  was  the  confidential  clerk  of  the  Amador 
Consolidated  Co.  Bennet  was  his  friend,  who  took 
up  the  quarrel  that  was  forced  on  Hatch.  He  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  county.  Hatch  left  a  young 
wife  to  mourn  her  loss. 

Wriggles  worth,  an  engineer,  who  persisted  in 
running  an  engine  for  pumping,  after  notice  to  quit, 
was  set  upon  in  the  streets,  and  escaped  through  the 
kindness  of  a  woman  in  the  Exchange  Hotel,  who 
hid  him  away  while  the  crowd  was  searching  for 
him.  He  also  had  to  leave  the  county. 

The  reign  of  terror  gradually  passed  away,  though 
the  influence  of  the  Miners'  League  was  felt  in  polit 
ical  matters  sometime  after. 

POLITICAL   PARTIES    IN    1871. 

A  full  set  of  county  and  State  officers  was  to  be 
elected  and,  consequently,  the  politicians  began  early 
to  take  advantageous  positions  and  set  their  forces  in 
the  field.  There  were  no  great  national  issues  to 
arouse  public  interest,  but  a  combination,  or  perhaps 
a  bidding  for  the  vote  of  the  Miners'  League,  hereto 
fore  mentioned,  gave  a  great  deal  of  interest  to  the 
campaign.  John  Eagon,  a  member  of  the  League, 
was  supposed  to  control  three  hundred  votes,  which 
number  would  ensure  the  election  of  any  one  nomin 
ated  by  either  party.  Few  of  the  better  citizens  of 
either  party  would  countenance  the  proceedings  of 
the  League,  but  as  one  old  politician  said,  three 

ELECTION  RETURNS -1871. 


CANDIDATES. 

Jackson  

Clinton  

o 

= 
c 

Q 

•^ 

Lancha  Ptana. 

1  Volcano  

1  Sutter  Creek  . 

Amador  

f~T. 

c" 
B 

Forest  Home. 

1  Fiddletown  .  . 

I  Enterprise.  .. 

GOVERNOR. 

H   H  Haight  (D  )    

208 

209 

270 

208 

273 

204 

314 
•23,' 
104 
IhO 
14 

:;i!> 

107 
•277 

195 

300 
Kin 

27,x 
185 

290 

ISO 

2!)0 
1S4 

285 

IS!) 

319 

1  55 

2*2 
188 

105 
24 

105 
24 

10!i 
23 

83 

107 
23 
45 

104 
25 

117 
11 

59 

ae 

75 

52 

in;) 
2(1 

101 
23 

1(14 
25 

lot; 

a 

105 
23 

103 
137 

10f> 

135 
10:i 

14(1 

107 

lul) 
133 
115 
13 

117 

123 

97 

142 

55 
180 

96 

140 

150 
89 

102 
13!) 

104 

130 

11)4 
130 

106 
134 

30 
51 

31 
50 

30 
51 

22 

•24 
53 
02 

30 
4!) 

25 
56 

29 
51 

18 

02 

25 

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Newton  Booth  (R.)    

LIEUTENANT  GOVERNOR. 

E.  J.  Lewis  (D.)  

R.  Pacheco  (R.  )  

CONGRESSMAN. 

Coffroth  (D  )           .     ...          

Sargent  (  R  )              

ASSEMBLY  MEN. 

Waldo  (D.)                 

Swift  (Ind.)  

SHERIFF. 

H.  Kelly°(R.)  

COUNTY  CLERK. 

Spagnoli  (D.)  

Rithtmyer  (R.)    

TREASURER. 

Meehan  (D.)  

Button  (R.)  

DISTRICT  ATTORNEY. 

Turner  (D  )        .... 

Briga-s  (R.)  

ASSESSOR. 

Surface  

Mullen         

SUPERINTENDENT  SCHOOLS. 

Brings  

Kerr                                

SURVEYOR. 

McKimm  

PUBLIC  ADMINISTRATOR. 

Yoak  

Winnegar  

CORONER  

Sharp  :  

HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


hundred  votes  were  hard  to  pick  up,  so  the  three 
hundred  were  treated  with  distinguished  considera 
tion.  What  diplomatic  feats  were  performed;  what 
promises  made  and  broken  none  will  tell.  The  elec 
tion  returns  form  the  best  history  of  the  transaction. 

OFFICERS   ELECTED  IN  1871. 

District  Judge — A.  C.  Adams. 
County  Judge — T.  M.  Pawling. 
Assemblymen — H.  A.  Waldo,  J.  A.  Eagon. 
District  Attorney — R.  M.  Briggs. 
County  Clerk — B.  F.  Richtmyer. 
Sheriff— H.  B.  Kelley. 
Treasurer — 0.  Button. 
Surveyor — D.  D.  Reaves. 
Assessor — J.  W.  Surface. 
Superintendent  of  Schools — S.  G.  Briggs. 
Coroner — Charles  Boarman. 
Public  Administrator — A.  Yoak. 

JUSTICES   OF   THE   PEACE. 

Township  No.  1 — J.  C.  Shipman,   Hugh  Robinson. 
"          "     2— L.  Brusie,  L.  M.  Earle. 

"     3— S.  F.  Mullen,  L.  Ludekin. 
«          «     4— P.  Cook,  J.  S.  Hill. 
"  "     5— M.  B.  Church,  D.  Worley. 

"          "     6— E.  R.  Yates,  James  Gregg. 

FINANCIAL   MATTERS   IN    1872. 

This  may  be  distinguished  as  the  year  of  waking 
up,  when  every  cranny  and  pigeon  hole  was  ran 
sacked  to  find  the  amount  of  the  county  debt.  In 
February  the  Treasurer  estimated  the  debt  as  8179,- 
265.47.  On  the  sixth  day  of  June  the  report  indicated 
outstanding  warrants  on — 

General  Fund  with  interest $153,551.00 

Hospital  Fund  "          "         36,995.68 

New  Certificates l,97i),  64— $192,526.32 

The  following  note  is  appended  to  the  report: — 

"Upon  a  thorough  examination  of  the  registration 
of  outstanding  warrants  against  the  redemption  and 
hospital  funds  of  the  county,  as  the  same  appears  on 
the  books  of  the  County  Treasurer,  it  appears  that 
the  reports  made  of  the  indebtedness  of  the  county 
for  the  past  years  have  been  incorrect,  the  true 
indebtedness  being  much  greater  than  reported.  The 
presumption  is,  the  error  was  committed  by  report 
ing  the  interest  paid  as  a  reduction  of  the  principal 
to  that  amount,  when  in  fact  it  did  not  reduce  it  at 
all." 

The  last  quarterly  report,  December  3, 1872,  was, 
outstanding  warrants  on — 

General  Fund .$157,121.02 

Hospital  Fund 38,007.33 

New  General  Fund 13,756.23— $208,884.58 

The  Assessor,  J.  W.  Surface,  catching  some  of  the 
economic  spirit,  doubled  the  assessment  roll  and  aston 
ished  the  people  with  the  amount  of  wealth  in  the 
county. 
Assessment  roll  for  1872: — 

Real  Estate $    359,133 

Improvements 269  105 

Town  Lots .v.. v.        90;965 

Improvements  thereon 279  800 

Mining  Claims .'..!'..'.   1,2*4200 


Improvements 150,350 

Telegraph 800 

Water  Ditches 82,950 

Personal  Property 3,027,119— $5,556,442 

Rate  of  taxation,  $2.35  on  each  $100. 

Taxes  assessed,  including  special  school  taxes,  $77,531.17. 


TAX    RATES. 


Sinking  Fund 70c. 

General  Fund. . .  .45c. 

School  Fund 30c. 

Hospital  Fuud...40c. 

State  Fund 50c.— $2.35 


Producing  .$22,307.25 
14,340.37 

9,560.25 

6,373.50 
15,933.75— $74,888.62 


Considering  that  the  population  of  the  county  was 
something  less  than  ten  thousand,  government  was 
was  quite  a  luxury,  costing  about  $8.00  per  capita. 

POLITICAL   PARTIES   IN    1872. 

This  year  furnishes  an  apt  illustration  of  the  often 
repeated  assertion  that  the  desire  for  office  was  at 
the  foundation  of  the  enthusiasm  generally  prevalent 
during  elections.  There  were  no  county  offices  to 
fill,  and  it  was  difficult  to  kindle  any  interest  in  the 
mass  of  voters.  The  Presidential  election  was  a  far 
away  matter  in  the  chances  to  get  a  public  appoint 
ment,  arid  few  took  any  interest  on  that  account.  Then 
the  nominations  were  singular.  Grant,  the  Republi 
can  nominee  for  President,  in  former  days,  was  con 
sidered  a  Democrat,  and  Greeley,  the  Democratic 
nominee  never  was  a  Democrat;  on  the  contrary,  he 
had  been  during  his  whole  life,  fiercely  aggressive  on 
them;  had  charged  them  with  all  kinds  of  sins,  indi 
vidually  and  collectively — sins  political,  moral  and 
intellectual;  but  Greeley  had  quarreled  with  the 
administration,  and  he  was  thought  a  suitable  candi 
date  to  make  an  inroad  in  the  Republican  ranks.  A 
great  many,  who  were  former  admirers  of  Greeley, 
were  known  to  be  disaffected,  and,  it  was  thought, 
would  leave  the  Republican  party.  The  Democrats 
had  now  conceded  the  payment  of  the  national  debt 
and  the  validity  of  the  Constitutional  amendments, 
so  that  there  was  really  little  difference  of  opinion, 
on  national  questions,  to  keep  the  people  apart.  The 
old  Democrats  reluctantly  fell  into  the  ranks  with 

ELECTION  RETURNS  FOR  1872. 


PRECINCTS. 

0 

>-t 

p 

B 

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9 
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'  Greeley  (D.)  . 

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p 
era 

CD 
S-\ 

^ 

0 
o 

03 

°S. 

5' 

00 

f—  \ 

b 
o 

Jackson  

178 

17? 

159 

188 

Clinton 

65 

?0 

65 

fl1 

lone  City  

115 

W 

88 

119 

Lancha  Plana  .            .    . 

35 

38 

?5 

46 

Volcano 

165 

155 

135 

188 

Sutter  Creek 

155 

80 

135 

13? 

Amador  

53 

85 

30 

106 

Dry  town 

47 

fl6 

43 

31 

Forest  Home  

34 

1?, 

1? 

?4 

Fiddletown  

5? 

45 

11 

89 

Enterprise    . 

15 

?5 

1? 

?6 

Plymouth  

55 

?,?, 

?9 

46 

Total...  

964 

772 

744 

1016 

AT  THE   BEGINNING  OF  THE  THIRD  DECADE. 


115 


Greeley  at  the  head  of  the  column.  It  was  a  decided 
case  of  self-sacrifice  for  the  benefit  of  the  country. 
The  younger  Democrats  suspended  the  rule  and 
voted  as  they  pleased.  As  might  have  been  expected 
the  vote  was  very  light.  Even  the  vote  for  Congress 
man  was  far  short  of  the  usual  numbers. 

A  comparison  of  the  vote  with  that  of  1868  will 
be  of  interest  as  showing  the  want  of  interest  in  the 

election: — 

1868.  1872. 

Grant   (E.) 1,109  Grant    (E.) 946 

Seymour  (D.) . .  .1.223  Greeley  (D.) 772 

Total 2,332  Total 1,718 

Decrease  in  vote,  614. 

CONGRESSIONAL   VOTE. 

1868.  1872. 

Sargent  (E.) ....  1,102         Page  (E.) .744. 

Coffroth  (D.).--. 1,222     Coggins  (D.)....'.  .1,016 


Total 1,760 


Total. 2,324 

Decrease  in  vote,  564. 

Page's  vote  was  two  hundred  and  two  less  than 
Grant's,  and  Greeley's  vote  two  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  less  than  Coifroth's.  It  is  evident  that  many 
men  of  both  parties  failed  to  vote,  and  that  personal 
preference;?,  with  many  Democrats  as  well  asEcpub- 
licans,  were  stronger  than  party  ties;  also,  that 
National  questions  were  considered  of  less  moment 
than  the  election  of  the  right  kind  of  men  for  county 
officers,  as  the  whole  vote  fell  short  of  the  vote  of 
the  previous  year  as  follows: — 

County  Clerk— Spagnoli,  1,002;  Eichtmyer,  1,194; 
total,  2,196.  Presidential  vote,  1872—1,718.  Differ 
ence,  478. 

Vote  for  County  Clerk  in  1873— Stevens,  1,087; 
Eichtmyer,  1,017;  total,  2,104.  Difference,  386. 

FINANCIAL   MATTERS   IN    1873. 

From  this  time,  there  seems  to  have  been  an 
earnest  effort  to  pay  off  the  debt,  as  well  as  to  check 
county  expenditures.  The  effort  to  make  the  pros 
pective  value  of  the  mines  an  item  on  the  assessment 
roll,  failed.  The  mine  owners  succeeded  in  evading 
it,  sometimes  by  a  technicality.  In  other  instances, 
the  Supervisors  abated  part  of  the  tax,  to  avoid  a 
doubtful  and  expensive  lawsuit.  The  Keystone  min 
ing  property  was  assessed  in  bulk,  the  taxes  amount 
ing  to  nine  thousand  dollars,  which  the  company 
refused  to  pay,  whereupon,  J.  W.  Surface,  the  col 
lector,  proceeded  to  sell  the  property.  In  the  suit 
which  followed,  the  Court  decided,  that,  though  the 
property  was  principally  owned  by  one  company, 
it  should  have  been  described  and  assessed  as  three 
separate  properties;  that,  in  consequence  of  this, 
the  collector  be  restrained  from  selling  it. 

The  assessment  roll  was  reduced,  to  $3,186,750, 
and  $18,176.90  taxes  were  reported  as  delinquent. 
The  total  indebtedness  July  31st,  was  reported  at — 

Outstanding  warrants  on  Gen.  Fund. .  $141,768.08 
Hospital  Fund.     34,044.36 
Certificates  not  bearing  interest 13,991.09— $189,803.53 


October  3d,  it  was  reported — 

Outstanding  warrants  on   Gen.  Fund.  .$143,894.39 
Hospital  Fund  .     34,736.46 

Certificates  not  bearing  interest 17,774.65 

New  Hospital  Fund 1,032.85— $197,438.35 

POLITICAL    PARTIES   IN    1873. 

Early  in  the  season,  it  was  evident  that  a  nomina 
tion  by  the  Democratic  party  was  equivalent  to  an 
election,  and  the  strife  was  principally  in  the  prima 
ries.     Nearly  every  town  had  a  full  set  of  candidates, 
who  undertook  to  effect  a  combination  which  should 
have  their  own  names  on  the  slate.     When  the  pri 
maries  were  over,  the  successful  operators  went  into 
the  Convention,  each  with  his  list  of  delegates,  which 
he  could  trade  or  bestow  on  any  other  candidate  as 
a  consideration   for  votes  given  to  himself.     Some 
sturdy,  independent  men,  finding  themselves  valued, 
labeled  and  consigned  to  certain  parties,  will  rebel 
and  fret,  but  a  skillful  manipulator  will  manage  to 
conciliate  them  with  the  promise  of  a  nomination 
another  year,  or  something  equally  delusive,  and  so, 
year  after  year,  a   smart  manager  wriggles  him 
self  into  office;   and  the   man  who  studies  political 
economy  instead  of  men,  who  knows  less  of  prima 
ries  and  more  of  the  science  of  government,  is  left 
in  the  rear  in  the  race.     It  may  be  said,  however, 
in  defense  of  this  kind  of  political  economy,  that  the 
best  governments    are  the   result   of  organizations 
which   harmonize   conflicting  elements  into  a  force 
working  for  the  general  good;  that  he  who  cannot 
lead,  and  is  unwilling  to  follow,  must  stand  aside. 
This  season  showed  a  change  of  positions  of  some 
of  the  leaders.     John  Eagon,  one  of  the  old  Demo 
cratic  war  horses,  who  was  wont  to   fall  into   the 
front  line  when  a  charge  was  sounded,  now  ranged 
himself  with  the  Eepublicans.     When  he  made  his 
intention  known,  he  excused,  or  rather  justified,  him 
self  with  the  remark  of  a  Eoman  orator:  "  Tempora 
mutantur,    mutamur,"     which    may    be    translated, 
Times  change,  we  change.    In  a  rather  lengthy  address, 
the   sentiment,  above   quoted,  was   elaborated   into 
something  like   the   following:    "Fellow-citizens:    I 
honestly  defended   slavery,  not  that  I   believed   it 
advantageous  to  States  or  to  the  nation,  but  because 
I  found  it  recognized  in  the  national  compact  as  an 
existing  institution.     I  opposed  the  attempt  to  coerce 
the  States  who  refused  to  submit  to  the  election  of 
of  a  President,  and  the  establishment  of  an  adminis 
tration   hostile  to   the   institution    of   slavery,   not 
because  I  justified  secession,  but  because  I  believed 
that  reunion  could  be  safely  left  to  time  and  oppor 
tunity.     The    nation    thought    otherwise.     Slavery 
has  been  abolished  by  the  court  of  last  resort;  the 
Union  has  been  re-established,  though  at  a  fearful 
price.     I    do   not   believe   in   prolonging   a    useless, 
strife.     I  am  willing  to  accept  the  verdict,  and  abide 
the  judgment  of  the  Court.     I  am  willing  to  forget 
the  past,  and  join  with  any  party  to  cultivate  peace 
and  friendship  between  the  two  sections,  and  repair 
the  waste  and  desolations  of  the  war." 


116 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Judge  Gordon  also  took  the  stump  for  the  Repub 
lican  party.  He  had  been  longer  a  member  of  the 
Democratic  party,  because  an  older  man;  had  been 
a  Murat  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  where  his  intel 
lectual  sword  was  sure  to  cleave  a  broad  way 
through  opposing  ranks.  Though  his  judgment 
might  have  caused  him  to  submit  to,  and  advocate? 
the  new  order  of  political  economy,  his  heart  did 
not  respond  to  the  new  slogan.  His  speeches  lacked 
the  usual  fire  and  vim,  and,  in  a  few  years  after,  he 
concluded  to  give  his  old  age  to  the  party  of  his 
youth. 

James  T.  Farley,  who  had  quietly  taken  the  bit 
ter  pill  of  defeat  during  the  years  of  the  war,  was 
now  in  front.  He  had  been  prudent  during  the 
years  of  bitter  strife;  had  tried  to  soften  the  asper 
ity  and  vindictiveness  of  both  parties.  He  had 
remained  with  the  Democrats  when  sure  defeat 
awaited  them.  His  uniform  consistency  won  the 
confidence  of  the  community.  He  also  accepted 
the  results  of  the  war,  and  wished  to  cultivate  peace 
and  amity. 

In  this  campaign  was  the  beginning  of  that  con 
tinuous  wave  of  popularity  which  carried  him  into 
the  United  States  Senate. 

The  comparison  of  the  vote  with  that  of  1861, 
when  he  received  less  than  one-third  of  the  votes, 
must  be  to  him  a  source  of  satisfaction. 

ELECTION   RETURNS-SEPTEMBER,    1873. 


CANDIDATES. 

Jackson  

.  Clinton  

lone  City  

Lancha  Flana 

Volcano  

1  Sutter  Creek. 

1  AmadorCity. 

Drytown  

Forest  Home. 

Fiddletown  .  . 

Enterprise  . 

S 

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HARBOR  COMMISSIONER. 

John  W.  Boat,  (D.)  

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188 
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Paul  Ncuman,  (R  )  

BEN  «TOR. 

J.  T.  Farley,  (D.) 

John  A.  Eagon,  (R.) 

/•SSBMBIAMKN. 

W.  H.  Stowers,(0.)  
J.  M.  Johnson,  (D.)   

L.  Miller,  (R.) 

J.  A.  Tagjfard,  (R.) 

SHERIFF. 

Peter  Fasran,  (D.)  

J.  Farnsworth,  (R  )  

I.  N.  Randolph,  (Ind.)  

TREASURER. 

J.  A.  Buttterfield,  (D.)  
S.  O.  Spa^noli,(R.) 

CLERK. 

J.  B.  Stevens,  (D  )  

B.  F.  Richtmyer,  (R.)  

DISTRICT  ATTORNEY. 

T.  J.  Phelps,  (D.)  .     . 

M.  W  Gordon,  (R.)  

ASSESSOR. 

J.  W.  Surface,  (D.) 

S.  C.  Wheeler.  (R.)  .'.    . 

SURVEYon. 

W.  L.  McKimm,  (D.)  
H.  C.  Meek,  (R  )  

SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT. 

S.  O.  firings,  (D.)  

H.  L.  Gould,  (R.)  

CORONER. 

D.  Mvers,  (D.)  ... 

J.  S.'Hil.  (H.)  

OFFICERS    ELECTED    IN    1873. 

State  Senator — James  T.  Farley  (D.) 
Assemblymen — W.    H.    Stowers  (D.),  Louis  Mil 
ler   (E.) 

District  Attorney — T.  J.  Phelps  (D.) 
County  Clerk— J.  B.  Stevens  (D.) 


Sheriff— Peter  Fagan  (D.) 

County  Treasurer — J.  A.  Butterfield  (D.) 

County  Surveyor — Wm.  L.  McKimm  (D.) 

Assessor — J.  W.  Surface  (D.) 

Superintendent  of  Schools — S.  G.  Briggs  (D.) 

Coronor  and  Public  Administrator — D.  Myers  (D.) 

JUSTICES   OF   THE   PEACE. 

Township  No.  1 — J.  C.  Shipman,  Hugh  Robin 
son. 

Township  No.  2 — L.  Brusie,  L.  M.  Earl. 
Township  No.  3 — L.  McLaine,  L.  Ludekins. 
Township  No.  4 — J.  A.  Brown,  C.  K.  Johnson. 
Township  No.  5 — M.  B.  Church,  R.  S.  Hinkson. 
Township  No.  6. — S.  Cooledge,  L.  G.  Lewis. 

ALPINE    COUNTY   LEFT   OUT    IN    THE    ELECTION. 

When  Alpine  county  was  organized,  in  1864,  it 
was  joined  to  Amador  as  a  Legislative  district, 
which  was  allowed  one  Senator  and  two  Assembly 
men.  It  was  a  mutual  understanding  that  Alpine 
should  have  one  Assemblyman,  and  Amador  the 
other,  and  the  Senator.  This  arrangement  was 
observed  for  two  Legislative  terms,  but  in  1871  and 
1873  the  bargain  was  forgotten  in  the  hurly  burly  of 
election,  and  Amador  got  the  whole  delegation.  It 
happened,  in  this  way,  that  Louis  Miller,  a  Republi 
can,  was  elected  to  the  Assembly,  though  the  party 
to  which  he  belonged  was  in  the  minority.  In  1874 
Alpine  was  joined  to  El  Dorado  for  election  purposes, 
and  had  no  further  political  connection  with  Ama 
dor. 

FINANCIAL    MATTERS   IN    1874. 

January  31st  the  outgoing  Treasurer,  O.  Button, 
made  the  following  report: — 

Cash  in  Treasury  School  Fund 

General  Fund 

Outstanding    Warrants     on     General 

Fund  with  interest 134,694  39 

Outstanding    Warrants    on    Hospital 

Fund   with  interest. 33, 185  34 

Certificates  on  Current  Expense  Fund, 

no  interest .       6,622  31 


110,338  19 
13,964  36 


735  00— $174,509  57 
13,964  36 


Certificates  on  New  Hospital  Fund. . .  . 
Cash  to  Apply 

Total  Indebtedness $160,504  21 

Value  of  Taxable  Property $2,738,970  00 

Rate  of  Taxation 2  65 

Amount  of  Taxes 72,532  70 

Delinquent  for  1873 7,169  74 

ASSESSMENT   ROLL    FOR    1874. 

Real  Estate  and  Improvements  . .  .$1,724,140  00 

Personal    Property 830,415  00 

Mines 503,780  03 

Improvements  on  same 194,310  00 

Ditches 61,080  00 

Telegraphs 900  00— $3,314,625  00 

CONVENTION     TO    CONSIDER    THE   FUNDING    PROJECT. 

The  Grand  Jury  which  met  at  the  February  term, 
C.  C.  Belding,  foreman,  recommended  a  serious  effort 
to  put  the  finances  on  a  better  basis;  proposed  a 
general  reduction  of  fche  salaries  of  officers,  and  a 
funding  of  the  county  indebtedness  at  a  lower  rate 
of  interest,  and  proposed  a  general  mass-meeting  on 


•KfeaLA.  -,.     *•'"• 


BUNKER  HILL  MINE, MILL  AND  REDUCTION  WORKS. 

ISRAEL  W.  KNOX.PRES.  NEAR  AMADDR  CITY,  AMADOR  C?  CAL. 


AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  THIRD  DECADE. 


117 


the  21st  instant  to  consider  the  situation.  The  call 
for  a  convention  was  responded  to  by  only  a  few 
individuals,  who  did  not  seem  to  have  very  clear 
ideas  of  how  refunding  the  whole  debt  and  issuing 
bonds  bearing  interest  should  lessen  the  taxes  of  the 
county,  when  a  considerable  portion  of  the  indebted 
ness  was  not  bearing  interest.  The  movement  was 
scouted  by  some  as  a  measure  in  the  interest  of  the 
bond-holders,  and  by  others  advocated  as  an  eco 
nomical  measure.  Nothing  resulted  from  it. 

POLITICAL    MATTERS   OP    1874. 

As  there  were  neither  national,  State,  or  county 
elections  during  this  year,  the  chapter  on  political 
matters  will  be  much  like  the  one  said  to  have  been 
written  by  Dean  Smith  on  the  snakes  of  Ireland, 
which  consisted  of  the  single  line,  "  There  are  no 
snakes  in  Ireland."  No  momentous  events  occurred 
to  disturb  the  serenity  of  those  who  were  comforta 
bly  seated  at  their  desks  in  the  Court  House.  The 
newspapers  kept  up  the  usual  rattle  of  squibs  and 
fire-crackers,  and  continued  to  take  in  the  cash  for 
Sheriff's  sales,  patent  medicines,  and  "  new  goods  for 
sale  cheaper  than  ever  at  the  old  stand.  " 

FINANCIAL    MATTERS,    1875. 

March  1st. — J.  A.  Butterfield,  County  Treasurer, 
reported  the  outstanding  warrants  with  interest — 

On  Redemption  Fund $105,436  46 

Hospital  "     21,13053 

Certificates  not  bearing  interest.  . .       2,342  42— $128.909  46 

The  assessment  roll  for  this  year,  was — 

Real   Estate $077.188  00 

Improvements 7(56,810  00 

Peisonal  Property 799,787  00 

Money 25,158  00— $2,568,913  00 

Taxes  were  assessed  on  each  one  hundred  dollars — 

For  State  Fund 60c 

General  Redemption  Fund 65c 

Current  Expense  Fund 74c 

Hospital    Redemption  Fund 20c 

Hospital  Current  Expense  Fund 16c 

School  Fund 20c 

Road  Fund 5c— $2  60 

ROBBERY   OP   THE    COUNTY   TREASURY. 

This  occurred  on  the  night  of  the  9th  of  May, 
1875.  The  following  account  is  made  up  from  the  files 
of  the  Dispatch  of  May  15,  1875:— 

Sometime  in  the  night,  the  residence  of  the  Treas 
urer  (Mr.  Butterfield)  was  entered,  and  his  pants 
rifled  of  the  key  to  the  inner  lock  of  the  safe,  the 
outer  one  being  a  Bussey  combination  lock.  The 
robbers  then  went  to  the  Court  House,  unlocked  the 
office  door,  opened  the  safe,  and  took  out  fifteen 
thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-eight  dollars,  most 
of  which  belonged  to  the  School  Fund,  consisting  of 
fourteen  thousand  dollars  in  gold  coin,  one  thousand 
two  hundred  and  eight  dollars  in  silver  coin,  and 
forty  dollars  in  gold  notes.  The  safe  and  room  were 
then  re-locked,  and  the  prize  carried  away.  There 
were  two  checks  amounting  to  one  thousand  dollars, 
and  some  four  or  five  hundred  dollars  in  gold  notes, 


which  were  not  taken.  When  Mr.  Butterfield  awoke 
in  the  morning,  he  was  affected  with  dizziness  and 
a  sickness  of  the  stomach,  and  did  not  get  up  until 
after  his  usual  hour  of  rising,  and  did  not  miss  the 
loss  of  the  pants  until  five  o'clock. 

When  Mr.  Butterfield  discovered  the  loss  of  the 
key,  he  suspected  that  a  robbery  had  been  com 
mitted,  and  called  upon  several  citizens  to  go  to  the 
Court  House  with  him  to  examine  the  safe.  They 
found  the  door  of  the  office  locked  as  usual;  the  safe 
was  also  in  its  usual  condition,  the  outer  door  being 
locked,  and  apparently  undisturbed.  It  yielded  to 
the  usual  combination,  but  the  larger  portion  of  the 
money,  amounting  to  fifteen  thousand  two  hundred 
and  forty-eight  dollars,  was  missing.  Some  spots  of 
candle-grease  on  the  floor,  were  the  only  marks  of 
disorder  perceptible. 

A  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  was  called 
to  consider  the  matter.  A  reward  of  three  thou 
sand  dollars  was  offered  for  the  recovery  of  the 
treasure,  and  one  thousand  dollars  for  the  conviction 
of  the  robbers.  Some  professional  detectives  were 
emplo}Ted  to  make  a  thorough  investigation  into  all 
the  circumstances  connected  with  the  matter.  They 
decided  that  it  was  next  to  impossible  for  any  one, 
not  acquainted  with  the  combination,  to  open  the 
door  without  breaking  the  lock,  or  to  shut  it  when 
opened.  On  inquiry,  it  was  found  that  the  combi 
nation  was  the  one  in  use  during  the  term  of  office  of 
his  predecessor,  Mr.  Button;  that  several  persons 
besides  the  Treasurer  knew  the  combination;  James 
B.  Stevens,  the  County  Clerk,  had  once  opened  the 
safe  during  a  temporary  illness  of  the  Treasurer,  the 
combination  having  been  written  on  a  slip  of  paper 
for  that  purpose;  that  it  was  called  off  by  another 
person  in  the  hearing  of  several  others — Mr.  Stevens 
turning  the  handle  to  correspond  with  the  letters 
called. 

The  detectives  were  of  the  opinion  that  no  robbery 
was  committed  on  the  night  in  question;  that  it  had 
been  abstracted  at  a  time,  or  at  different  times,  pre 
vious  to  the  9th  and  10th  of  May,  by  parties  who 
were  familiar  with  the  combination.  The  wildest 
rumors  were  immediately  afloat  concerning  the  loss 
of  the  money.  It  was  said  that  a  syndicate  of  Court 
House  officers  with  some  outside  friends,  had  been 
using  the  funds  to  speculate  in  stocks,  which,  at  that 
time,  were  making  and  breaking  fortunes  for  hun 
dreds  of  lucky  or  unlucky  men.  As  ten  thousand 
dollars  or  more  of  the  school  funds  were  frequently 
left  in  the  safe  for  months,  tlie  use  of  it  in  a  certain 
venture  would  do  the  county  no  harm.  The  ab 
straction  of  the  money  with  the  intention  of  return 
ing  it,  was  not  stealing.  All  this  and  much  more 
was  put  forward  as  probable  excuses  for  abstracting 
the  public  funds.  In  fact,  it  was  confidently  stated 
that  a  fortunate  speculation  was  once  made  by  a 
former  Treasurer  in  that  same  way. 

The  Treasurer  had  erected  a  costly  residence  soon 
after  coming  into  office.  He  was  the  Owner  of  a 


118 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


saw-mill  and  could  erect  several  houses,  if  necessaiy, 
without  taxing  the  mill  above  its  powers,  but  he  had 
to  bear  a  share  of  the  public  rumors.  The  using  of 
the  old  combination,  which  was  known  to  several 
persons,  was  a  matter  which  merited  blame,  and 
suspicion  must  necessarily  rest  upon  all  who  were 
familiar  with  the  combination  and  had  access  to 
the  safe. 

Some  of  the  efforts  to  find  the  money  were  ludi 
crous  enough  to  set  the  public  on  the  grin.  Dr. 
Randall  of  lone,  who  is  a  firm  believer  in  his  power 
to  call  spirits  up,  or  down,  from  the  ethereal  deep, 
and  gather  knowledge  from  their  more  than  human 
wisdom,  announced  his  ability  to  find  the  missing 
money,  but  the  sibyls  either  knew  nothing  about  it, 
or  set  him  to  digging  in  the  wrong  places,  for  its 
location  is  still  a  mystery — to  the  public. 

June  17,  1875. — At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Supervisors,  to  consider  the  loss  of  the  county 
funds,  it  was  ordered  that  proceedings  be  immedi 
ately  commenced  against  the  Treasurer  and  bonds 
men,  for  the  missing  funds. 

It  may  be  as  well  to  anticipate  the  result,  and 
make  a  connected  history  of  the  affair.  At  the 
close  of  Mr.  Butterfield's  term  of  office,  two  experts, 
employed  to  investigate  the  accounts,  reported  as 
follows:  — 

*Cash  on  hand,  March  2,  1874,  on  taking  possession  of 

the  office $  19,058  56 

Amounts  received  during  two  years  as  taxes  on  prop 
erty 131,446  91 

Poll-taxes 6,834  45 

Licenses 6,31181 

State  apportionment 24,297  87 

Fines  in  Justices  Courts 374  07 

Bonds  forfeited 43  00 

Sales  of  lumber 10  00 

Sales  of  school  lands 2,202  66 


Total  receipts  for  two  years $190,592  83 

DISBURSEMENTS. 

Warrants  redeemed $132,995  55 

Paid  State  Treasurer 26,653  91 

Treasurer's  Mileage. : 154  00 

Auditor's  allowance 606  07 

Cash  on  hand,  March  6 7,039  90 

Amount  stolen ... :   15,248  00 

Accounts  otherwise  short 4,894  76 — $190,592  83 

The  deficit  being 20,142  76 

This  was  incorporated  into  the  judgment,  which 
was  obtained  against  the  Treasurer  and  bondsmen, 
which,  with  costs,  amounted  to  twenty-two  thou 
sand  two  hundred  and  ninety-two  dollars  and  forty- 
six  cents. 

"In  the  District  Court,  Eleventh  Judicial  District  for 
the  county  of  Amador. 

"Amador  county,  plaintiff,  vs.  J.  A.  Butterfield;  et. 
al.,  defendants. 

"It  was  held  by  the  Court  that  the  custodian  of 
the  county  funds  was  responsible  to  the  county  for 
them  in  all  cases,  except  by  acts  of  God,  or  a  public 
enemy,  in  which  cases  there  might  be  a  doubt.  As 
these  conditions  were  not  included  in  the  plea  of 
the  defendants,  they  would  not  be  considered.  The 
Court  ordered  judgment  to  be  entered  against 
defendants  for  full  amount  of  loss  and  costs,  amount- 

*These  figures  are  copied  from  newspaper  reports,  and  are  evi 
dently  incorrect. 


ing  to  twenty-two  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
two  dollars  and  forty-six  cents." 

The  following  sureties  were  included  in  the  judg 
ment,  for  the  sums  set  opposite  their  names: — 


F.  H.Hoffman  ...$  4,000 

Joseph  Samuels. .  3,000 

F.  Rocco 1,000 

A.  Chicizola 1,000 

James  Meehan 14,000 

E.  Muldoon 5,000 

E.  C.  Palmer 4,000 

E.  Genochio 2,000 

F.  M.  Whitmore.  1,000 

L.  McLaine 4.000 

L.  Cassinelli 4,000 

Hiram  Beigle 5,000 

Chas.  Steckler...  2,000 

John   Miller 5,000 


Thos.  Carpenter. 

James  Adams 

P.  A.  Clute 

Joseph    Cuneo.. 

R.  F.  Fry 

A.   Rossi 

J.  Coleman 

John  Yogan 

J.  W.  Surface.... 

R.  Ludgate 

J.  P.  Surface 

J.  P.  Martin 

F.  Hutner. . 


8  1,000 
2,000 
5,000 
2,000 
2,000 
1,000 
5.000 
3,000 
3,000 
3,000 
3,000 
10,000 
5,000 


CONCLUSION   OF   THE   BUTTERFIELD   MATTER,  1877. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  in  the 
early  part  of  1877,  to  take  into  consideration  the 
Butterfield  judgment  for  twenty-two  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  one  dollars  and  thirty-one  cents,  it  was 
ordered  that  the  proposition  of  the  defendants' 
attorne}Ts,  Farley  and  Porter,  to  pay  the  sum  of  six 
thousand  dollars,  in  three  annual  installments  with 
out  interest,  be  accepted,  the  payments  to  commence 
April  1,  1877.  This  compromise  was  considered  best 
because  the  sureties  resisted  the  payment  of  the  full 
amount,  and  a  long  and  costly  suit  being  the  alter 
native.  It  was  further  said:  "  If  we  compel  the 
sureties  to  pay  the  deficit,  no  future  Treasurer  could 
ever  get  bonds!" 

Mr.  Butterfield  undertook  to  work  the  matter  out 
without  loss  to  the  bondsmen,  and,  though  his 

/  /  o 

health  was  much  shattered  by  the  unfortunate  affair, 
it  is  nearly  settled.  Public  opinion,  much  against 
him  at  first,  has  become  nearly  unanimous  that  he 
was  more  sinned  against  than  sinning;  a  victim 
rather  than  a  criminal.  No  clue  has  yet  been 
obtained  to  the  missing  money,  though  it  is  gener 
ally  thought  to  have  gone  into  Flood  and  O'Brien's 
bank,  through  stock  speculations. 

POLITICAL    MATTERS  IN  1875. 

The  uniform  success  of  the  Democratic  party 
during  recent  years,  left  the  struggle  principally  for 
the  nominations.  Personal  popularity  was  the  basis 
for  success  in  the  Convention.  Although  the  national 
questions  were  discussed  to  some  extent  on  the  stump, 
it  was  done  rather  in  obedience  to  custom  than  for 
any  particular  interest  the  people  took  in  the  matter. 
Judge  Carter,  Democratic  nominee  for  the  Assem 
bly,  was  noted  for  suavity  and  pleasing  address,  and 
in  his  progress  through  the  county,  mostly  let  poli 
tics  alone  and  dealt  in  personal  reminiscences. 
Dunlap  was  a  merchant  in  Sutter  Creek,  and  though 
not  a  speaker,  had  the  confidence  of  the  community. 
Green  well,  his  adversary  in  Sutter  Creek,  and  Brown 
of  Jackson,  though  men  of  eloquence  and  ability, 
failed  to  make  any  inroad  on  the  solid  Democratic 


REVIEW  FROM  1870  TO  1880. 


119 


vote.  Brown  was  in  charge  of  the  Amador  ditch, 
and  was  expending  much  money  in  the  county. 
Peck  and  Aitken,  candidates  for  County  Clerk,  were 
both  good  men,  who  stood  high  in  the  community; 
also  in  the  societies  to  which  they  both  belonged. 
Vogan!  who  does  not  know  his  bland  face,  twinkling 
with  humor,  which  has  carried  sunshine  along  all  the 
stage-roads  since  '49?  There  were  no  personal 
objections  to  the  candidates  on  either  side,  and 
when  the  vote  was  counted  the  results  were  not 
unexpected. 

OFFICERS  ELECTED  IN  1875. 

Assembly — H.  A.  Carter,  Thomas  Dunlap. 

Sheriff — John  Vogan. 

District  Attorney — T.  J.  Phelps. 

Treasurer — James  Meehan. 

Surveyor — W.  L.  McKimm. 

Assessor — J.  J.  Jones. 

Superintendent  of  Schools — "W.  II.  Stowers. 

Coroner  and  Public  Administrator — D.  Myers. 

JUSTICES   OF   THE   PEACE. 

Township  No.  I — H.  Goldner,  II.  Robinson. 
"  "     2 — L.  Brusie,  L.  M.  Earle. 

"  "     3 — L.  McLaine,  L.  Ludekins. 

"  "     4 — C.  K.  Johnson,  L.  B.  Maxey. 

«  «     5— M.  B.  Church. 

«           «     6— E.  R.  Yates,  S.  G.  Lewis. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

FINANCIAL  MATTERS  IN  1876. 

Political  Parties  in  1876 — Election  Returns  by  Precincts — Finan 
ces  in  1877  —Political  Parties  in  1877 — Returns  by  Precincts 
— Death  of  the  Honorable  Robert  Lndgate — Financial  Mat 
ters  in  1878 — Political  Parties  in  1878 — Vote  on  the  Adop 
tion  of  the  New  Constitution — Financial  Matters  in  1879 — 
Political  Matters  in  1879— Officers  Elected—Effect  of  the 
New  Constitution  on  the  Judicial  System — Financial  Mat 
ters  in  1860— Political  Parties  in  1880— Amador  County 
Election  Returns  Nov.  2,  1880— Review  from  1870  to  1880. 

ON  taking  his  seat,  the  Treasurer  made  a  thorough 
examination  of  the  records  of  the  Treasury.  It  was 
found,  notwithstanding  the  losses,  that  the  finances 
were  in  a  healthy  condition. 

The  outstanding  warrants  on  the — 

General  Fund $67,533  94 

Hospital  Fund 16,713  46 

Certificates   on  Current  Expense  Fund  .      4,191  48 

Interest  Estimated  at ."8,963  73—127,402  61 

Expenses  for  year  ending  March  1,  1875 — 

Amount  allowed  on  Current  Expense 

Fund $21,319  17 

Amount  allowed  on  Hospital  Expense 

Fund 4,654  32— $25,973  49 

Expense  for  year  ending  March  4,  1876 — 

Amount  allowed  on  Current  Expense 

Fund $21,019  22 

Amount  allowed  on  Hospital  Expense 

Fund 3,944  02— $24,963  24 

Total  for  two  years $50,936  73 

The  Treasurer  made  a  calculation  that,  the  taxes 
remaining  the  same,  outstanding  warrants  on  the 
General  Fund  would  be  redeemed  in  four  years; 
the  warrants  on  the  Hospital  Fund,  in  eight  years. 


POLITICAL    PARTIES    IN    1876. 

All  parties  had  heartily  united  in  celebrating  the 
Centennial.  Whatever  their  differences  of  opinions 
as  to  the  means  of  preserving  the  Union,  there  were 
none  as  to  its  value.  War  Democrats,  peace  Demo 
crats,  as  well  as  Republicans,  spoke  from  the  same 
stand,  with  the  same  flag  floating  over  them.  No 
one,  in  listening  to  the  orations,  and  judging  from 
their  tenor  alone,  would  suppose  that  a  few  years 
previous,  they  had  accused  each  other  of  treason, 
and  all  imaginable  crimes.  Talk  is  cheap.  If  pro 
fessions  of  love  and  devotion  to  the  Constitution  and 
the  country  are  cheap,  so  are  charges  of  treason  and 
corruption.  People  do  not  mean  all  they  say,  or 
say  all  they  mean. 

It  was  evident  that  a  close  contest  for  the  Presi 
dency  was  impending.  A  few  votes  in  Amador 
county  might  decide  the  vote  of  the  State,  and  that 
of  the  State  might  decide  the  Presidential  question. 
Four  votes  in  the  city  of  New  York  elected  a  Con 
gressman,  whose  vote  on  the  thirty-sixth  ballot, 
made  Thomas  Jefferson  President.  John  Quincy 
Adams  was  made  President  by  a  small  number  of 
votes  in  the  same  way.  Though  disagreeing  little 
on  Constitutional  matters,  and  the  payment  of  the 
national  debts,  the  parties  diverged  widely  as  to 
details.  Some  were  in  favor  of  an  unlimited  amount 
of  paper  money.  The  Whig  doctrines  of  1836-40, 
were  revived;  only  the  advocates  were  found  among 
the  members  of  the  hard  money  party  of  that  day, 
while  most  of  the  Whigs,  who,  in  former  times, 
advocated  paper  money,  were  found  in  the  ranks  of 
Republicans,  who  were  generally  favorable  to  a  gold 
and  silver  currency.  Almost  every  one,  old  enough 
to  have  remembered  those  days  when  Jackson  and 
Clay  were  the  leaders  of  the  opposing  hosts,  might 
have  said  with  the  Roman  orator,  "  Times  change, 
and  we  change;"  for  almost  every  one  had  changed 
positions. 

As  usual,  vituperations  and  accusations,  charges 
of  dishonesty  and  peculations,  were  made  a  large 
element  in  the  campaign.  Although  Governor  Tilden 
was  instrumental  in  breaking  up  one  of  the  most 
gigantic  municipal  rings  that  ever  controlled  a  city 
government,  and  plundered  the  people,  he  was  rep 
resented  as  the  incarnation  of  dishonesty,  while  the 
Republican  party  was  charged  with  being  the  abettor 
of  frauds,  running  through  all  the  civil  service.  The 
administration,  from  the  President  down  to  tide- 
waiters,  was  represented  as  corrupt  and  dishonest. 
The  "Solid  South"  was  born  in  this  campaign.  The 
Democrats  were  charged  with  interfering  with  the 
freedom  of  elections  in  the  Southern  States,  of  trav 
eling  around  the  country  in  disguise,  and  whipping, 
maiming,  and  even  killing,  negroes  who  dared  to 
vote  the  Republican  ticket.  According  to  the  Repub 
lican  orators,  no  one  could  enjoy  life  or  property  MI 
the  old  slave  States,  without  conforming  to  their 
political  creeds.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  write  a 
history  of  the  United  States,  or  to  discuss  the  politi- 


120 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


cal  issues  of  that  or  any  other  day;  but  it  may  be 
permissible  to  remark,  that  a  little  of  the  good  feel 
ing,  manifested  in  the  Fourth  of  July  celebration,  car 
ried  into  the  canvass  would  have  done  neither  party 
any  harm,  in  votes  or  otherwise.  It  is  quite  prob 
able,  first,  that  scarcely  anybody  meant  all  they 
said,  and  second,  that  few  men  changed  their  minds 
or  votes  in  consequence  of  mutual  criminations. 

ELECTION  RETURNS    BY   PRECINCTS. 


PRECINCTS. 

H 

5 

a> 

P 

p 

W 
3 
1 

r° 

| 

8 

Kenfield(R.).. 

Carpenter  (D.) 

^d 

1 

fo 

Jackson 

973 

1S55 

?78 

185 

979 

185 

Clinton. 

51 

8? 

51 

8? 

51 

8? 

lone            

157 

160 

157 

160 

156 

160 

Lancha  Plana.  .  . 

89 

44 

88 

44 

88 

45 

Volcano  

Ifi? 

181 

1fi? 

181 

161 

18? 

Ham's  Station. 

?1 

11 

91 

11 

91 

11 

Sutler  Creek 

178 

904 

17?, 

904 

160 

?08 

Amador  City- 

17? 

80 

17? 

80 

17? 

79 

Dry  town. 

fifi 

81 

66 

81 

64 

88 

Forest  Home  ... 

20 

87 

90 

87 

19 

88 

Plymouth  .     .          .... 

99 

18H 

99 

186 

87 

147 

Fiddletown 

70 

68 

70 

68 

70 

68 

Enterprise.  . 

1? 

8 

1? 

8 

1? 

8 

Total.. 

1815 

1172 

1814 

1172 

129? 

1191 

It  may  be  mentioned  as  a  remarkable  occurrence, 
that  the  vote  at  this  election  approximated  the  usual 
vote  on  county  officers,  falling  only  one  hundred 
short  of  the  vote  the  following  year. 

FINANCES    IN    1877. 

The  Supervisors  reported,  March  1,  1877— 

Total  receipts  for  three  years  as $169,058  48 

Cash  an  hand  at  the  beginuing  of  the 

Term  1874 23,767  19— $192,825  67 

Disbursements  during  same  time $  167,513  36 


On  hand 

October  1st  the  Treasurer  reported — 

Outstanding  warrants  on 

General  Fund $52,689  23 

Hospital  Redemption  Fund 14,502  39 

Current  Expense  Fund 11,351  84 

Hospital  Expense  Fund 1,016  21 

Unclassified 89  86 

Deficiency 


$16,312  31 


65  80— $79,715  33 

This  does  not  include  interest.  It  is  not  probable 
that  any  accurate  estimate  of  interest  had  been  made 
up  to  this  date,  as  it  was  considered  the  work  of  sev 
eral  weeks  to  go  over  the  outstanding  warrants  and 
estimate  the  interest  due;  hence  the  apparent  con 
tradictions  in  annual  reports.  In  other  instances 
reports,  made  before  and  after  the  collections  of  the 
annual  tax,  showed  a  great  reduction  of  the  debt 
when,  considering  the  whole  year,  no  reduction  had 
been  made.  In  March,  Judge  Williams,  of  the  Dis 
trict  Court,  decided  that  the  warrants  only  bore 
seven  per  cent,  interest,  this  applying  to  all  that 
were  issued  previous  to  1868,  as  well  as  since. 


POLITICAL   PARTIES   IN    1877. 

The  occurrence  of  the  county  election  again 
brought  out  a  new  crop  of  aspirants.  This  season 
Amador  was  joined  with  San  Joaquin  as  a  Sen 
atorial  District,  the  later  county  being  entitled  to  one 
for  itself,  and  another  jointly  with  Amador.  James 
T.  Farley,  who  had  been  Senator  for  two  successive 
terms,  was  now  a  candidate  for  the  IT.  S.  Senate,  and 
declined  a  re-election.  Frank  Brown,  who  had  had 
some  experience  in  a  former  canvass  as  candidate  for 
the  Assembly,  was  nominated  a  joint  Senator  Avith 
San  Joaquin.  Dunlap,  the  former  member,  and  R. 
Ludgate  of  lone,  a  popular  man,  were  nominated  for 
the  Assembly  by  the  Democrats,  Judge  Carter  hav 
ing  declined  a  re-election.  Eagon,  who  was  now 
working  well  in  the  Republican  ranks,  and  James 
Johnston  of  lone,  a  pioneer  and  universally  liked, 
were  nominated  by  the  Republicans  for  the  same 
positions.  Yogan,  incumbent,  was  re-nominated  for 
Sheriff,  running  against  Frank  Howard  of  Sutter 
Creek.  Meehan,  Treasurer,  was  also  re-nominated. 
Caminetti,  a  young  and  active  lawyer,  popular  \vith 
ever}' body  in  general,  especially  the  ladies,  received 
the  nomination  of  District  Attorney  at  the  hands  of 
the  Democrats  against  J.  S.  Hill,  a  well-known  pio 
neer,  nominated  by  the  Republicans.  Henry  Peck, 
County  Clerk,  was  re-nominated  by  the  Democrats. 
Tom  Chicizola  receiving  the  Republican  nomination. 
The  men  were  all  popular  in  their  respective  pre 
cincts,  and  were  expected  to  make  large  inroads  into 
the  votes  of  their  opponents.  Brown  and  Eagon  did 
the  heavy  speaking  for  the  Republicans,  Caminetti 
doing  similar  service  for  the  Democrats.  Mr.  Farley, 
however,  though  not  on  the  ticket,  as  usual  led  the 
Democratic  forces.  The  matter  of  electing  a  delega 
tion  to  the  Legislature  favorable  to  his  aspirations  to 
the  Senatorship,  was  an  important  element  in  the 
canvass,  which  was  remarkable  for -the  good  i'eeling 
and  absence  of  the  usual  vituperation  and  abuse. 

ELECTION    RETURNS— 1877. 


CANDIDATES. 

Jackson  

Clinton  

lone  City  

Lancha  1  Una. 

Ham's  Station 

Volcano  

Amador  C.ty. 

Suttel  Creek.  . 

1 

3 
§ 

r 
•3 

: 

Plymouth 

Fiddletown  .  . 

-. 

•5 

5 

2 
£. 

•SENATOR. 

Oullahan  (D  )  

229 
244 

202 
200 

•2-2; 

IS) 

800 

174 

308 
168 

tit 

I.V, 

813 

168 

•273 

in: 

801 

in 

ii07 

t9 

:,:: 

57 
6' 

42 
4C 

5S 
43 

59 
4z 

26 

66 
37 

57 
45 

57 
45 

15 

118 
154 

K17 

lit; 
US 

13  r 

Kill 

108 

165 

tog 

IM 

is; 

(88 

140 

186 

i:i- 

|8Q 

i:',<) 

135 

43 

n 

41 

40 
33 
30 

41 
30 

44 
29 

41 

31 

43 

30 

42 

30 

11 
29 

31 

]!> 
39 

32 

27 
28 
31 

45 
14 

4:: 
16 

2.". 
31 

::: 
28 

28 
31 

22 

V| 

8] 

199 

1-20 

200 

._,,,., 

ll'.l 
118 

W 

123 

194 

123 

191 

188 

in 

128 

\M 
18 

181 
188 

UN 

,70 
103 

!<;.-> 

17:, 

10:; 
99 

L7> 
102 

178 

96 

IM 

117 

171 
102 

171 

10! 

1:11 

Ml 

Hi( 

UN 

81  i 

104 
•200 
221 
l«7 

181 
251 

183 

201 

la 

204 

191 
182 

18! 
1!) 

|« 
218 

204 

22 
31 

24 
24 
81 

31 

2{ 

•2f 

2S 
25 

23 
30 

K 

31 

•^ 
31 

21 

30 

n 

65 

10: 

54 
53 
101 
107 

a 

IMI 

67 
M 

r,< 
in 

51 
101 

r,<. 

10: 

45 

115 

70? 

in: 
172 

io:> 

93 
171 
173 

115 

l.->r 

Ill 
151 

109 

KM 

68 
201 

101 

]<;. 

10- 

11.5 

17: 

57 

75 

65 
5 

71 
67 

7( 
62 

s: 
tK 

51 

to 

50 

s: 

(i: 
K 

I.I 

:; 
18 

17 

: 
i 

U 

: 

U 

3 

IS 
4 

i:, 
1 

13 

4 

18 
4 

4 

1249 
1346 

1354 
1345 
12B7 

1202 

1409 
1185 

1477 
1106 

1368 
1217 

1356 
1217 

135!) 
1241 

1291 
1306 

1262 

Brown  (R  ) 

ASSEMBLYMEN. 

Ludgate  (D  )       

DunLip  (U  )  

Eagon  (R  )  

Johnston  (R.)  

S!  IKK  IKK. 

Voo'an  (D  )       

Howard  (R  )  

CLERK. 

Peck  (D  )               

DISTRICT    ATTORNEY. 

Caminetti  (D.)  

Hill(R.)  

TEASL'RKR. 

Mcehan  'D  )  

rotter  (R.)     

CORONER. 

Giles  CD  ) 

SCHOOL  SUP'T. 
Norton  (R  ) 

61 
It 

68 

Edsinfjer  (D.)  

SURVEYOR. 

W.  L.  McKimm  (R).  .  .  . 

RESIDENCE  OF  JOHN  VDBAN.  JACKSON 


MOUNTAIN  SPRINGS, RANCH  AND  TCLLHOUSE  OF  JOHNVOGAN. 
IONE  &  JACKSON  ROAD.  AMADOR  COUNTY.CAL. 


REVIEW  FROM  1870  TO  1880. 


121 


JUSTICES   OF   THE    PEACE    ELECTED    1878. 

Township  No.  1 — S.  G.  Spagnoli,  II.  Goldner. 

Township  No.  2 — L.  Brusie,  L.  M.  Earlo. 

Township  No.  3 — L.  Ludekin,  L.  Huey. 

Township  No.  4 — J.  Gundry,  J.  B.  Maxey. 

Township  No.  5 — M.  B.  Church. 

Township  No.  6 — S.  G.  Lewis,  S.  Cooledgo. 

The  list  of  returns  is  well  worth  a  study.  It  will 
be  seen  that  each  candidate  made  large  inroads  into 
his  opponent's  vote  in  his  own  district,  also,  that 
when  the  vote  was  counted,  there  was  a  great  uni 
formity  in  the  majorities. 

DEATH    OF   THE    HON.   ROBERT   LUDGATE. 

This  occurred  February  15,  1878,  while  in  Sacra 
mento  attending,  as  far  as  his  failing  health  would 
allow,  to  his  duties  as  Legislator.  He  was  born  in 
the  county  of  Waterford,  Ireland,  and  was  forty- 
four  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1850,  and  a  year  later  to 
California,  settling  in  lone  valley,  where  he  built 
up  a  home.  He  was  a  man  of  warm  feelings, 
active  temperament,  strong  convictions,  and  un 
doubted  integrity,  winning  the  respect  and  esteem 
of  all  with  whom  he  became  acquainted.  His  death 
was  not  unexpected,  as  he  had  been  suffering  for 
many  years  from  a  pulmonary  disease.  A  committee 
of  both  houses  was  appointed  to  escort  his  remains 
to  lone,  and  assist  in  the  funeral  ceremonies. 

FINANCIAL    MATTERS    IN    1878. 

Rates  of  taxes: — 

For  State  Fund 55  c. 

Gen.  Redemption  Fund 57£c. 

Current  Expense       "    65  c. 

Hospital  Red'ption    "    15|c. 

Hospital  Current  Expense  Fund 20  c. 

School  Fund 24  c. 

Road        "    13  c.— $2.50 

November  4th,  the   Treasurer    reported 
outstanding    warrants    on    Current 

Expense  Fund $10,947  98 

Hospital   Current  Expense  Fund...        224  83 

Salary  "    ...     2,530  15 

General  Redemption  "    ...  43,032  74 

Hospital        "  "...   10,138  63— $66,874  33 

This  does  not  seem  to  include  interest,  which  two  years  before 

was  estimated  at  $38,963.73. 
This  would  carry  the  debt  to  upwards  of  $100,000. 

POLITICAL    PARTIES    IN    1878. 

The  usual  political  problems  were  postponed  to 
consider  the  matter  of  framing  a  new  Constitution. 
For  once  in  our  history  the  people  were  engaged  in 
discussing  the  first  principles  of  government.  The 
overshadowing  growth  of  the  great  railroad  com 
pany,  which  bad  extended  its  Briarian  arms,  so  as  to 
bring  every  industry,  whether  mercantile,  agricultu 
ral,  or  mechanical,  under  its  influence;  the  growth  of 
the  gas  and  water  companies  in  the  cities;  the  appro 
priation  of  the  streams  flowing  from  the  mountains 
by  the  ditch  and  water  companies;  the  holding  of 
large  tracts  of  land,  amounting  in  some  instances  to 
one  hundred  thousand  acres,  for  purely  speculative 
purposes,  as  well  as  many  other  similar  institutions, 
16 


caused  a  general  fear  in  the  State,  that  a  few  were 
soon  to  have  the  wealth,  and  that  poverty  was  to  be 
the  inheritance  of  the  workers.  In  the  cities  the 
agitation  was  greatest  among  the  day  laborers, 
who  beheld  a  favored  few — unjustly  favore'd  in  the 
minds  of  the  laborers — rolling  along  the  streets  in 
easy  carriages,  while  they,  who  had  built  the  houses, 
worked  the  mines,  and  made  the  property,  were 
working  for  barely  enough  to  obtain  the  merest 
necessaries  of  life.  In  San  Francisco,  Sacramento, 
and  Stockton,  socialistic  sentiments  prevailed  to  a 
great  extent,  and  at  one  time,  when  Kearney  was 
organizing  the  workers,  as  well  as  those  who  never 
did  nor  would  work,  into  a  voting  party,  the  pros 
pect  of  a  forcible  distribution  of  property  was  quite 
imminent.  Hundreds  of  fierce,  brutal  faces  hung  on 
his  words  and  listened  for  the  expected  order  to  help 
themselves  to  all  they  wanted,  and,  also,  take  satis 
faction  for  past  sufferings  and  injuries. 

During  the  working  of  the  placer  mines,  when  any 
one  who  would  work  could  make  three  dollars  or 
more  per  day,  thousands  wasted  .their  earnings  on 
cards,  whisky,  or  women.  A  stream  of  gold  flowed 
to  the  cities,  building  up  stores,  dwellings,  and  big 
bank  accounts,  leaving  the  worked-out  gulches  and 
hills,  and  the  old,  worn-out,  dilapidated  miners  as  the 
heritage  of  the  country  that  furnished  the  wealth. 
Many  of  these  demoralized  miners  drifted  towards 
the  cities,  following  the  wake  of  their  departed 
means,  and,  homeless,  hopeless,  and  useless,  joined 
the  city  vagrants  in  their  efforts  to  compel  the  resti 
tution  of  their  wasted  wealth,  their  sole  political  aim 
being  to  "  give  old  money-bags  hell." 

In  the  country,  especially  in  Amador  county, 
the  agitation  was  on  a  different  basis.  Here  were 
numerous  small  proprietors,  owning  ten  to  one 
hundred  acres  of  land  stocked  with  a  few  cattle 
and  sheep,  who  did  their  own  work,  and  who,  by 
industry  and  close  economy,  could  make  both 
ends  of  saving  and  expenditure  meet  at  the  end  of 
the  year.  Every  year  the  Assessor  came  around  and 
made  a  note  of  every  pig,  chicken,  or  cow  that  was 
about  the  place.  The  land,  as  well  as  improvements, 

'  was  assessed  up  to  full  value.  If,  in  consequence  of 
sickness  or  a  failure  of  crops,  the  farmer  had  been 
compelled  to  mortgage  his  home  to  keep  things 
going,  the  taxes  remained  unabated.  It  was  known 
that  men  with  large  sums  of  money  loaned  out  at 
high  interest,  paid  nominal  taxes.  When  money 
could  be  made  to  pay  two  or  three  per  cent,  per 
month  it  was  forthcoming,  but  when  taxes  were 
assessed  it  was  a  nonentity.  It  was  like  the  little 

joker  under  Lucky  Bill's*  fingers:  now  you  could  see 
it,  but  when  the  thimble  was  lifted  it  was  not  there. 

*  It  was  known  that  large  tracts  of  land  that  were 
held  for  purely  speculative  purposes,  paid  only  a 

*William  Thornton  (Lucky  Bill)  made  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars  er  more  in  Placerville,  in  1850,  with  a  piece  of  sponge, 
which  he  dexterously  played  under  two  or  three  thimbles.  He 
inducsd  thousands  of  men  to  bet  a  hundred  on  finding  it,  gener 
ally  taking  in  the  money. 


122 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


nominal  tax.  It  was  believed  that  the  producing 
class  bore  the  brunt  of  taxation,  while  corporuted 
companies  and  dealers  in  stocks  virtually  escaped. 

The  subject  of  taxation  was  discussed  at  every  fire 
side  in  the  county.  The  farmers  and  gardeners  had 
no  feelings  in  common  with  the  socialist  or  com 
munist.  Dennis  Kearney  could  not  have  raised  a 
corporal's  guard  who  would  indorse  his  theory  of 
political  economy.  But  the  feeling  of  distrust 
towards  capitalists,  for  a  short  time,  united  the  most 
antipodal  extremes,  and  found  the  farmers  voting 
with  city  proletariats.  This  was  manifested  less  in  the 
election  of  delegates  than  in  the  vote  to  adopt  the 
Constitution  afterwards  framed.  The  non-partisan 
ticket  prevailed,  Wm.  H.  Prouty,  a  farmer  of  Jack 
son  valley,  and  John  A.  Eagon,  a  lawyer,  being 
elected  delegates  to  the  Constitutional  Convention. 
The  selection  of  these  two  was  evidently  a  compro 
mise  or  union  of  the  solid  parts  of  both  Republican 
and  Democratic  parties,  as  a  measure  of  defense 
against  the  wild  theories  of  the  Kearney  party  in 
the  cities. 

THE  VOTE  ON  ADOPTION   OP  THE   NEW  CONSTITUTION 

Showed  a  preponderance  of  the  farming  interest  for 
the  Constitution,  and  of  the  mining  interest  against 
it,  lone  City,  which  was  the  center  of  the  farming 
population,  giving  seventy-one  majority  for  the  Con 
stitution,  while  Araador,  Plymouth,  Drytown  and 
Volcano  were  as  decidedly  against,  the  former  town 
giving  nearly  ten  to  one.  This  overwhelming  oppo 
sition  was  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  the  mine 
owners,  who  induced  the  workmen  to  believe  the 
mills  would  stop  under  the  new  Constitution. 

For.  Against. 

Amador 20 190 

Clinton 34 28 

Drytown 21 115 

Enterprise .' .        1 14 

Forest  Home 15 31 

Ham's  Station 8 5 

lone  City 174 103 

Jackson 207 207 

Oleta 62 45 

LanchaPlana 32 53 

Plymouth 70 166 

*Sutter Creek. 224 133 

Volcano 140 171 

Total 1008  1261 

Majority  for  adoption,  253. 

FINANCIAL    MATTERS    IN  1879. 

Tax  rates : — 

For  State  Purposes 62^o. 

General  Redemption  Fund 57ic. 

Expense  Fund 67|c. 

Hospital  Redemption  Fund 15£c.  - 

Hospital  Current  Expense  Fund iOc. 

School  Fund 24c. 

Road  Fund 13c. — $2  60 

*Sntter  Creek  seemed  to  have  voted  differently  from  the  other 
mining  towns.  This  was  owing  to  a  partial  resuscitation  of  the 
Miners'  League. 


ASRESSMENT    ROLL. 

Real  Estate $^5,409  00 

Improvements 979, 1 10  00 

Personal  Pr  >perty 66 1 ,369  00 

Money 12, 183  00— $2,578,071  00 

Taxes  on  the  same 67,307  78 

StatePortion 16,179  75 

County  Portion 51,128  03—      $67,307  78 

TREASURER'S  REPORT,  OCTOBER  31,  1879. 

Outstanding  Warrants  on — 

Current  Expense  Fund $  7,057  66J 

Hospital  Expense  Fund 1,">36  48 

Salary  Expense  Fund 8,450  95 

General  Redemption  Fund 41,812  34 

Hospital  Redemption  Fund 8,606  38— $67,463  81£ 

Cash  in  treasury  to  apply 24,847  61 


Total  Indebtedness $12,61 1  20^ 

As  this  report  was  made  previous  to  the  applica 
tion  of  the  current  year's  revenue,  it  shows  an  undue 
amount  of  debt. 

Jamiary  31st,  following — 

The  indebtedness,  exclusive  of  interest $69,493  76 

Cash  in  Treasury  to  apply 61,060  31 


Leaving $8,433  45 

POLITICAL    MATTERS    IN    1879. 

The  election  following  the  Constitutional  Conven 
tion,  would  naturally  partake  of  the  peculiar  char 
acter  of  the  previous  year's  canvass;  but  it  seemed 
that  the  reaction  setting  in  over  the  State,  was  felt 
also  in  Amador  county.  The  impracticability  of 
righting  all  wrongs  by  statute  law,  became  manifest 
as  the  Convention  set  about  the  work,  so  that  the 
fierce  and  positive  opinions  became  considerably 
modified  in  the  course  of  a  few  months.  The  elec 
tion  of  most  of  the  old  officers  was  a  natural  result. 
Where  new  ones  were  substituted,  men  of  moderate 
opinions  were  chosen.  Dr.  Brusie,  an  old  resident 
of  the  county,  and  a  highly  esteemed  man,  never 
had  been  active  in  politics,  and  was  elected  more 
for  his  personal  popularity,  than  for  any  speeches 
he  had  made  on  the  stump.  The  same  might  be 
said  of  R.  C.  Downs,  who  had  resided  in  the  county 
for  thirty  years.  He  had  been  engaged  in  quartz 
mining  most  of  the  time,  in  which  vocation  he  had 
been  eminently  successful,  having  opened  and  devel 
oped  some  of  the  richest  mines  in  the  county,  as 
early  as  1851.  Fontenroso,  the  new  County  Clerk, 
was  a  young  man,  born  of  Italian  parents,  and  edu 
cated  in  the  county.  He  received  the  full  Republi 
can  vote,  and  also  many  of  the  votes  of  Democratic 
Italians.  This  class  of  foreign  citizens  formerly 
voted  the  Democratic  ticket  unanimously,  but  the 
solidarity  is  being  broken  up,  and  in  a  few  years 
they  are  likely  to  divide  on  all  political  questions. 

Judge  Moore,  elected  to  the  position  of  Superior 
Judge,  is  a  young  and  promising  lawyer,  and  fills 
the  position  with  honor  to  himself,  and  satisfaction 
to  all  who  bring  business  before  him. 

It  will  bo  observed  that  B.  F.  Langford,  State 
Senator,  is  a  resident  of  San  Joaquin  county,  which, 
three  years  before,  was  joined  to  Amador  as  a  joint 
Senatorial  District,  for  one  Senator.  As  Amador 


REVIEW  FROM  1870  TO  1880. 


123 


had  the   nomination   of  the   first   Senator  on   that 
plan,  the  second  fell  to  San  Joaquin. 

OFFICERS    ELECTED. 

Superior  Judge — Geo.  Moore. 

State  Senator — B.  F.  Langford. 

Assemblymen — L.  Brusie,  R.  C.  Downs. 

District  Attorney — A.  Caminetti. 

County  Clerk — L.  J.  Fontenrose. 

Sheriff — John  Vogan. 

Treasurer — James  Meehan. 

Surveyor — J.  A.  Brown. 

Assessor — A.  Petty. 

Superintendent  Schools — L.  Miller. 

Coroner  and  Public  Administrator — II.  Schacht. 

THE   NEW     CONSTITUTION     AND    THE     JUDICIAL     SYSTEM. 

At  the  general  election  held  in  the  month  of  Sep 
tember,  1879,  the  people  adopted  the  new  Constitu 
tion,  which  took  effect  on  the  first  day  of  January 
succeeding. 

By  the  provisions  of  this  instrument  the  entire 
judicial  system  of  the  State  was  revolutionized,  and 
new  courts  succeeded  to  the  powers  and  jurisdiction 
of  the  old  ones.  Prior  to  January,  1880,  Hon.  George 
E.  Williams,  of  El  Dorado  county,  was  the  Judge  of 
the  District  Court,  embracing  within  its  territorial 
boundaries,  the  counties  of  Amador,  Calaveras,  and 
El  Dorado;  and  Hon.  A.  C.  Brown  was  the  Judge  of 
the  County  Court  of  Amador  county. 

By  the  new  Constitution  the  combined  jurisdiction 
of  these  two  tribunals  in  this  county,  was  merged 
into  one  court — called  the  "  Supreme  Court  of  the 
County  of  Amador,"  with  one  Judge,  who  was 
elected  at  the  general  election  in  1879,  and  took  his 
seat  on  the  first  Monday  in  January,  1880. 

At  that  time,  lion.  George  Moore,  of  Jackson, 
was  elected  to  the  position  of  "  Superior  Judge," 
for  a  term  of  five  years.  Judge  Moore  is  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  a  regular  graduate  of  Centre  College, 
and  at  the  date  of  his  elevation  to  the  bench  was 
about  thirty  years  of  age,  being  one  of  the  youngest 
Superior  Court  Judges  in  the  State. 

This  new  judicial  system,  which  establishes  and 
keeps  open  at  all  times,  a  court  of  general  common 
law,  equity,  and  criminal  jurisdiction  in  each  county 
of  the  State,  would,  it  was  thought,  greatly  facilitate 
the  speedy  trial  of  causes,  and  prove  more  econom 
ical  in  everyway,  both  to  litigants  and  tax-payers. 

Having  now  watched  its  workings  for  one  year, 
we  are  satisfied  that  these  expectations  are  being 
fully  realized.  In  this,  and  indeed  in  every  county 
throughout  the  State,  we  find  that  it  is  daily  growing 
in  popularity  with  both  bar  and  bench,  as  well  as 
with  the  people.  We  no  longer  hear  from  any 
quarter,  the  many  complaints  in  reference  to  the 
delay  and  expense  incident  to  litigation  under  the 
old  system;  but  all  who  are  best  posted  touching 
these  matters,  unite  in  saying  that  the  change  was 
one  much  needed,  and  one  which  will  promote  the 
best  interests  of  the  entire  State. 


FINANCIAL  MATTERS   IN  1880. 

At  the  close   of  the  fiscal    year  the    Treasurer 
reported  outstanding  warrants  on — 

Current  Expense  Fund $10,101  71 

Salary  Fund 7,344  41 

Hospital  Expense  Fund . .        456  57 

Kedemption    Fund,  exclvding  interest..  41,812  34 

Hospital  Kedemption  Fund 8,601  38 — $69,493  76 

Cash  in  Treasury  to  apply 61,060  31 


Indebtedness  exclusive  of  interest $8,433  45 

It  would  have  been  more  satisfactory  to  have 
known  the  exact  amount,  but  the  calculations  of 
interest  seem  to  be  repulsive  to  most  persons  except 
those  who  are  to  receive  it.  The  most  careless  reader 
will  perceive  that  the  debt  is  being  gradually  extin 
guished,  however,  forming  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the 
end  of  the  previous  decade,  when  the  principal  was 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  the  interest  as 
much  more,  amounting  to  two  hundred  and  eight 
thousand  dollars,  with  habits  of  careless  extrava 
gance  to  add  to  the  burden. 

POLITICAL   PARTIES   OF   1880. 

With  the  return  of  the  Presidential  campaign 
came  the  resort  to  abuse.  It  looks  like  folly  to  recur 
so  often  to  these  things.  Those  who,  for  the  first 
time,  vote  the  Presidential  ticket  might  imagine  that 
it  was  possible  that  a  rascal  had  wriggled  into  the 
nomination.  Those  whose  memory  extends  back  a 
half  century,  or  whose  reading  extends  over  the  hun 
dred  years  of  our  national  existence,  will  know  that 
this  personal  abuse  is  peculiar  to  no  age,  no  Presi 
dential  campaign,  no  year;  that  it  does  not  depend 
upon  malaria  in  the  atmosphere  or  dyspepsia  pre 
vailing  in  the  national  stomach,  but  is  incidental  to  a 
free  discussion  of  political  matters,  whether  by  a 
mob  of  Athenians,  a  body  of  dignified  Senators,  or  a 
crowd  of  sand-lot  political  economists.  No  man, 
however  exalted  his  character,  can  expect  to  escape. 
Washington,  Jefferson,  Jackson,  and  Lincoln,  men 
whom  a  grateful  posterity  have  enshrined,  felt  tho 
bitterness  of  vindictive  misrepresentation.  At  the 
close  of  Washington's  administration,  a  resolution 
approving  his  administration  and  recommending  bis 
successors  to  follow  in  his  footsteps,  met  the  fiercest 
opposition.  Mr.  Giles,  Senator  from  Virginia,  Wash 
ington's  own  State, remarked:  "  I  do  not  consider  his 
administration  an  able  one;  on  the  contrary,  1  think  it 
is  to  his  imbecility  and  cowardice  that  we  owe  all  our 
misfortunes."  Probably  no  President  ever  received 
severer  language  on  the  floor  of  Congress.  Quite  a 
number  of  men  voted  against  the  resolution,  among 
the  number  being  Andrew  Jackson,  then  a  Senator 
by  appointment  from  the  recently  admitted  State  of 
Tennessee.  The  Philadelphia  Aurora,  a  leading 
Republican  paper,  commenced  an  article,  on  the  day 
spoken  of,  in  this  wise: — 

"'Lord  lettest  thou  now  thy  servant  depart  in 
peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  glory  of  thy  salva 
tion.'  If  ever  any  nation  had  reason  to  utter  this, 
it  is  this  nation.  If  any  people  ever  had  occasion  to 


124 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


utter  it,  it  is  this  people,  for  this  day  the  author  of  all 
our  woes  retires  to  private  life.  Let  him  go  to  that 
retirement  which  he  so  much  desires." 

And  much  more  of  the  same  sort.  Volumes  could 
be  filled  with  the  written  and  spoken  abuse  of  our 
best  men;  but  it  is  not  the  province  of  this  work  to 
contain  a  history  of  the  United  States.  The  vituper 
ation,  the  charges  of  treason,  cowardice,  dishonesty, 
and  everything  else  conceivable  that  is  bad,  that 
were  hurled  at  the  distinguished  men  who  were 
candidates  for  the  Presidency,  are  the  subjects  of  mys 
tery.  That  Garfield  should  have  sold  himself  for 
three  hundred  and  twenty-nine  dollars,  or  that  Han 
cock  contemplated  handing  his  army  over  to  the 
rebels,  is,  now  that  the  campaign  is  over,  too  absurd 
to  deserve  a  thought.  How  people  can  bring  them 
selves  to  such  a  mental  condition  is  mysterious,  but 
it  is  probably  the  same  faculty  of  imagination  which 
induced  a  man  to  think  he  had  married  an  angel 
and  then  induced  him  to  larrup  her  within  an  inch  of 
her  life  in  less  than  a  week  from  the  wedding  day. 
The  election  passed  off,  and  as  the  sun  went  down 
so  did  the  passions  and  anger  which  the  occasion  had 
engendered,  the  smoke  of  the  jubilee  bonfires  and 
powder  being  the  last  of  it. 

ELECTION  RETURNS -1880. 


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The  careful  reader  will  see  that  the  average  Dem 
ocratic  majority  has  been  decreasing  for  some  years, 
being  less  than  one  hundred  where  it  was  formerly 
three  hundred.  The  two  persons  elected  to  the  Leg 
islature  were  new  men.  Swift,  a  man  of  reading  and 
culture,  had  modestly  kept  in  the  background  until 
forced  to  accept  a  nomination.  Warkins  is  a  profes 
sional  miner,  who  has  studied  the  structure  of  veins; 
wall  rocks,  dips,  and  strikes,  more  than  tariffs  and 
taxes.  Ho  is  a  man  of  mature  judgment  and  inflex 
ible  integrity,  and  is  not  likely  to  be  bribed  or  led 
into  the  support  of  vicious  legislation. 

REVIEW  FROM  1870  TO  1880. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  decade  the  county  was 
two  hundred  and  eight  thousand  dollars  in  debt;  the 
population  was  decreasing;  the  placer  mines  had 
become  comparatively  exhausted;  the  population, 
being  made  up  largely  of  women  and  children, 
instead  of  the  stalwart,  healthy  men  who  settled 
the  country,  had  become  less  self-sustaining,  and 
a  general  decline  in  all  industrial  industries  seemed 
imminent.  The  towns  of  Sutler  and  Amador  alone 
seemed  to  be  in  a  flourishing  condition.  These 


towns  furnished  the  best  market  for  lumber,  wood, 
and  agricultural  products,  and  in  one  way  and 
another  contributed  towards  sustaining  every  indus 
try.  We  have  seen  the  effect  of  economy  in  county 
expenditures,  which,  without  increasing  the  rate  of 
taxation,  has  so  worn  away  the  public  debt  that  it  is 
expected  to  call  in  the  last  outstanding  warrant  by 
the  first  of  January,  1884.  Though  quartz  mining 
has  mostly  ceased  in  Sutter  Creek,  where  its  annual 
productions  once  reached  millions,  it  has  been  placed 
on  a  paying  basis  in  several  places  (notably  Volcano 
and  Plymouth),  where  it  was  not  profitable  before, 
and  largely  increased  in  other  places,  as  Amador  and 
Jackson.  New  mines  are  being  opened  at  several 
places  which  bid  fair  to  rival,  in  richness  and  perma 
nency,  the  once  rich  mines  of  Sutter  Creek.  Agri 
culture  has  received  a  new  impetus,  and  small 
vineyards,  orchards,  and  farms,  are  appearing  on  the 
hill-sides  and  valleys,  which  are  made  to  teem  with 
life  by  means  of  the  water  from  the  mining  ditches. 
The  population  is  increasing  in  numbers,  the  cen 
sus  returns  showing  an  increase  of  one  thou 
sand  seven  hundred  and  forty  since  1870,  being 
nearly  twenty  per  cent.  More  permanent  buildings 
are  being  erected,  and  more  extensive  farming  oper 
ations  contemplated.  The  population  have  less 
expectation  of  getting  rich  suddenly,  and  are  more 
willing  to  labor  for  a  fair  compensation.  Better 
school-houses  are  being  erected  and  the  attendance 
is  more  constant,  showing  better  results  in  every 
way. 

The  once  common  vices  of  gambling  and  drinking 
with  the  usual  accompaniments  of  lewdness  and 
obscenity,  are  vanishing  before  a  healthy  public  opin 
ion,  a  sense  of  self-respect  taking  the  place  of  the 
recklessness  of  early  days.  Most  of  the  surround 
ings  are  conducive  to  the  building  up  of  peaceful,  hon 
orable  industries,  and  an  industrious  and  virtuous 
community. 

NOTE. — Those  who  undertake  to  verify  the  statistics  of  the 
last  two  chapters,  will  discover  many  inaccuracies.  They  have 
been  compiled  from  newspapers,  the  official  reports  not  being 
accessible.  Only  professional,  statisticians,  like  DeBow  or 
Walker,  can  handle  large  columns  of  figures  without  confusing 
them.  Though  imperfect  in  detail,  the  general  results  are  sub 
stantially  correct.  The  publishers  give  them  as  the  best  attain 
able. 


"• 


-THOMPSON  <f-  wesr 


OF  THE 

'UNIVERSITY^ 


GEOLOGY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 


125 


CIIAPTER  XXY. 

GEOLOGY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 

Strata  in  Buena  Vista  Mountain — Carboniferous  Clays — Granitic 
Sandstone — Glacial  Epoch — Supposed  Section  of  the  Mount 
ains — Former  Course  of  the  Rivers— Account  of  the  Blue 
Lead — Stratified  Eocks — Serpentine  Range — Chromate  of 
Iron. 

SOME  account  of  its  geology  seems  absolutely 
necessary  in  connection  with  the  extensive  mining 
interests;  yet  it  is  rather  dangerous  ground  to 
step  on.  Every  day  is  bringing  some  discovery, 
which  sweeps  away  an  old  and  well-established 
opinion.  To  write  an  opinion  of  its  geology  may 
subject  one  to  the  fate  experienced  by  Dr.  Lardner, 
who  wrote  a  very  copious  book,  demonstrating 
beyond  a  doubt  the  impossibility  of  crossing  the 
ocean  by  steam.  About  the  time  the  book  was  well 
out,  a  steamer  crossed  the  ocean,  without  paying 
any  attention  to  the  impossibility.  It  would  be  of 
little  use  to  the  majority  of  the  readers  of  this  book 
to  tell  them  that  the  slates  were  what  is  called 
hypor/ene  schistose,  by  some  authors,  to  signify  that  they 
might  have  come  from  the  earth  in  an  injection 
between  the  vertical  rocks;  or  metamorpkic  slates  by 
others,  to  signify  that  they  had  been  altered  by 
heat,  or  other  causes;  that  these  slates  were  gen 
erally  metaliferous,  and  that  veins  of  ores  of  all  kinds 
might  be  found  in  such  rocks.  These  matters  are 
known  to  scientific  readers,  and  are  but  the  skeleton 
parts,  which  must  be  clothed  with  a  thousand  accom 
panying  facts  to  make  geology  a  living,  interesting 
topic.  The  limits  of  this  work  will  not  permit  a  full 
treatise  of  the  geology  of  this  county,  even  if  the 
author  were  fully  able,  wThich  is  not  the  case.  Only 
the  most  obvious  and  important  matters,  with  the 
proofs  that  can  bo  seen  without  much  trouble  or 
expense,  will  be  noticed. 

A  largo  volume  might  be  written  on  the  subject, 
without  exhausting  it;  and  years,  aye,  a  life-time, 
might  be  spent  in  the  study  of  geolog}T,  and  still 
only  penetrate  the  outer  precincts  of  the  science. 
A  distinguished  geologist,  who  had  given  a  quarter 
of  a  century  to  the  study,  said  if  one  could  live  a 
thousand  years  he  might  know  something  about  it. 
While  the  author  disclaims  any  pretensions  to  pro 
found  knowledge  of  this  subject,  in  justice  to  him 
self  and  readers,  he  claims  to  have  given  it  much 
thought.  Twenty-five  years'  residence  in  the  county, 
close  and  careful  observation,  with  perhaps  as  much 
reading  as  generally  falls  to  a  laboring  man,  has 
given  him  an  opportunity  to  appreciate,  if  not  to 
master,  the  difficulties  of  some  of  the  problems  in 
geology.  As  scarcely  one  of  the  subscribers  to  this 
work  will  claim  or  acknowledge  any  skill  in  this 
science,  the  writer  may  be  excused  for  treating  it 
in  a  popular  manner.  If  some  one  of  our  young 
readers  may  be  induced  to  give  the  subject  his  atten 
tion,  if  only  one  Hugh  Miller,  is  kindled  with  a 
desire  to  be  able  to  read  the  records  of  creation,  as 
told  by  the  rocks,  and  shall  give  a  score  of  years  of 


active,  vigorous  life,  to  the  examination  of  the  sub 
ject,  so  as  to  be  able  to  give  the  world  a  true  geology, 
the  writer  will  have  been  a  thousand  times  remuner 
ated. 

TIME. 

In  treating  of  geology,  I  must  ask  my  readers  to 
make  a  free  use  of  time.  Let  thousands,  aye,  hun 
dreds  of  thousands  of  years  enter  into  our  calcu 
lations  without  fear  of  using  up  that  part  of  the 
material,  for  Nature  is  never  pressed  for  time.  No 
matter  how  »mall  the  yearly  progress,  time  will 
accomplish  great  changes.  Those  who  have  given 
chronology  thorough  study,  think  they  can  trace 
the  creation  back  six  hundred  nillions  of  years.  Let 
us  consider  too  that  change,  if  not  life,  is  the  inher 
ent  quality  of  all  matter;  that  no  form  is  permanent; 
that  the  "eternal  hills"  is  true  not  for  a  day  even; 
that  the  loftiest  mountain,  buttressed  with  granite, 
was  once  sleeping  beneath  the  sea,  and  will  again; 
that  the  deep  sea  holds  mountain  chains  in  her 
bosom,  that  will,  in  their  own  good  time,  emerge  to 
the  light. 

As  all  stratified  rocks,  or  at  least  such  as  we  are 
likely  to  meet  with,  were  once  horizontal,  let  us  go 
back  in  imagination  to  the  time  when  the  deep  sea 
was  rolling  over  our  own  Sierra  Nevadas.  We  must 
not  hesitate  in  the  cause  of  science,  to  sink  also  the 
Utah  basin,  and  even  the  Bocky  Mountains.  It 
matters  not  that  some  of  our  sarcastic  friends  tell  us 
that  we  have  no  ground  to  stand  on;  that  will 
appear  presently.  We  have  now  the  sea,  deep  as 
the  Atlantic,  rolling  over  the  future  Great  West. 
Only  a  portion  of  the  continent,  perhaps  the  White 
Mountains  and  Apalachian  range,  are  yet  out  of  the 
sea.  It  is  during  these  immensely  long  periods  that 
the  slates  and  the  rocks,  the  future  sources  of  min 
eral  wealth,  are  deposited  in  the  deep  sea.  Age 
after  age  (time  is  no  object)  the  deposit  goes  on, 
perhaps  the  thousandth  part  of  an  inch  a  year. 
Minerals,  suspended  or  in  solution  in  the  water,  may 
be  brought  and  deposited,  either  by  precipitation  or 
by  gravity,  and  compounded  into  the  mass.  Every 
one  has  seen  how  iron  is  precipitated  by  a  small 
particle  of  sea-weed  along  the  shore,  the  iron  in  turn 
uniting  with  something  eli?e — limo,  salt,  magnesia, 
potash,  silex,  alumina,  and,  perhaps,  gold  and  silver, 
through  chemical  changes  that  are  constantly  inter 
mingling,  changing,  and  forming  new  compounds. 
The  coral  insect  goes  to  work,  and,  laying  hold  of 
each  particle  of  lime  that  comes  along,  incorporates 
it  into  a  solid  reef — the  future  limestone  ranges  of 
the  continent  that  is  forming.  The  smallest  insect, 
the  infusoria,  finding  the  water  charged  with  silex, 
lays  hold  of  the  atoms,  builds  its  tiny  shells  so  small 
that  a  thousand  millions  would  not  make  an  inch,  and 
patiently,  year  after  year,  age  after  age,  piles  up  the 
little  shells,  until  five,  ten,  perhaps  fifty  feet  of  infuso 
rial  earth  forms  the  material  for  the  quartz  veins  of 
our  continent  yet  to  be.  Ten  thousand,  twenty  thou 
sand,  and  sometimes  fifty  thousand  feet  of  various  min- 


126 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


erals  may  be  deposited  in  this  way,  all  this  matter 
being  slowly  worn  away  from  some  pre-existing  land, 
which  perhaps  has  had  a  birth  in  a  former  cycle. 
As  the  material  accumulates  and  acquires  depth,  the 
internal  heat  of  the  earth,  which  is  manifested  in  all 
deep  mines,  by  an  increase  of  temperature  of  one 
degree  for  each  sixty  feet  or  thereabouts,  begins  to 
facilitate  and  perhaps  produce  chemical  changes  in 
the  first  formed  strata,  which  soon  lose  their  former 
texture  and  become  our  future  metamorphic,  or,  as 
they  were  formerly  called,  the  hypogene  schistose 
rocks.  Allowing  an  increase  of  one  degree  for  each 
sixty  feet,  we  have  for  a  depth  of  forty  thousand 
feet  a  heat  of  six  hundred  or  more  degrees,  and 
making  allowance  for  rents  and  seams  permeating 
the  mass,  probably  much  greater  in  places.  And 
now  for  some  unknown  reason,  the  great  mass,  so 
long  quiet,  slowly  arises  out  of  the  water,  not  all  at 
once,  but  in  long,  parallel  reefs,  one  preceding  the 
other  perhaps  by  ages;  low  and  marshy  at  first,  but 
soon,  geologically  speaking,  assuming  shape.  Wheth 
er  from  a  greater  force  of  upheaval  or  from  a  weak 
ness  or  want  of  cohesion,  some  of  these  ranges,  or 
axes  of  elevation,  break  for  great  distances,  and 
granite  is  erupted,  forming  mountains,  down  whose 
sides  water  begins  to  run,  carrying  the  detritus  or 
decay  into  the  new  valleys.  The  mineral  matters, 
having  undergone  great  changes  in  the  depth  of  the 
earth,  appear,  perhaps,  concentrated  into  veins. 

Now,  let  us  consider  for  a  moment  the  appearance 
of  these  different  strata.  At  first  horizontal  and 
existing  in  floors  and  parallel  layers,  they  are  now 
distorted,  bent  in  places  into  the  shape  of  a  "  U," 
in  others  into  a  "  Y  "  shape,  the  lower  parts  being 
still  down  thousands  of  feet  in  the  earth,  subject  to 
the  six  hundred  or  more  degrees  of  heat,  which  were 
before  referred  to.  If  we  could  see  the  strata  in  its 
shape  where  the  mountain  chains  arc  being  elevated, 
it  would  present  an  appearance  something  like  a 
hundred  or  more  layers  of  cloth  pressed  edgewise 
together,  thus: — 


The  reader  will  not  for  a  moment  consider  that  the 
different  layers  of  rock  will  hold  together  like  cloth; 
we  have  supposed  the  breakage  to  take  place  where 
the  greatest  strain  occurred,  which  would  be  on  the 
top  of  the  bends  or  bights.  We  must  also  consider 
these  bends,  anywhere  from  ten  to  twenty  miles 
apart,  or  at  least  twice  the  thickness  of  our  deposit 
in  the  sea,  though  these  mountain  elevations  may 
be  hundreds  or  even  thousands  ef  miles  apart,  in 
which  case  we  might  have  a  valley  like  the  space 


between  the  Alleghany  and  Rocky  Mountains,  or 
with  unequal  elevations,  we  might  have  a  valley  like 
the  space  between  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Rocky 
Mountains  with  short  ranges  interspersed. 

We  have  presumed  upon  the  tops  of  these  bights 
or  axes  of  upheaval,  breaking  so  as  to  expose  the 
lower  lying  strata.  In  fact,  denudation  would  set 
in  and  the  tops  of  these  elevations  would  be  cut  oft' 
nearly  to  the  line  of  the  primitive  or  granitic  rocks. 
It  is  now  evident  that  the  lower  or  first  formed 
rocks,  being  the  hardest  or  most  highly  metamor 
phosed,  would  form  the  tops  of  the  ridges,  even 
where  the  granite  had  not  cropped  out. 

The  formation  of  mountain  ranges  is  a  thing  of 
past  ages,  but  is  a  product  of  forces  still  in  operation. 
Slowly  the  Coast  Range  is  emerging  from  the  sea, 
and  along  the  base  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains, 
as  well  as  the  Coast  Range,  are  indisputable  marks  of 
a  former  sea-shore,  when  both  ranges  of  mountains 
and  the  intervening  valley  were  some  hundreds  of 
feet  lower  than  at  present.  How  many  of  these  axes 
of  elevation  occur  in  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  may  not 
be  determined,  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  higher 
mountains  were,  so  to  speak,  in  active  operation 
while  the  foot-hills,  where  the  principal  mines  are, 
were  still  the  floor  of  the  ocean.  It  is  also  certain 
that  the  older  or  higher  ranges  had  auriferous  quartz 
veins,  while  the  present  worked  veins  were  either 
unformed  or  slumbering  in  the  depths  of  the  sea. 
Those  who  have  never  studied  the  rocks,  except  to 
learn  their  economic  value,  can  form  but  little  idea 
of  the  history  of  their  creation,  which  their  texture, 
quality  and  locality  relate.  A  boy  who  picks  up  a 
rounded  quartz  pebble  considers  it  a  good  article 
with  which  to  pelt  a  dog  or  knock  a  squirrel  out  of  a 
tree;  a  gravel  miner  would  consider  it  an  indication  of 
a  hill  deposit,  and  forthwith  would  commence  a  shaft 
on  the  top  of  the  nearest  hill;  while  a  railroad  man 
would  think  a  deposit  would  make  splendid  material 
to  ballast  his  road.  A  geologist  would  immediately 
ask,  "  Where  is  the  river  which  rounded  this  pebble  ? 
for  every  rounded  pebble  is  the  result  of  pluvial 
action.  Where  is  the  quartz  vein  from  which  this 
has  been  torn  ?"  A  bed  of  boulders  on  the  top  of  a 
hill  marks  the  bed  of  an  ancient  river,  though  the 
present  stream  runs  some  hundred  feet  below.  lie 
will  tell  you  that  in  by-gone  ages  the  river  was  up 
there;  that  the  valleys  had  been  made  by  erosion. 
So  every  rock,  every  pebble,  has  its  history.  The 
placers  which  were  worked  in  an  early  day- — Tunnel 
Hill,  Butte  Basin,  Prospect  Hill,  American  Hill  at 
Oleta,  as  well  as  Loafer  Hill — all  speak  of  a  system  of 
rivers,  and  of  course  a  system  of  quartz  veins  from 
which  the  gold  was  filched.  The  vast  masses  of 
sand,  gravel,  and  clay,  with  which  the  San  Joaquin 
valley  is  filled,  as  well  as  the  eroded  valleys,  ancient 
rivers,  and  lava-capped  hills,  all  testify  of  the  forces 
that  have  helped  to  make  our  present  abode. 

A  history  of  the  denudation  may  be  read  in  the 
layers  of  potter's  clay,  gravel,  sand,  and  lava,  that 


GEOLOGY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 


127 


form  the  foot-hills  arid  the  bed  of  the  San  Joaquin 
valley.  The  Bucna  Vista  mountain  is,  perhaps,  from 
its  exposure  on  several  sides,  a  convenient  book  of 
reference.  Standing  on  the  top  of  this,  one  may  see 
many  parts  of  the  original  plain,  of  which  this 
mountain  formed  a  part,  that  once  rested  on  the 
valleys  of  lone,  Buena  Vista,  and  Buckeye,  from 
three  hundred  to  six  hundred  feet  thick,  sloping  to 
the  edge  of  the  former  sea-shore,  which  was  forced 
farther  away  as  the  masses  of  matter  carried  down 
by  the  rivers  filled  the  valley  or  basin,  precisely  as 
the  debris  or  slickens  is  now  filling  up  the  low  places. 
The  top  of  this  mountain  is  about  six  hundred  feet 
above  the  valley,  and  seems  to  have  formed  a  part  of 
the  same  plain  which  extended  east  past  Jackson, 
Slitter,  and  Amador,  though  at  these  last-named 
places  the  plain  was  some  hundreds  of  feet  higher 
than  at  Bnena  Vista.  Marks  of  this  plain  can  be 
eeen  around  the  base  of  Butte  mountain,  which 
stood,  like  Thomas  H.  Benton,  "  solitary  and  alone," 
while  the  shallow  rivers  fumed  and  fretted  at  its 
feet,  depositing  beds  of  auriferous  gravel  to  be 
scrambled  for  in  after  ages.  Let  us  see  what  the 

BUENA  VISTA  MOUNTAIN 

Is  composed  of.  Commencing  at  the  top, 
we  find  indurated  volcanic  ash,  or  what 
may  be  termed  trachyte,  with  some  indi 
cations  of  columnar  cleavage 80  feet. 

Coarse  fragments  of  lava,  not  hardened, 
forming  a  loose,  porous  soil.  This  is  the 
sloping  portion,  below  the  bold  part  of 
the  hill... 100  feet. 

Bed  of  volcanic  and  quartz  gravel,  contain 
ing  some  gold 50  feet. 

(This,  on  the  surrounding  hills,  is  the  bed 
upon  which  is  generally  superimposed 
the  breccia,  or  unwashed  lava,  not  having 
been  rounded  by  the  action  of  water.) 

Sandstone,  resembling  granite,  suitable  for 

building  purposes 40  feet. 

(In  some  of  the  surrounding  hills  this 
becomes  of  a  fine  red  color,  owing  to  the 
presence  of  sesquioxide  of  iron.  The  bal 
ustrade  of  the  steps  of  the  Court  House  in 
Jackson  are  made  of  this  stone.) 

Clays  of  different  kinds,  containing,  in 
places,  iron  ore,  sometimes  white,  some 
times  composed  of  sand,  white  as  snow, 
supposed  to  be  mostly  from  volcanic 
material,  as  in  corresponding  strata;  far- 
ther  west,  pieces  of  pumice-stone  of  fine 
quality  abound...  .  200  feet. 

Carboniferous  clays  and  sandstones,  con 
taining  impressions  of  vegetation,  mostly 
of  the  kinds  now  growing,  such  as  alder, 
ash,  pine,  cedar,  spruce,  with  some  of 
leaves  resembling  the  palm.  The  feathers 
of  birds  are  also  converted  into  coal,  and 
preserved  in  the  seams  of  clay 100  leet. 


(These  clays  are  the  matrices  of  the  coal 
beds,  which  vary  in  thickness  from  a  mere 
stain  to  several  feet.) 

Ferruginous  clay,  containing  spheroidal 
concretions,  from  a  foot  to  six  feet  in 
diameter,  with  impressions  of  leaves  and 
plants.  The  discovery  of  an  old  well, 
with  cut  stone  walls,  proved  to  be  the 
lower  half  of  a  concretion,  the  shell  of 
which  bore  much  resemblance  to  a  stone 

wall 40  feet. 

Coarse  clay  and  beds  of  sand,  with  some 
vegetable  remains  half  converted  to  coal. 
These  veins  furnish  water  for  the  artesian 
wells:  when  traced  to  the  mountains 

they  become  auriferous  gravel-beds  (*) 150  feet. 

These  strata  all  have  a  descent  to  the  west  of 
about  one  hundred  feet  to  the  mile,  and  correspond 
nearly  with  the  ascending  beds  of  the  ancient  east 
and  west  rivers;  thus,  continuing  the  line  east  at 
Jackson,  the  elevation  of  the  plain  would  be  about 
twelve  hundred  feet;  at  Volcano  twenty-five  hun 
dred.  This  plain  terminates  in  the  present  Sacra 
mento  or  San  Joaquin  plain,  about  five  or  six 
miles  west.  The  lava  flow  may  be  seen  in  several 
places  dipping  into  the  ground,  or  into  the  level  that 
was  once  a  sea-shore  line,  as  at  AV  hippies,  near  the 
Poland  House  on  the  Mokelumne  river;  on  the 
mountain  west  of  J.  P.  Martin's  lower  ranch,  where 
it  forms  the  crest  of  the  mountain;  on  the  hills 
south  of  the  Newton  mine,  and,  perhaps,  in  a  hun 
dred  other  places  in  the  county. 

I  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  particularly  notice 
the  formation  of  the  foot-hills,  because  here  we  have  a 
record  of  the  denudation  that  has  gone  on  in  the 
mountains,  the  separate  layers  each  telling  its  story. 
Let  us  examine  the  lowest  formation,  which  here 
rests  on  the  hardest  and  most  highly  metamorphosed 
slate  we  meet  with  in  the  whole  series  of  the  foot 
hills,  the  slaty  structure  being  very  hard  to  trace. 
These  reefs  of  rocks  form  the  dividing  lines,  and 
frequently,  the  boundaries  of  the  valleys;  as,  for 
instance,  the  hill  near  the  junction  of  Dry  creek 
with  Jackson  creek,  and  the  same  class  of  rocks 
north  and  south  of  Jackson  valley.  In  looking  at 
these  one  can  easily  believe  they  have  been  a  mass 
of  boulders,  partially  melted  and  fused  together. 
You  can  easily  pick  out  rocks  of  different  kinds, 
which  seemed  to  have  formed  the  original  mass,  yet 
the  geologists  tell  us  that  they  were  never  melted; 
that  this  apparent  fusion  occurred  when  the  rocks 
were  in  a  plastic  state,  and  that  the  boulder  appear 
ance  is  due  to  the  tendency  to  spheroidal  concretion, 
manifested  by  all  plastic  substances.  The  long  reefs 
of  rocks,  smoothed  as  if  with  a  plane,  show  the 
wash  of  a  surf  for  an  indefinite  period  of  time,  and 
the  subsequent  burying  by  matter,  held  in  suspension, 
indicates  a  calm,  sheltered  bay,  where  the  tides  and 
currents  were  gentle. 

*These  figures  are  in  round  numbers.  The  depth  or  thickness 
of  the  strata  constantly  varies. 


128 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


If  we  examine  the  gravel  at  the  base  of  the  slate 
hills,  we  shall  find  no  volcanic  matter ;  quartz, 
slate,  and  granite  boulders  only.  This  would  indi 
cate  a  considerable  period  of  erosion,  of  denudation 
of  the  hills  before  any  eruption  of  lava.  The  next 
deposit  is  mostly  destitute  of  volcanic  matter,  but 
contains  much  iron,  indicating  a  breaking  down  of 
ledges  or  rocks  containing  iron  and  sulphur,  as  sec 
ondary  sulphurets  are  frequent;  in  fact,  much  of  the 
gravel  of  this  age  is  cemented  by  sulphurcts;  for 
instance,  in  the  lower  beds  of  gravel  in  Mat  Mur 
ray's  claim,  at  Lancha  Plana. 

THE    CARBONIFEROUS    CLAYS. 

These  contain  a  great  deal  of  volcanic  matter 
which  seems  to  have  been  carried  into  the  rivers  as 
ashes,  pumice-stone  and  scoriae.  In  many  places 
the  pumice-stone,  as  in  the  hills  west  of  lone,  is 
found  in  considerable  quantities.  The  streams  depos 
iting  this  were  apparently  running  in  broad,  shallow 
channels,  with  but  small  depression,  the  layers 
being  regular,  and  sometimes  so  thin  that  hundreds 
of  different  deposits  may  be  found  in  the  thickness 
of  a  foot.  The  length  of  this  period  seems  to  have 
been  immense.  We  can  conceive  something  of  the  num 
ber  of  years  necessary  to  fill  up  a  valley,  even  like  that 
of  the  Sacramento  or  San  Joaquin  with  running  rivers, 
bankfull  of  mud,  gravel,  and  sand;  but  to  calculate 
the  time  a  gentle  current,  perhaps  only  discolored 
with  clay,  would  require  to  fill  an  open  sea,  or  bay, 
a  hundred  feet  or  more  deep,  makes  quite  a  draft  on 
our  stock  of  time.  In  this  deposit  we  find  the  coal- 
beds  which  seem  to  be  nothing  more  than  masses  of 
drift-wood,  of  the  kinds  now  growing  on  the  sur 
rounding  hills,  such  as  cedar,  pine,  oak,  manzanita 
and  alder,  the  latter  being  particularly  abundant, 
inclosed  in  the  tight  clays,  and  imperfectly  carbon 
ized.  This  part  of  the  subject  will  be  treated  more 
fully  under  the  head  of  coal. 

If  a  heavy  draft  on  time  was  necessary  for  the 
deposite  of  the  carbonaceous  strata,  a  much  heavier 
one  is  necessary  for  the  overlying  clays,  which  are, 
in  places,  two  hundred  feet  thick.  In  some  places 
they  are  alternate  with  beds  of  infusorial  earth, 
which  could  have  been  deposited  only  in  clear  water 
holding  silex,  not  in  suspension,  but  in  solution,  as  a 
hundredth,  or  perhaps  a  thousandth  part  of  an  inch 
of  mud  would  have  destroyed  the  insects  which 
build  these  little  shells. 

These  clays  have  an  economic  value,  as  fine  pottery 
is  being  made  from  them,  and  it  is  quite  probable 
that  porcelain  will,  at  no  distant  day,  be  manu 
factured,  using  the  clays  and  quartz  of  the  higher 
ranges. 

GRANITIC   SANDSTONE. 

There  is  little  volcanic  matter  in  this.  The 
deposit  shows  a  breaking  down  of  granitic  rocks, 
and  a  more  vigorous  wash  of  the  streams,  indicating 
an  increased  altitude  of  the  mountains,  and  conse 
quently  a  greater  carrying  power  to  the  water. 


BOULDER   FORMATION. 

For  the  first  time  in  our  record,  we  find  a  volcanic 
boulder  in  the  drift.     The  volcanoes  now  dis^or^e 

O          O 

lava,  solid  rock,  instead  of  ashes  and  scorigB,  and  are 
evidently  in  full  operation,  the  streams  being  all  at 
work.  In  many  places  the  lava  deposits  quite  hide 
the  rock-beds  heretofore  traversed  by  the  streams, 
as  the  drift  is  composed  wholly  of  volcanic  boulders 
which  cover  thousands  of  acres,  in  fact,  half  the  hills 
of  the  county  seem  capped  with  them.  They  are 
hardt  almost  indestructible,  and,  wherever  a  mass 
has  been  deposited,  effectually  protect  the  ground 
from  erosion. 

Breccia,  or  lava,  is  found  still  higher  than  the 
boulders,  and  sometimes  has  completely  filled  the 
channels,  turning  the  rivers  into  entirely  new 
courses.  These  masses  of  lava  flowing  red  hot  to 
the  sea,  must  have  presented  a  magnificent  sight  to 
man,  if  he  existed.  Boulders  of  considerable  size 
are  found  in  the  lava,  but  were  probably  formed  by 
spheroidal  concretion,  or  by  being  rolled  or  crowded 
along  while  in  a  partially  melted  state.  This  formed 
the  climax  of  volcanic  action.  But  for  the  presence 
of  volcanic  ash  on  the  breccia,  or  lava,  we  might 
conclude  that  the  volcanoes  ceased  their  working 
after  the  terrific  outpour  of  lava,  but  it  Avould  seem 
that  they  quieted  down  gradually,  perhaps  were  in 
their  old  age  for  centuries.  Extensive  as  the  flow 
was,  Amador  county  was  only  on  the  outer  edge  of 
the  volcanic  action;  farther  north  the  whole  country, 
for  thousands  of  square  miles,  was  covered  so  deeply 
that  no  rivers  have  cut  their  way  through  it.  If  it 
buried  gold  mines,  they  are  still  there.  This  outflow 
of  lava  and  boulders  pushed  the  shore-line  of  the 
bay  some  seven  or  eight  miles  farther  out,  burying 
the  drift-wood  hundreds  of  feet  deep.  If  we  could 
have  seen  Amador  county  at  this  time,  it  would  have 
presented  the  appearance  of  a  vast  plain  with  a  few 
peaks,  like  the  Butte  mountain,  and  a  few  of  the 
higher  points  west  of  the  quartz  belt,  standing 
above  the  mass  of  lava  and  boulders.  It  could  have 
had  no  vegetation,  any  more  than  the  Modoc  lava- 
bed.  What  a  few  acres  are  now,  barren  and  sterile, 
the  whole  county  was  then.  It  could  have  sustained 
no  vegetation.  Some  of  the  places  are  left,  especially 
in  the  upper  parts  of  the  county. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  that  a  uniform  mass  of 
lava  covered  the  county.  The  same  water-shed  as 
now  sent  its  streams  to  the  sea,  meandering  upon  the 
plain,  piling  up  here  gravel  and  there  sand,  chang 
ing  their  courses  frequently.  Nearly  all  the  strata, 
described  in  this  chapter  as  belonging  to  the  Buena 
Vista  mountain,  thin  out  as  we  strike  the  slates,  and 
many  are  entirely  lost;  a  few  of  the  more  extensive, 
like  the  lava  boulder  and  clay  formations,  have  their 
representatives  in  the  more  elevated  parts  of  the 
county. 

GLACIAL    EPOCH. 

A  new  actor  comes  upon  the  scene.  From  being 
covered  with  streams  of  melted  lava,  flowing  in  a 


JOHN  A. BROWN. 


GEOLOGY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 


129 


fiery   stream   to  the  sea,  the   ice   king   throws   his 
mantle  over  it,  and  claims  it  for  his  own.     As  in  all 
the  rest  of  North  America,  or  at  least  the  northern 
part  of  it,  the  falling  snows  accumulated  thousands 
of  years,  until,  compacted  into  ice,  they  were  miles 
in  depth.     There  is   not   room   here   to   prove   the 
glacial  theory.     One  must   read   it   for   themselves, 
or  look  for  its  track  in  our  mountain  canons,  or  on 
our  long   sloping   plains.     They   must   see,    as   the 
author  has  seen,  the  piles  of  rock,  miles  in  extent, 
heaped   up   by  them,  and   the   vast   surfaces  worn 
away,  smoothed    down    as   with    a   gigantic   plane, 
which   it   is;    then   the    track  of   a  glacier  will  be 
recognized,  as  easily  as  the  track   of  a   land-slide. 
These  glaciers  reached  to  the  sea-line,  though  the 
heaviest  work  was  done  towards  the  summits.    These 
great  masses  of  ice  move,  slowly  it  is  true,  twenty 
or  thirty  feet  in  a  year,  forcing  along  everything  in 
their  way  that  is  movable.     Granite  boulders,  twenty 
feet  in  diameter,  are  held  in  the  ice  as  in  a;  vice, 
and  cut  their  way  through  lava,  through  slate,  and 
through  granite,  leaving  the  powdered  debris  to  be 
carried  off  in  the  melting  stream,  in  the  shape  of 
clay.     How  long  these  streams  continued  is  uncer 
tain;    long   enough   to    erode   deep   canons    in   the 
hardest  rocks.     Silver  lake  is  a  glacial  erosion,  for 
-  years  it  moved  down  the  canon  below  Silver 
lake,  down  the  American  river,  cutting  its  way  with 
irresistible  force;  but  the  glacial  epoch  had  its  time, 
and  the  ice  king  slowly  surrendered  his  dominions, 
retreating  up  the  mountain   sides,  stubbornly  con 
testing   each    foot   of  ground.     At  Silver  lake,   he 
made  a  last  stand  before  a  complete  surrender.     The 
ice  could  get  no  farther  than  the  outlet  of  the  lake, 
and  melted  at  that  point.     Here  were  accumulated 
the  broken  and  worn-out  tools,  used  in  the  excava 
tion,  piled  up  in  a  great  mass  across  the  lower  end 
of  the  lake.     These  dams,  or  piles  of  rocks,  so  well 
known  to  geologists,  are  called  moraines,  and  always 
mark  the  retreat  of  a  glacier.     The  outlet  of  the 
lake  has  not  yet  worn  much  below  the  channel,  left 
at  the  melting  of  the  great  mass.     Those  who  are 
curious  enough  to  examine  them,  may  find  several 
small  glaciers,  a   few   acres   in    extent,  around  the 
lake.     We  may  well  believe  that  a  mass  of  ice  a 
couple  of  miles  in    depth,  forced  along  by  several 
miles  more  upon  the  mountain  sides,  could  scoop  out 
a  basin  like   Silver   lake,  or  even  like  Tahoe  lake, 
which  is  also  a  glacier  erosion.     The  basin  of  Volcano 
is  also    a   glacial    erosion,  the   glacier  melting   and 
leaving  a  lake  nearly  a   hundred  feet   deep,  which   j 
shrunk  away  as  the  waters  cut  the  canon  deeper. 
The  limestone,  sometimes  smoothed  as  if  hammered 
and  polished,  and  then,  again,  honey-combed  by  the 
streams  flowing  from  the  melting  mass  of  ice,  have 
kept  a  faithful  record  of  the  matter.     Butte  basin 
is  also  another  glacial  erosion,  with  this  difference, 
however,  it  was  filled  up  within  a  short  time  after 
the   melting  of  the   ice.     The  long   sloping  valleys 
around   Jackson,    Sutter,   Amador,   and    Plymouth, 
17 


have  the  same  origin.  As  a  general  thing,  a  valley 
with  the  bed-rock  near  the  surface,  worn  smoothly 
away,  without  regard  to  the  character  of  the  rock, 
is  the  result  of  glacier  erosion,  as  is  also  a  long, 
straight,  or  nearly  straight,  channel  of  a  creek.  A 
crooked  channel,  dodging  the  hard  places,  is  a  water 
erosion.  The  present  channels  of  the  streams  are 
below  the  channels  eroded  by  the  glaciers,  from  one 
hundred  to  four  hundred  feet,  so  that  the  track  of 
the  glaciers  must  be  looked  for  on  higher  ground. 

If  we  could  take  a  section  a  few  miles  in  depth, 
out  of  the  mountains  between  lone  and  Yolcano,  the 
appearance  would  be  something  like  the  following 
rough  drawing: — 

A  BCD 


We  will  suppose  "A"  to  be  in  the  vicinity  of  lone; 
"  B  "  to  represent  the  serpentine  range  which  passes 
the  Mountain  Spring  House;  "  C  "  to  be  the  ridge 
west  of  Jackson,  Sutter  Creek,  Amador,  and  Ply 
mouth,  and  "  D  "  to  be  the  ridge  west  of  Yolcano  and 
the  principal  marble  range,  these  points  being  the  axes 
of  elevation,  no  attempt  being  made  to  preserve  the 
relative  distances.  Further  examination  might  show 
another  axis  of  elevation  between  the  Mother  Lode, 
as  it  is  called,  and  the  limestone  range,  but  the  pres 
ent  diagram  is  accurate  enough  to  illustrate  the 
theory  of  denudation,  the  mineral  veins  and  the 
ancient  valleys.  It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  a 
great  portion  of  the  elevation  is  gone.  It  may  have 
been,  probably  was,  miles  in  depth,  for  the  lime 
stones  that  now  form  such  prominent  objects  in 
many  parts  of  the  county  are  destitute  of  fossils, 
with  a  high  crystalline  formation,  which  changes 
could  have  been  accomplished  only  under  the  pres 
sure  of  a  superincumbent  mass  of  perhaps,  miles  in 
depth.  The  same  pressure  was  requisite  to  obliterate 
the  fossils  of  the  metamorphic  rocks  constituting  the. 
summits  of  the  hills  at  the  axes  of  the  elevations.  If 
any  one  should  object  to  this  as  involving  too  great  a 
removal  of  earth,  a  question  as  to  the  source  of  the 
material  forming  the  San'Joaquin  and  Sacramento 
valleys  might  prepare  his  mind  to  assent  to  the 
denudation. 

FORMER   COURSE    OF     THE    RIVERS. 

The  present  rivers  intersect  these  ridges  or  for 
mer  mountain  ranges,  yet  there  are  many  facts 
showing  a  system  of  rivers  running  parallel  with 
these  lines  of  elevation.  Looking  at  these  mountains 
in  a  clear  day,  from  an  elevated  point  on  the  Sacra 
mento  plains,  one  may  easily  trace  the  course  of 
these  rivers  by  their  banks  which  have  been  only 
partially  obliterated.  From  Bear  Mountain  in  Cala- 
veras  to  the  ridges  west  of  the  lower  end  of  Indian 
creek,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county,  and  the 


130 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


ridges  west  of  the  quartz  mines  of  Nashville  and 
Aurum  City,  the  marks  of  an  ancient  valley  are 
unmistakable.  The  other  valleys,  though  not  so 
prominent,  may  be  easily  traced.  The  gravel  beds 
also  furnish  another  incontestible  proof  of  the  exist 
ence  of  these  valleys.  The  glacial  erosion  did  not 
wholly  obliterate  the  beds  of  the  ancient  rivers. 
Beginning  with  Tunnel  hill,  where  we  find  a  large 
deposit,  we  pass  northward,  passing  Jackson,  which 
we  find  to  be  in  the  track  of  a  glacier,  to  the  hills 
east  of  the  Gate,  when  we  again  f.ome  upon  the  river 
bed.  North  of  the  Gate  it  passes  under  the  lava 
ridge,  shows  itself  on  the  east  side  of  the  town  of 

O     * 

Sutter  Creek  in  several  places,  though  it  is  somewhat 
obscured  where  the  east  and  west  streams  intersect  it. 
An  examination  of  the  gravel  will  generally  determine 
the  age  of  the  stream.  As  the  stream  we  are  follow 
ing  existed  previous  to  the  volcanic  era,  we  shall  find 
few  or  no  boulders  of  that  formation.  East  of  Ama- 
dor  and  Plymouth  the  traces  are  nearly  obliterated. 
Snake  Flat,  east  of  the  Cover  mine,  probably  is  a 
relic  of  the  river.  East  of  Volcano  we  also  find  the 
same  evidence  of  former  streams.  Prospect  hill, 
now  overgrown  with  pines,  Humbug  hill,  and  the 
hills  in  the  vicinity  of  Spanish  gulch,  the  hills  farther 
up  the  forks  of  Sutter  Creek,  Mason's  claim,  Hall's 
claim,  the  Italian  claim, — all  belong  to  that  age  of 
deposit.  The  streams  must  not  be  confounded  with  the 
subsequent  rivers  which  intersected  all  that  we  are 
speaking  of.  The  rivers  of  the  first  instance  were 
shallow,  meandering  along  valleys  of  considerable 
width,  following  no  certain  direction  and  frequently 
changing  their  channels.  The  quartz  boulders 
abounding  in  these  channels  do  not  indicate  a  power 
ful  stream  but  rather  a  steady  wear;  furthermore, 
the  boulders,  especially  the  heavy  ones,  were  not 
moved  far  from  the  veins,  which  usually  may  be 
found  within  a  short  distance.  It  is  highly  probable 
that  the  actual  elevation  of  these  rivers  was  much  less 
than  at  present.  Perhaps  at  this  time  a  description 
of  the  great  lead  of  California  may  bo  introduced  as 
showing  the  character  of  the  rivers  existing  previous 
to  the  volcanic  era.  This  description  is  taken  from 
the  Overland  Monthly,  and  is  worthy  the  attention  of 
all  desirous  of  a  knowledge  of  the  former  systems  of 
rivers.  We  propose  to  show  in  a  future  chapter  the 
possible  continuation  of  the  river  into  this  county, 
all  traces  of  it  .having  been,  according  to  our  best 
authorities,  lost. 

THE   DEAD   RIVERS   OF   CALIFORNIA. 

"  What  is  a  dead  river  ?" 

"  The  simplest  reply  to  this  natural  question  would 
be,  that  a  dead  river  is  one  which  formerly  existed, 
but  exists  no  longer.  In  volcanic  regions  it  some 
times  happens  that  the  liquid  lava,  seeking  the 
lowest  ground,  fills  up  the  beds  of  rivers  which  would 
die,  and  are  replaced  by  water  courses  running  in 
other  channels,  and  in  different  directions.  These 
dead  streams  are  so  few  and  of  little  importance 
elsewhere,  that  as  yet,  no  class-name  has  been  given 
them;  but  in  California  they  are  among  the  chief 


sources  of  its  mineral  wealth,  and  among  the  most 
remarkable  features  of  its  geological  formation. 
They  take  us  back  to  a  remote  era,  before  the  time 
of  'Borne,  or  Greece,  or  Egypt,  far  back  beyond  the 
origin  of  history  or  tradition,  before  our  coast  had 
taken  its  present  shape;  before  the  Sierra  Nevada 
had  risen  to  its  present  elevation;  before  Shasta, 
and  Lassen,  and  Castle  Peaks,  had  poured  out  their 
lava  floods;  before  the  Sacramento  river  had  its 
birth,  and  while,  if  not  before,  the  mastodon,  the 
elephant,  the  rhinoceros,  the  horse,  the  mammoth 
bull,  the  tapir,  and  the  bison,  lived  in  the  land. 
They  are  indeed  among  the  most  remarkable  dis 
coveries  of  the  age,  and  among  the  greatest  wonders 
of  geology.  They  deserve  some  common  name,  and 
we  have  to  choose  between  '  extinct  '  and  '  dead.' 
We  speak  of  '  extinct  volcanoes,'  and  of  '  dead 
languages,'  and  as  the  latter  is  Saxon  and  short,  we 
preterit.  They  had  been  called  '  old  channels,'  but 
this  name  does  not  convey  the  proper  idea,  since  a 
channel  is  not  necessarily  a  river,  and  an  old  channel 
is  not  necessarily  a  dead  one.  A  dead  river  is  a 
channel  formerly  occupied  by  a  running  stream,  but 
now  filled  up  with  earthy  or  rocky  matter,  and  is 
not  to  be  confounded  with  a  channel  that  is  open 
and  remains  dry  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year 
because  of  a  lack  of  water,  or  that  has  been  aban 
doned  by  the  stream  for  a  deeper  channel  elsewhere. 
A  dry  river  bed  is  not  a  dead  river. 

"  The  dead  rivers  of  California,  so  far  as  known,  are 
on  the  western  slopes  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  from 
five  hundred  to  seven  thousand  feet  above  the  sea. 
They  are  auriferous,  and  therefore  they  have  been 
sought  for  and  examined.  They  have  yielded  prob 
ably  $300,000,000  in  all;  they  now  produce  perhaps 
$8,000,000  annually.  They  are  not  less  interesting, 
therefore,1^©  the  miner  than  to  the  geologist;  not  less 
important  to  the  statesman  than  to  the  antiquarian. 

"  The  largest  dead  river  is  known  as  '  the  Big 
Blue  Lead,'  and  has  been  traced  from  Little  Grizzly, 
about  latitude  thirty-nine  degrees  and  forty-five 
minutes,  in  Placer  county,  a  distance  of  sixty-five 
miles.  The  course  is  south-south-east,  the  position 
about  thirty  miles  west  of,  and  parallel  with,  the 
main  divide  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.  The  elevation  is 
five  thousand  feet  above  the  sea  at  Little  Grizzly, 
and  two  thousand  eight  hundred  at  Forest  Hill, 
showing  an  average  fall  of  thirty-three  feet  per  mile. 
The  live  rivers  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  run  at  right 
angles  to  the  course  of  the  range,  and  have  cut 
canons  from  fifteen  hundred  to  three  thousand  feet 
deep,  and  they  are  separated  by  ridges  which  are 
from  three  to  six  miles  apart,  and  are  as  high  as  the 
canons  are  deep.  The  Blue  Lead  runs  across  these 
ridges  from  two  hundred  to  one  thousand  feet  below 
their  summits.  The  traveler  does  not  see  any  signs 
of  a  dead  river  in  these  ridges,  which  are  as  high 
and  have  the  same  general  appearance  at  the  Blue 
Lead  as  at  other  places.  I  shall  presently  tell  how 
the  miner  discovers  the  lead,  but  before  coming  to 
that,  I  want  to  give  you  a  clear  idea  how  the  dead 
river  crosses  the  ridges.  Take  a  piece  of  common 
ruled  cap  paper;  put  your  pen  on  a  line,  draw  it  up 
at  an  angle  of  forty -five  degrees  to  the  second  line 
above,  then  down  the  first  line  at  the  same  angle, 
and  so  on  until  the  line  made  by  your  pen  looks  like 
eight  rectangular  saw-teeth,  which  are  about  an 
inch  high.  Consider  those  teeth,  as  the  ridges  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  on  the  lino  of  the  Blue  Lead  in  Sierra 
county,  and  the  intervals  between  them  as  the 
canons.  Write  over  the  first  canon  to  the  left, 
'Canon  creek;'  over  the  next,  '  Goodyear's  creek; 


GEOLOGY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 


131 


and  over  the  others  consecutively,  'North  Fork  of 
the  Yuba  river,'  'Eock  creek,' '  Oregon  ravine,' '  West 
ravine,'  and  '  Middle  Yuba.'  Now  draw  a  horizontal 
line  across  all  the  ridges,  a  quarter  of  an  inch  from 
their  tops.  That  line  is  the  Blue  Lead.  The  diagram 
made  as  directed,  represents  a  perpendicular  section 
of  the  ridges  and  canons  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  on 
the  line  of  the  Big  Blue  Lead  in  Sierra  county  as 
seen  from  the  west. 

"  I  have  said  that  the  traveler  would  seo  no  sign  of 
a  dead  river  in  riding  over  the  country.  The  ridges 
are  as  high  on  its  line  as  elsewhere;  the  canon  sides 
present  the  same  appearance.  Years  elapsed  before 
the  miners  discovered  the  existence  of  the  ancient 
channel.  But  it  required  only  a  few  months  for  the 
discovery  that  the  live  rivers  were  very  rich  in  gold 
up  to  a  certain  point;  that  the  abundance  and  "size 
of  the  particles  increased  as  they  ascended  up  to  that 
point;  and  that  beyond  or  east  of  that  point  the 
streams  were  poor.  Those  points  on  the  different 
streams  were  nearly  on  a  line.  Just  there  the  ravines 
on  the  sides  of  the  canons  were  very  rich,  and  they 
were  comparatively  poor  elsewhere.  The  miners  fol 
lowed  up  the  ravines,  washing  the  dirt  in  their  beds, 
and  the  dirt  where  the  ravines  were  not  too  steep 
was  a  foot  or  two  deep  over  the  slate  rock.  At  last, 
when  the  miners  got  near  the  top  of  the  ridge,  they 
found  that  the  narrow,  shallow  rock-bed  of  the 
ravine  suddenly  disappeared,  and  the  body  of  the 
hill  was  composed  of  gravel,  which  had  a  peculiar 
blue  color,  and  part  of  it,  a  horizontal  stratum  about 
half  a  mile  wide  from  east  to  west,  and  five  feet 
thick,  was  very  rich  in  gold.  They  looked  after  the 
metal  and  paid  little  attention  to  anything  else.  As 
the  stratum  ran  across  the  ridges  from  north  to  south, 
the  miners  followed  it  in  with  adits,  or  tunnels,  and 
in  more  than  one  place  the  tunnels  met;  and  a  few 
years  ago  it  was  customary  for  footmen  passing 
between  Monticello  and  Excelsior  to  go  under  ground 
a  distance  of  a  mile  rather  than  to  climb  over  the 
hill  six  hundred  feet  high,  by  a  path  nearly  two 
miles  long.  In  the  same  manner  Forest  City  and 
Alleghany  were  connected  by  a  continuous  tunnel, 
but  the  timbers  have  rotted,  the  roof  has  fallen  in, 
and  the  passage  is  now  closed. 

"  The  auriferous  deposit  is  gravel,  mixed  with  boul 
ders,  clay,  and  sand,  varjang  from  a  hundred  to  three 
hundred  feet  in  depth;  in  strata,  distinguished  from 
one  another  by  differences  in  color,  in  the  size  of  the 
boulders  and  gravel,  and  in  the  number  and  size  of 
the  particles  of  gold.  The  predominant  color  is 
bluish-gray,  dark  at  the  bottom  and  lighter  above, 
with  a  reddish  tinge  in  those  places  that  have  long 
been  exposed  to  the  air,  showing  the  presence  of  iron. 
The  material  of  the  boulders,  gravel  and  sand,  is 
almost  exclusively  quartz.  In  the  whole  length  of 
the  river,  as  traced  fora  distance  of  sixty-five  miles, 
assuming  that  the  deposits  of  gravel  average  half  a 
mile  wide  and  two  hundred  feet  deep,  there  were, 
counting  in  the  portions  which  have  been  washed 
away  by  the  live  rivers,  six  billion  six  hundred  and 
sixty  million  cubic  yards  of  quartz  and  clay,  and  the 
quartz  alone  must  have  measured  five  billion  cubic 
yards.  In  the  live  rivers,  quartz  forms  only  a  small 
portion  of  the  gravel. 

"  Whence  came  all  the  quartz  of  the  Big  Blue  ? 
How  did  it  happen  that  no  granite,  slate,  porphyry, 
basalt  or  sandstone  was  buried  in  its  bed?  If  all  the 
quartz  veins  now  known  in  California  were  cleaned 
out  to  a  depth  of  one  hundred  feet,  they  would  not 
supply  so  much  as  is  found  in  sixty-five  miles  of  a 
river  that  must  have  run  for  many  hundreds  of  miles. 


The  gravel  is  all  water- worn,  and  rounded  by  long 
attrition.  It  came  from  far  north.  A  piece  of  rough 
quartz,  while  being  carried  five  hundred  miles  in  the 
fiercest  of  our  mountain  streams,  would  not  be  worn 
so  smooth  as  is  every  pebble  in  the  Blue  Lead.  And 
the  immense  size  of  the  boulders  implies  a  mighty 
current.  Those  in  the  lowest  stratum  average,  in 
some  places,  a  ton.  and  many  are  found  of  twenty  tons. 
These  are  worn  as  smooth  as  the  pebbles.  They 
are  not  found  scattered  here  and  there  as  though 
they  had  tumbled  down  the  banks  of  the  river  near 
the  spot  where  they  are  found;  but  they  are  evenly 
distributed  in  a  stratum  of  equal  thickness  across  the 
whole  bed,  and  for  miles  in  length.  Above  that  may 
be  a  stratum  of  larger  ones.  The  great  river 
handled  these  masses  of  rock  with  as  much  apparent 
ease,  and  spread  them  out  as  evenly,  as  if  they  had 
been  no  larger  than  pigeons'  eggs. 

"  The  particles  of  gold  are  larger  in  size,  and  con 
tain  more  silver  at  the  bottom  than  at  the  top.  The 
smaller  pieces  are  in  the  upper  strata  and  as  they 
have  a  larger  surface  proportionately,  the  silver  is 
eaten  out  by  the  sulphurous  acid  which  is  developed 
in  the  gravel  by  the  oxidation  of  pyrites.  If  a 
double  eagle  and  twenty  one-dollar  pieces  are  thrown 
into  a  solution  of  vitriol  arid  left  there  for  several 
weeks,  the  small  pieces  will,  at  the  end  of  that  time, 
contain  a  larger  proportion  of  gold  than  the  large 
one;  and  for  a  similar  reason  the  surface  placer  gold 
is  finer  chemically  than  that  obtained  from  the 
deeper  strata.  As  a  general  rule,  the  deep  gold  is 
nine  hundred  fine,  or  is  worth  eighteen  dollars  and 
sixty  cents  per  ounce,  and  the  surface  gold  is  nine 
hundred  and  twenty  fine,  and  is  worth  nineteen  dol 
lars  in  the  Big  Blue  Lead.  The  gold  and  gravel  are 
deposited  as  in  tha  live  rivers,  in  the  banks,  bars, 
eddies,  ripples  and  rapids. 

"The  richest  places  have  contained  as  much  as  fifty 
dollars  to  the  cubic  yard  of  the  lower  stratum,  or  if 
the  large  boulders  were  left  out  of  the  estimate,  to 
two  or  three  cubic  feet.  The  space  between  the 
boulders  is  filled  with  sand,  clay,  and  gravel,  which 
contains  the  gold.  In  the  upper  strata  there  are  from 
fifty  cents  to  two  dollars  to  the  cubic  yard.  The  bed 
is  of  slate  rock,  and  the  banks  are  from  fifty  to  three 
hundred  feet  high;  but  there  are  few  places  where 
they  have  been  examined,  for  nowhere  has  all  the 
gravel  been  washed  awa}*  across  the  channel. 

"But  how  was  it  possible  that  the  bed  of  a  large 
river  could  be  filled  three  hundred  feet  deep  with 
gravel?  When  the  miners  in  1850  to  1852,  flumed 
the  live  rivers  of  California,  and  took  the  gold  from 
their  beds,  they  found  a  deposit  of  gravel  that  did 
not  average  more  than  five  feet  deep  on  the  bed 
rock,  in  streams  that  ran  in  canons  one  thousand 
feet  deep;  and  it  is  strange  that  the  Big  Blue  should 
have  filled  its  bed  with  gravel.  Yet  this  filling  is 
not  without  an  analogue  of  our  day.  Under  the 
influence  of  hydraulic  washing,  Bear  river  and  Yuba 
river  have,  within  the  last  fifteen  years,  begun  to 
fill  up  with  gravel,  and  their  beds  have,  for  miles, 
risen  seventy  feet  or  more  above  the  levels  of  1853. 
This  gravel  is  auriferous,  and  it  is  deposited  in  strata, 
and  the  arrangements  and  general  appearance  resem 
ble  those  of  the  Big  Blue  Lead.  The  filling  up  began 
down  in  the  valley,  and  as  it  ascended  the  current 
became  less  rapid,  and  lost  the  power  to  carry  away 
the  gravel.  In  Bear  river,  below  Dutch  Flat,  the 
bed  rises  two  feet  per  month  during  the  chief  wash 
ing  season,  from  February  to  September,  and  in  the 
remaining  months  it  falls  on  account  of  the  stoppage 
of  washing  and  of  the  Winter  floods,  which  carry 


132 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


off  perhaps  half  of  the  accumulation  of  the  Summer. 

"  Some  persons  claim  that  various  camps  on  parts 
of  dead  rivers  in  Plumas  county,  are  on  the  Big 
Blue  Lead,  and  others  think  that  portions  of  a  dead 
river,  near  Placerville,  belong  to  the  same  stream. 
I  do  not  accept  these  theories,  but  if  they  are  true, 
the  Big  Blue  river  has  been  traced  about  one  hun 
dred  and  ten  miles.  In  the  northern  part  of  Plumas 
county,  the  river  is  buried  under  deep  beds  of  lava 
and  basalt,  and  south  of  Placerville  it  is  probably 
below  the  level  of  the  live  streams,  and  thus  cannot 
be  found  by  any  system  of  mining  or  mode  of  pros 
pecting  now  in  use.  Even  in  places  where  it  is 
above  the  level  of  the  live  streams,  it  may  be  cov 
ered  on  the  sides  of  the  canons  by  slides  of  rock  or 
barren  dirt  or  gravel,  and  the  miner  might  spend 
thousands  of  dollars  in  a  vain  search  for  treasures 
not  ten  feet  from  his  drift,  as  many  have  done,  and 
some  accident,  luck,  or  perseverance,  afterwards 
proved  the  proximity  of  the  rich  deposit.  In  sev 
eral  cases  the  lead  was  found  by  calculation.  The 
miner  took  his  position  on  a  hill-side,  on  a  level 
with  other  camps,  and  in  a  few  days  he  found  a 
fortune;  and  others  have  spent  years  working  on  a 
similar  plan  without  success.  The  river  must  have 
taken  bends  on  the  north  side  of  Rock  creek  and 
Oregon  ravine,  and  twelve  years  of  searching  have 
not  revealed  the  position  of  the  bends. 

"  But  why  did  the  Big  Blue  river  die,  and  leave 
nothing  but  its  gravel  and  its  gold  to  tell  the  story  of 
its  greatness  ?  The  main  cause  must  have  been  the 
subsequent  rise  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.  Suppose  that 
a  range  of  mountains,  seven  thousand  feet  high  were 
upheaved  thirty  miles  east  of  the  Mississippi;  that  the 
bed  of  the  stream  were  on  the  mountain  side,  three 
thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  and  that  thirty  miles  west 
the  country  retained  its  present  level;  the  result 
would  be  that  the  present  Mississippi  would  soon  be 
a  dead  river;  it  would  be  cut  across  by  streams  run 
ning  doAvn  the  mountain  side,  and  pouring  into  a 
new  Mississippi,  thirty  miles  or  more  west  of  the 
present  one.  We  know  that  the  Sierra  Nevada  has 
been  upheaved;  that  a  large  stream  ran  on  what  is 
now  the  mountain  side;  and  that  it  has  been  suc 
ceeded  by  a  new  river  farther  west;  and  we  must 
infer  that  the  death  of  the  old  and  the  birth  of  the 
new  river  was  caused  by  the  upheaval. 

"  Many  of  the  hills  crossed  by  the  Big  Blue  are 
capped  with  lava  or  basalt,  which  covered  much  of 
the  country  from  near  the  summit  of  the  range  to 
about  three  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  It  seems 
then  that  the  river  filled  its  bed  with  gravel;  the 
mountains  began  to  rise,  and  volcanoes  broke  out 
along  the  divide;  the  lava  ran  down  and  covered  the 
land  to  the  line  of  the  dead  river  and  beyond  it; 
the  mountains  rose  still  higher,  and  the  waters  run 
ning  down  their  sides  cut  through  the  lava  and 
made  deep  canons,  and  washed  away  two- thirds  or 
three-fourths  of  the  dead  river,  and  scattered  its 
gold  among  the  living  waters. 

"  The  descent  of  thirty -three  feet  per  mile 
observed  between  Little  Grizzly  and  Forest  Hill 
would  make  a  terrific  current  in  a  stream  half  a  mile 
wide.  The  Sacramento  is  a  lively  river,  yet  its  grade 
is  only  five  feet  in  a  mile.  But  no  ordinary  current 
could  have  carried  the  large  quartz  boulders  of  the 
Big  Blue  Lead  from  distant  regions  and  distributed 
them  evenly  over  the  river  bed.  It  is  possible,  how 
ever,  that  in  the  lifting  up  of  the  mountains  the  rela 
tive  elevations  have  been  altered,  and  that  the 
present  grade  differs  from  that  of  the  Big  Blue  while 
it  was  alive. 


"  A  question  suggests  itself  whether  the  great  dead 
river  was  the  predecessor  of  any  living  stream;  but 
to  this  no  satisfactory  answer  can  now  be  given; 
and  it  is  doubtful  whether  time  and  research  will 
ever  furnish  one.  The  Big  Blue  was  parallel  to  the 
Sacramento  and  has  to  a  certain  extent  been  suc 
ceeded  by  it;  but  it  drained  a  much  larger  district 
than  the  Sacramento  does,  or  the  rain-fall  of  the 
country  was  much  greater  in  the  era  of  its  existence. 
The  Sacramento  does  not  carry  one-fourth  of  the  water 
which  ran  in  the  Big  Blue — probably  not  one-tenth. 
If  we  could  ascertain  that  the  quantity  of  rain  had 
not  altered,  then  we  should  be  justified  in  presuming 
that  the  Columbia  river,which  would  just  about  fill  the 
bed  of  the  Big  Blue,  instead  of  turning  westward  at 
Walla  Walla,  originally  continued  southward,  until 
the  lifting  up  of  Shasta  and  Lasscn,  and  the  adjacent 
ridges,  stopped  its  course,  and  compelled  it  to  break 
through  the  Cascade  range  at  the  Dalles.  With  our 
present  limited  knowledge,  we  are  not  justified  in 
calling  the  Big  Blue  river  either  the  dead  Sacra 
mento  or  the  dead  Columbia. 

"Some  persons  have  argued  that  the  Big  Blue  Lead 
never  was  a  river,  but  only  a  lacustrine  or  alluvial 
deposit.  This  theory,  however,  is  untenable.  The 
Big  Blue  Lead  has  all  the  marks  which  a  dead  river 
should  have.  It  has  a  long  course;  a  width  nearly 
uniform,  a  course  nearly  straight,  some  bends  with 
eddies  on  the  inner  side,  a  peculiar  quartz  unlike  any 
found  in  the  neighboring  ridges,  or  in  the  streams 
to  the  eastward,  an  abundance  of  quartz,  which  no 
place  now  known  to  us  could  have  supplied,  and 
which  came,  probably,  from  a  distant  northern  region 
now  covered  with  lava;  water- worn  gravel,  which 
must  have  been  carried  far;  flat  stones  pointing 
down  stream,  as  a  current  would  place  them;  strata 
of  coarse  and  fine  gravel,  which  must  have  been 
deposited  in  a  stream;  a  uniform,  descending  grade; 
the  coarse  particles  of  gold,  which  could  not  have 
been  distributed  so  evenly  over  a  wide  channel  except 
in  a  strong  current;  an  immense  quantity  of  gold, 
which  required  ages  to  scatter  through  a  deposit 
three  hundred  feet  deep;  drift-wood  unmistakably 
water-worn;  trunks  of  trees  with  the  butts  up 
stream;  tributary  brooks,  and  a  number  of  other 
evidences  which  would  require  more  space  for  their 
description  and  explanation  than  I  could  spare.  To 
say  that  the  Big  Blue  is  not  a  dead  river,  is  equiva 
lent  to  saying  that  the  bones  of  the  mastodon  never 
belonged  to  a  living  animal,  but  were  formed  under 
geological  influences  exclusively. 

"  If  this  were  the  only  dead  river  in  the  State,  the 
proof  would  be  less  conclusive,  but  there  are  a  dozen 
others.  One  which  runs  south-westwardly,  and  may 
be  called  the  dead  Brandy  river,  appears  at  La  Port, 
Brandy  City,  Camptonville  and  North  San  Juan,  and 
is  marked  by  the  same  general  characteristics,  save 
that  the  gravel  is  finer,  the  pebbles  in  the  upper  strata 
being  generally  not  larger  than  a  pigeon's  egg. 

"  In  Tuolumne  and  Calaveras  counties  we  have  the 
dead  Stanislaus,  or  Tuolumne  table  mountain,  which 
runs  from  near  Silver  mountain,  in  Alpine,  to 
Knight's  Ferry,  and  there  disappears.  It  is  covered 
by  a  bed  of  basalt,  which  flowed  as  lava  from  a  vol 
cano,  and  filled  up  the  ancient  bed;  and  this  basalt 
has  resisted  the  elements,  and  now  stands  as  a 
mountain  forty  miles  long,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide, 
and  eight  hundred  feet  high,  the  softer  adjacent 
slate  rock  having  been  wasted  and  washed  away. 
Under  this  mountain  lies  a  dead  river,  rich  in  gold. 
A  similar  table  mountain  of  basalt,  covering  an  aurif 
erous  dead  river,  which  I  call  the  dead  Cherokee, 


JOSEPH   WOOLFORD. 


4  Yf£ST. 


GEOLOGY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 


133 


niter  its  chief  mining  camp,  extends  seventy  miles, 
from  Lassen's  Peak  to  Oroville.  At  Bangor,  in 
Butte  county,  is  a  small  dead  river,  seventy  feet  below 
the  general  surface  of  the  ground,  and  covered  with 
ordinary  soil  and  gravel.  There  are  also  dead  riv 
ers  at  Smartsville,  Mokelumne  Hill  and  San  Andreas. 
The  Big  Blue  and  dead  Brandy  are  distinguished  by 
the  depth  of  their  gravel,  and  by  the  absence  of 
pebbles  of  eruptive  origin  in  it.  The  others  have 
either  short  courses  or  shallow  deposits  of  gravel; 
and  the  quartz  forms  a  much  smaller  percentage  of 
the  gravel.  In  the  dead  rivers  at  Cherokee,  Ban 
gor,  and  Smartsville,  a  large  proportion  of  the  boul 
ders  and  pebbles  is  of  lava  and  basalt,  as  if  the 
stream  had  been  formed  after  the  commencement 
of  the  volcanic  era.  But  different  as  is  the  material 
of  the  gravel,  the  fluvial  origin  of  the  deposits  is  sim 
ilar  and  indubitable  in  all  of  them,  when  they  are 
studied  together." 

It  may  be  presumptive  to  offer  any  suggestion  as 
to  the  source  of  the  immense  stream  which  formed 
or  deposited  this  lead.  The  suggestion  that  it  might 
have  been  the  Columbia  river  before  it  had  broken 
its  way  through  the  Dalles,  is  perhaps  worth  con 
sidering.  Another  suggestion  may  be  permitted. 
Those  who  have  crossed  the  Utah  basin,  will  have 
noticed  the  water  lines  far  up  on  the  sides  of  the 
mountains,  showing  that  it  was  formerly  an  inland 
sea,  or  lake,  larger  than  any  now  on  the  continent, 
which  might  have  had  its  outlet  through  some  of 
the  passes  in  the  Sierra,  ere  its  waters  were  lapped 
up  by  the  dessicating  winds.  This  suggestion  is 
made  for  the  benefit  of  the  future  geologist.  The 
question  may  be  decided  when  the  great  lava  bed, 
which  buried  up  the  supposed  channel  of  the  river, 
shall  have  been  explored,  and  its  secrets  laid  bare. 
For  the  present  we  may  lay  this  question  aside,  as 
one  too  momentous  for  our  present  limited  infor 
mation.  How  long  these  rivers  pursued  their  course, 
where  they  emptied,  and  into  what  waters,  are  also 
matters  for  future  investigation.  The  deposits  of 
clay  which  marked  this  era,  indicated  an  almost 
interminable  period.  We  may  be  inclined  to  ask, 
Of  what  use  was  the  earth  at  this  time? 


RIVERS    FLOWING    TO    THE    WEST. 

But  there  came  an  end  to  this  sleepy,  easy  flow 
of  events.  The  volcanoes,  which  had  so  long  sent 
forth  only  mud  and  ashes,  now  took  on  an  indus 
trious  fit,  and  commenced  pouring  out  lava  without 
stint,  choking  up  the  former  channels,  and,  in  some 
instances,  burying  them  under  three  or  four  hun 
dred  feet  of  lava.  It  is  probable  that  previous  to 
this,  many,  or  perhaps  all,  of  these  rivers  had  worn 
a  way  through  the  low  mountains  which  hemmed 
them  in,  and  found  their  way  to  the  sea;  but  the 
lava  forced  them  to  form  channels  in  a  new  direc 
tion.  The  low  mountain  barriers  were  overflowed. 
The  rivers,  running  with  an  increased  velocity,  now 
swept  along  great  boulders  of  lava,  granite,  slate,  or 
whatever  came  in  their  way.  On  a  ridge  between 
Amador  and  Sutter,  some  miles  below  the  towns, 
may  be  seen  boulders  ten  feet  in  diameter,  which 
appear  to  have  been  left  at  the  foot  of  a  long  descend 
ing  portion  of  the  river.  Many  times  the  new  rivers 
would  choke  up,  compelling  the  water,  again  and 
again,  to  seek  new  channels.  These  channels,  in 
many  places,  occupy  the  ridges  between  the  present 
river  beds,  sometimes  at  a  height  of  six  hundred 
feet. 

STRATIFIED    ROCKS. 

The  surface  having  been  considered,  the  stratified 
rocks  may  next  claim  attention.  These  all  dip  into 
the  ground  at  various  angles,  sometimes  with  pitch 
to  the  east,  and  sometimes  to  the  west.  In  these 
stratified  rocks  are  found  our  valuable  metals;  and 
any  theory  of  vein  formation,  to*  be  of  value,  must 
consider  them  as  a  unity.  Commencing  at  the  foot 
of  the  mountains,  at  the  lowest  formation  visible, 
at  lone,  Lancha  Plana,  and  the  corresponding  places 
farther  north,  we  find  the  strata  in  the  following 
order.  I  have  set  the  names  of  the  strata  to  cor 
respond  somewhat  with  the  position  of  the  rocks 
named,  and  also  have  elevated,  and  otherwise  noted, 
the  metamorphic  rocks  which  formed  the  summits 
of  the  ancient  valleys. 


134 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


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GEOLOGY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 


135 


It  must  not  be  supposed  that  any  stratum  pre 
serves  a  uniform  character  for  any  distance.  Only  a 
few  of  the  great  veins  or  ranges  like  the  serpentine 
and  the  other  metamorphic  can  be  traced  in  this 
way.  Whether  from  currents  in  the  ocean  deposit 
ing  different  materials  previous  to  the  upturning  of 
the  slates,  or  from  subsequent  change  by  translation 
of  minerals,  or  both,  the  slates  change  in  character 
every  mile  or  two.  The  black  slate  will  change  to 
gray,  then  to  quartzose,  or  perhaps  to  syenite.  The 
metamorphic  is  often  thinned  out  by  other  rocks.  Jn 
some  place  the  serpentine  is  two  miles  wide,  in 
others  nearly  wanting,  so  that  a  description  of  rocks 
at  lone  might  not  fully  apply  to  the  rocks  four  or  five 
miles  further  north. 

The  metamorphic  rocks  near  lone,  Lancha  Plana 
and  Buena  Vista,  which  have  been  referred  to  before, 
may  be  taken  as  a  starting-point.  These  do  not 
form  a  continuous  reef,  but  here  stand  as  detached 
masses  probably  eroded  as  before  mentioned  by  the 
waves  of  the  sea.  Along  the  junction  of  this  with 
the  black  slate  are  some  of  the  largest  quartz  veins  in 
the  county.  One  of  them  may  be  seen  near  Randal's 
ranch  near  lone,  one  at  Mrs.  Nichol's  place  near 
Buena  Vista,  and  at  several  other  places.  That  one 
on  Randal's  ranch  has  been  sunk  on  some  eighty  feet 
or  more  without  finding  anything  of  value.  Where 
these  veins  have  been  subjected  to  sea  wash,  as  at 
Muletown,  and,  perhaps,  the  Arkansas  diggings,  they 
have  made  good  placer  mining.  Irish  Hill  was 
enriched  by  a  mountain  stream,  as  the  gravel  is  com 
posed  of  entirely  different  rocks  from  that  of  Mule- 
town.  The  hill  east  of  lone  is  probably  sea  wash,  of 
the  same  age  as  the  Muletown  deposit.  The  sea 
shore  line  may  be  eat-ily  traced  by  the  bench-like 
erosions. 

Near  the  foot-wall  of  this  belt  are  the  Cosumnes, 
the  Arroyo  Seco,  Lancha  Plana,  and  other  copper 
mines.  On  the  opposite  side  of  this  belt  is  the  New 
ton  Coppermine,  as  well  as  several  others  of  promise. 
The  reader  is  requested  to  note  the  fact  of  paying 
mines  being  found  in  the  vicinity  of  these  hard  slates, 
though  these  slates  themselves  scarcely  ever  contain 
any  mineral  of  value.  In  the  intermediate  space  are 
many  veins  containing  copper-  and  other  minerals  in 
small  quantities.  Near  the  Boston  ranch  some 
small  veins  of  quartz  are  estimated  to  have  five 
dollars  to  the  ton,  but  they  seem  to  thin  out  and 
ramify  through  the  ground  so  as  to  be  unprofitable  to 
work,  though  many  ravines  have  been  enriched  by 
them.  Some  veins  of  steatite  (soap-stone)  have  con 
siderable  gold  in  them  visible  to  the  eye,  but  no  one, 
as  yet,  has  been  able  to  separate  it.  The  gulches 
running  from  this  range  have  been  rich.  Near  Irish 
Ilill  is  the  Kirkendall  district  which  was  thought  to 
be  rich  in  quartz  veins,  but  the  expectations  have  not 
been  realized. 

SERPENTINE   RANGE. 

This  is  a  striking  formation  of  metamorphic  rock, 
BO  twisted,  contorted  and  scraggy,  that  it  has  been 


considered  by  many  as  of  volcanic  origin.  The  point 
between  Jackson  and  Stony  Creek  was  thought  to  be 
an  old  crater.  A  close  investigation  shows  it  to  be  slate, 
and  the  ragged,  contorted  appearance  to  be  the  result 
of  the  substitution  of  magnesia  for  potash  in  the  com 
position  of  the  rock.  Chromate  of  iron  abounds  in  it, 
a  vein  of  it  near  the  Westfalls'  ranch  being  nearly 
three  feet  thick.  Hundreds  of  small  quartz  veins,  as 
well  as  other  ore  chimneys,  may  be  seen  within  a 
mile  or  two  while  walking  along  this  range.  Vogan 
has  used  many  of  these  veins  for  road  material. 
When  sunk  on  they  often  turn  to  clay,  and  many  of 
them  are  known  by  being  sinks  in  the  ground,  or 
sometimes  pot-holes  of  clay.  Silver,  gold,  and 
copper  are  all  found  in  these  chimneys  in  small  quan 
tities.  They  were  formerly  explored  for  copper. 
These  ore  deposits  may  be  a  continuation  of  those 
found  on  the  west  side  of  the  lower  metaliferous 
range.  Farther  east  are  many  small  quartz  veins 
with  considerable  gold,  though  the  veins  are  too  nar 
row  to  be  worked  with  profit.  Limestone  is  found  in 
many  places  on  this  range.  Not  far  from  the  Filmer 
ranch  is  a  large  deposit  which  burns  into  good  lime; 
though  many  of  the  deposits  contain  too  much  silica 
or  magnesia  for  that  purpose,  being  perhaps  a  kind 
of  dolomite.  It  is  too  dark  colored  and  too  hard  for 
ornamental  purposes.  On  the  Mokelumne  river,  near 
the  head  of  the  Lancha  Plana  ditch,  is  a  curious 
formation  of  lime,  resembling  a  frozen  waterfall.  It 
is  somewhat  obscured  by  the  dirt  which  has  fallen 
over  it,  but  is  well  worth  an  examination. 

A  short  distance  below  is  an  iron  spring,  a  good  il 
lustration  of  an  active  ore  deposit,  a  formation  of  iron 
ore  constantly  going  on,  which  is  every  year  carried 
away  by  the  high  waters  of  the  river.  The  ore  is 
probably  the  result  of  the  percolation  of  water 
through  decomposing  sulphurets  not  far  away. 
Passing  east  we  strike  another  belt  of  metamorphic 
slates  in  places  two  miles  in  width.  This  may  be 
considered  the  great  foot-wall  of  the  Mother  Lode, 
also  the  most  prominent  indication  of  the  largest 
valley,  following  the  ranges  of  mountains,  that 
existed  in  this  county.  As  the  Mother  Lode  has  been, 
and  is  now,  perhaps,  the  source  of  more  gold  than 
any  space  of  the  same  width  and  length  in  the  world, 
and,  from  its  having  been  worked  deeper  and  better 
than  any  other  place,  furnishes  more  material  for  a 
scientific  account  of  the  formation  of  quartz  veins, 
the  consideration  of  it  will  be  deferred  to  another 
chapter.  It  may  be  said  of  it  that  it  probably  fur 
nished  the  gold  with  which  the  streams  once  running 
parallel  to  it  were  enriched,  as  well  as  the  streams 
which  now  cross  it,  also  the  larger  part  of  the 
gold  that  enriched  the  gravel  diggings  at  the  foot 
hills.  It  is  probable  that  the  stream  debouched  into 
the  Mokelumne  or  through  that  depression  for  a 
long  time  before  the  volcanic  era,  as  there  are  no 
large  deposits  of  gravel  along  the  foot-hills  near  the 
outlet  of  the  present  streams  that  are  of  sufficient 
amount  to  have  been  produced  by  its  wash. 


136 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


East  of  the  Mother  Lode,  which  must  be  consid 
ered  never  less  than  two  hundred,  and  sometimes 
two  thousand,  feet  wide,  there  is  little  quartz  that 
has  any  value.  We  find  veins  of  slate  and  syenite 
alternating  with  each  other.  Some  of  the  gulches  are 
enriched  by  the  wash  of  the  great  streams  of  gravel 
that  resulted  in  the  breaking  up  of  the  first  system 
of  rivers.  Nearly  half  of  the  ground  around  Pine 
Grove  seems  to  be  a  relic  of  this  wash;  streams  of 
gravel,  some  rich  and  some  nearly  barren,  traversing 
the  hills  in  all  possible  directions.  The  quartz  veins 
near  the  last  metamorphic  range  spoken  of  are  prob 
ably  connected  by  a  sort  of  geological,  umbilical  cord 
with  the  Mother  Lode,  though  vastly  inferior  to  it  in 
wealth.  The  veins  have  not  regularity  of  pitch  or 
strike,  sometimes  breaking  through  the  slate  across 

*  o  o 

the  rift  and  frequently  losing  themselves  in  extensive 
ramifications.  In  places  they  are  very  rich,  thirty  or 
forty  dollars  per  ton  not  being  uncommon. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 
GEOLOGY    OF    AMADOR    COUNTY. 

BY  GEORGE   MADEIRA. 

Extensive  Character  of  the  Subject — Mother  Lode — Methods 
of  Vein  Deposits — Character  of  the  Veins  East  of  the 
Mother  Lode — Minerals  in  the  Tertiary  Rocks — Nature  of 
the  Limestones — Gravel  Deposits — Nature  of  the  Supposed 
Photosraphic  Eock — Evidences  of  Glaciers — Moving  Large 
Rocks — Volcanoes — Origin  of  the  Trap  Rock — Origin  of  the 
Smaller  Quartz  Veins — Butte  Mountain — Copper — Iron 
— Gypsum — Asbestos — Marble — Kaolin — Manganese— Agate 
— Chalcedony — Skeletons  of  the  Megatherium — Other  Fos 
sils — Rhinoceros — Hippopotamus — Horse  Destruction  of  the 
Arcadian  Land — Botany. 

[THE  following  chapter  on  technical  geology,  by 
a  professional  mining  expert,  will  please  the  more 
scientific  of  the  readers  of  this  work.  The  writer 
is  amply  competent  to  write  an  extended  and 
exhaustive  treatise  on  the  subject  of  geology  or 
practical  mining. — EDITOR.] 

To  the  geologist  and  mining  explorer,  Amador 
county  offers  the  most  interesting  field  of  research 
to  be  found  in  the  State,  containing,  as  it  does 
within  its  limits,  the  most  extensive  quartz  deposits 
to  be  found  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Sierras. 
The  great  Mother  Lode  passes  entirely  across  the 
county  in  a  northerly  and  southerly  direction.  At 
the  Keystone  mine  (Amador)  the  course  of  the  vein 
is:  south  forty-two  degrees,  twenty-six  minutes 
east;  north  forty-two  degrees,  twenty-six  minutes 
west.  Inclination  of  east  wall  of  fissure,  fifty 
degrees;  the  east  hanging  wall  is  a  metamorphic 
silicious  slate;  and  what  is  known,  along  the  lod^, 
as  the  west  wall  rock,  or  foot-wall,  is  a  blue-black, 
laminated  slate.  These  laminated  slates  on  the 
west  may  not  be  the  true  foot-wall,  as  we  find,  one- 
fourth  of  a  mile  to  the  west,  a  simalar  parellel  wall 
of  metamorphic  slate,  although  it  does  not  contain 
the  silica  found  in  the  east  wall  rock. 

Between  these  widely  divided  parallel  walls  of 
metamorphic  slates,  we  find  numerous  stringers  of  i 


quartz,  from  the  width  of  a  knife-blade  to  many 
feet.  The  main  Mother  Lode,  however,  is  found  run 
ning  along  the  east  hanging-wall  rock,  but  in  some 
instances  it  leaves  the  same  and  varies  to  the  west. 
In  the  Keystone,  at  Amador,  the  vein  leaves  the  east 
wall,  and,  for  a  space  of  four  hundred  feet,  does  not 
return  to  it.  In  the  same  mine  we  find  the  entire 
width  of  the  quartz  deposit,  as  far  as  penetrated 
to  the  west,  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  At 
the  Empire  mine,  Plymouth,  the  vein  is  seventy-five 
feet  in  width.  At  the  Zeile  mine,  one-half  mile  south 
of  Jackson,  the  vein  is  thirty  to  forty  feet  at  its 
greatest  width. 

Stringers  and  feeders,  from  the  country  rock  in 
geological  times,  carried  the  silicious  waters  to  the 
main  fissure,  where  it  deposited  its  lode  of  silica 
that  went  to  form  the  vein.  This  lode  gives  indubit 
able  evidence  of  the  manner  in  which  it  was  formed, 
to  wit:  by  infiltration  from  the  country  rock,  mostly 
from  the  east.  The  east  hanging-wall,  in  many 
places  along  the  line  of  the  fissure,  is  a  crystalline, 
metamorphic  slate,  which  has  been  changed  by  heat 
and  pressure  into  a  near  approach  to  diorite. 
These  slates  are  silicious  rather  than  talcose,  and 
frequently  pass  into  rock  closely  resembling  diorite 
or  trap,  and  are  difficult  to  distinguish  from  the 
intrusive  or  eruptive  rocks.  They,  at  times,  assume 
a  porphyritic  structure,  and  may  be  taken  for  eruptive 
rocks. 

As  we  pass  to  the  west,  we  find  the  slates  grad- 
ully  change  from  metamorphic,  to  laminated,  then  to 
conglomerate  slate,*  a  series  of  fragmerital  rocks. 
These  conglomerate  slates  have  caused  much  com 
ment  among  explorers,  other  than  geologists,  as  to 
their  origin,  and  as  they  are  abundant  to  the  west 
of  the  great  Mother  Lode,  but  are  not  found  to  the 
east  of  it,  we  will  give  their  origin. 

These  slates  are  made  up  of  quartz  pebbles, 
fragments  of  slate,  mica,  and  feldspar.  They  appear 
as  stratified  gravel  deposits,  and  gold  has  been  found 
in  them.  These  strata  were  formed  on  the  bottom 
of  a  Jurassic  sea,  and  are  the  cemented  fragments 
torn  from  older  rocks.  In  the  upheaval  of  the 
Sierras,  these  slates  escaped  the  pressure  that  was 
brought  to  bear  on  those  further  to  the  east,  and 
hence  we  find  them  to-day  a  series  of  conglomerate 
slate  and  sandstone.  It  is  interesting  to  pass  over 
these  slates,  eastward,  and  see  them  pass  gradu 
ally  into  the  metamorphic  slates,  and  trace  the  out 
lines  of  the  quartz  pebble  in  the  firm  silicious  slate 
along  the  great  fissure  that  contains  the  Mother 
Lode. 

At  some  period,  after  the  Jurassic  era,  the  upheaval 
of  the  Sierra  fissured  the  western  slope,  as  it  is 
known  to  have  fissured  the  eastern,  with  numerous 
large  and  small  openings.  Along  the  line  of  the 
then  base  of  the  Sierras,  volumes  of  steam  and 
streams  of  silicious  waters  poured  from  the  great 
fissure,  which  now  contains  the  Mother  Lode.  The 
*May  be  seen  in  quantity  near  Dry  town. 


J^l^AM 

7 


GEOLOGY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 


137 


heated  waters  deposited  their  loads  of  silica,  and, 
the  ascending  vapors  their  metalic  deposit.  From 
near  Berranda,  on  the  South  Pacific  Railroad,  to 
Trinity  on  the  north,  spouting  geysers  and  steam 
ing  solfataras,  ladened  the  air  with  vapors,  and 
marked  the  site  of  the  gold  deposits  of  to-day. 

East  of  the  Mother  Lode,  from  one  to  three  miles, 
a  ridge  of  feldspathic  rock  runs  parallel  with  the 
lode  across  the  county.  In  some  places,  it  is  a  com 
pact  granite;  in  others,  a  gneissoid  granite.  It  is 
traversed  in  places  by  dikes  of  trap  and  large  veins 
of  barren  quartz.  At  Quartz  mountain,  on  the  line 
of  this  granitic  ridge,  is  an  immense  deposit  of 
quartz,  low  grade  ore.  The  auriferous  slates  of  the 
county  are  arenaceous,  argillaceous,  and  quartzose, 
sometimes  changing  in  a  few  rods,  from  magnesian 
to  aluminous,  or  to  hard,  blue  metamorphic  slates. 
These  slates  further  change  as  we  go  west,  and  at 
the  Newton  copper  mine  we  find  them  an  argillaceous 
shale. 

When  excavations  are  made  in  the  alum  slates, 
a  deposit  of  Uhat  mineral  forms  on  the  damp  walls, 
and  waters  flowing  from  tunnels  in  the  slates,  are 
sometimes  heavily  charged  with  alum  from  decom 
posing  pyrites  of  iron.  These  slates,  as  has  been 
determined  from  fossils,  found  further  north  in  Plu- 
mas  county,  belong  to  the  upper  triassic  and  Jurassic 
epoch. 

The  auriferous  slates  on  either  side  of  the  great 
Mother  Lode  are  of  the  same  age  as  the  Jura  Alps, 
and  hence  Jurassic.  They  have  a  width  of  about 
thirty  miles  from  east  to  west.  Five  miles  from 
Jackson,  on  the  Volcano  road,  we  find  these  slates 
divided  by  an  immense  ridge  of  granite;  and  three 
miles  east  of  the  town  of  Volcano,  the  granite  rocks 
commence  and  extend,  with  slight  interruptions,  to 
the  summit  of  the  great  chain  of  the  Sierras.  All 
the  country  rock,  between  these  granite  ridges, 
which  cross  the  county  in  a  northerly  direction,  is 
occupied  by  the  auriferous  slates  —  except  where 
the  carboniferous  limestone  divides  it.  There 
are  several  strata  or  formations  of  the  limestone 
which  cross  the  county  in  the  same  general  direction 
that  the  quartz  veins  do.  These  limestones  mark 
the  near  shore-line  of  a  carboniferous  ocean,  and  are 
the  work  of  the  coral  polyps  that  once  existed  on 
the  golden  shores  of  Amador.  It  is  a  well-known 
fact  that  the  coral  insect  does  not  live  and  work  at 
a  greater  depth  than  one  hundred  feet;  and  at  the 
period  when  these  limestones  were  formed,  the  land 
lay  at  the  bottom  of  a  shallow  sea;  or  the  rising 
Sierras  shifted  the  receding  shore-line  continually 
to  the  west.  Hence  we  find  the  greatest  deposit 
of  the  limestones  on  the  east  of  Volcano,  where 
they  have  a  width  of  three  thousand  feet.  Between 
Valcano  and  Sutter,  we  find  two  narrow  strata  of 
limestone;  and  three  or  four  miles  to  the  west  of 
Sutter,  we  find  the  last,  or  most  western,  strata  of 
the  carboniferous  limestones. 

These  limestones  do  not  contain  a  fossil  of  the 
18 


coral  polyps,  who  built  them;  not  even  with  the 
microscope  can  they  be  detected.  The  strata  has 
been  so  metamorphosed  and  changed  by  pressure,  as 
to  destroy  the  form,  and  change  its  beautiful  coral 
formations  (as  found  in  the  limestones  of  the  same 
age  in  Shasta  county),  into  crystalline  marble. 
This  limestone  is  a  white,  crystalline,  saccharoidal 
marble  of  fine  and  coarse  texture,  with  veinings  of 
oxide  of  iron  and  black  oxide  of  manganese.  It  is 
traversed,  in  many  places,  by  heavy  and  light  trap- 
dikes. 

Previous  to  the  deposition  of  the  gold-bearing 
gravel  upon  it  the  rock  has  been  worn  by  the  action 
of  the  elements  into  the  most  fantastic  shapes..  By 
the  removal  of  the  auriferous  gravel  covering,  the 
limestones,  domes  and  spires,  monuments  and  towers, 
of  dark-veined  marble  have  been  exposed  to  view, 
presenting  an  imposing  appearance.  It  is  full  of  pot 
holes  formed  by  the  action  of  water,  and  deep, 
curiously  eroded  cavities,  once  filled  with  gold-bear 
ing  gravel. 

Caves,  caverns,  and  long,  sinuous  galleries  have 
been  formed  by  the  eroding  waters  carrying  the  car 
bonate  of  lime  in  solution,  depositing  it  at  different 
parts  of  the  deposit,  in  many  instances  decorating 
the  roofs  and  floors  of  the  caverns  with  beautiful 
stalagmite  and  stalactite  formations.  The  lime 
stone  belt  is  crossed  by  quartz  veins  of  small  size. 
Layers  of  flint,  or  chert,  possibly  formed  from  the 
cast-off  shells  of  diatoms,  are  found  along  the  line 
of  the  marble  and  slaty  beds  of  the  same  rock.  The 
gravel  deposits,  which  at  Volcano  have  been  exten 
sively  worked  for  gold,  rest  on  the  auriferous  slates 
as  well  as  the  limestones.  Beneath  the  limestones 
the  slates  are  not  found. 

In  the  ridge  north  of  the  town  (Volcano)  the 
auriferous  gravel  is  overlain  by  horizontal  beds  of 
white  and  pink  tufa  or  volcanic  materials,  consisting 
of  ashes  and  pumice  cemented  and  stratified  by 
water.  Upon  these  horizontal  strata  rests  a  mass  of 
trachyte,  broken  into  rounded  forms  on  the  surface. 
Under  this  massive  volcanic  ridge,  the  entire  aurifer 
ous  belt  plunges,  re-appearing  on  the  opposite  side, 
at  Fort  John. 

Between  the  Volcano  basin  and  the  Mokelumne 
river  is  another  high  ridge  of  volcanic  materials, 
under  which  the  auriferous  belt  passes  in  a  southerly 
direction. 

These  volcanic  ridges — which  may  be  met  with  all 
along  the  western  slopes  of  the  main  chain,  extend 
ing  m  parallel  courses  from  the  summits  of  the  high 
Sierras  to  the  low  tertiary  foot-hills,  which  in  many 
instances  they  cap  with  a  shallow  deposit — extend 
in  a  continuous  line  to  the  summit  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada. 

These  ridges  push  out  in  detached  masses  to  the 
confines  of  the  Sacramento  valley,  where,  becoming 
thinner  and  thinner,  they  have  finally  stopped,  and 
are  found  on  the  summits  of  the  low  tertiary  hills 
around  lone  valley. 


138 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Near  the  surface  in  some  of  these  tufa  deposits, 
may  be  found  beautiful  specimens  of  what  are  called 
photographic  rock — dendritic  formations;  generally 
resembling  delicate  tracery  of  trees  and  shrubs. 

Some  of  the  pictures  are  ideal  landscapes,  with 
hill,  valley,  and  lake;  the  lake  in  the  foreground, 
bordered  by  grass  and  ferns,  the  low  hills  in  the  back 
ground  with  palmate  and  branching  trees,  delicate 
as  sea  mosses.  They  are  not,  as  supposed,  nature's 
photographs,  but  are  formed  by  waters,  holding 
black  oxide  of  manganese  in  solution,  percolating 
through  the  fissures  in  the  rock.  These  formations 
are  abundant  in  the  claims  of  McLaughlin  &  Co.,  on 
Union  Flat,  and  Whitney  &  Co.,  on  the  same  range 
near  Volcano. 

The  Jurassic  and  carboniferous  strata  are  overlain 
by  the  strata  of  the  tertiary  and  post-pliocene,  with 
boulder  or  glacial  drift  and  aluvium  deposits.  The 
volcanic  deposits  cap  the  whole,  and  are  consequently 
the  latest  formations. 

GLACIAL   EVIDENCES. 

On  the  summits  of  many  of  the  high  ridges,  both 
exposed  and  under  the  lava  flow,  are  deposits  of 
glacier  drift,  in  places  rich  in  gold.  The  question 
with  many  is,  how  these  immense  polished  boulders 
have  been  left  on  the  summits. 

The  solution  of  the  question  is  that  they  were  carried 
there  in  the  glacial  period,  after  having  been  torn 
from  the  numerous  quartz,  and  other  ledges,  over 
which  the  glacial  flow  passed,  carrying  them  over 
valley  and  hill — as  they  are  known  to  have  traveled 
— from  a  northerly  direction.  The  great  body  of 
ice,  possibly  two  or  three  miles  in  thickness,  acted  as 
a  mighty  arastra,  grinding  down  the  quartz  lodes, 
pulverizing  the  mass,  polishing  the  boulders,  and 
depositing  the  gold  in  the  drift  (to  be  concentrated 
afterwards  by  the  flowing  streams  from  the  melting 
ice),  wearing  down  the  slates,  and  leaving  the  aurifer 
ous  gravel  in  the  beds  of  the  rivers  and  gulches,  filling 
the  great  valley  of  the  Sacramento  to  an  unknown 
depth.  The  Stockton  artesian  well,  sunk  to  a  depth 
of  eleven  hundred  feet,  did  not  go  through  the  deposit, 
nor  the  well  at  the  Sacramento  sugar  refinery,  two 
thousand  two  hundred  feet  in  depth,  the  auger 
bringing  up  gold,  quartz,  and  wood,  at  a  depth  of 
two  thousand  feet.  We  mention  these  deep  sinkings 
in  the  valley  to  show  that  the  debris,  for  countless 
ages,  has  beeri  pouring  in.to  the  valleys,  and  must 
for  countless  ages  to  come.  Three  miles  west  of  the 
town  of  Amador  we  find  evidences  of  glacial  deposit. 
On  the  summit  of  one  of  the  volcanic  ridges,  min 
gled  with  the  huge,  rounded  trachyte  boulders,  are 
fifteen  granite  glacier-polished  boulders.  The  larg 
est  is  thirteen  feet  long  by  seven  and  one-half  feet 
wide;  the  part  above  ground  is  five  feet  high.  It 
contains  fifty  tons  of  rock,  and  has  the  ovid  or 
sheep-back  form  peculiar  to  glacial  boulders.  The 
others,  all  similar  in  appearance,  are  much  smaller. 
There  is  no  granite  of  the  same  character  nearer 


than  twenty  miles  north-east,  in  an  air  line.  We 
followed  the  line  of  the  glacier  drift  over  the  vol 
canic  ridges,  and  down  the  deep  canons,  to  near 
Upper  Rancheria,  where  wo  again  came  upon  the 
same  character  of  granite  boulders,  but  distant  from 
the  first  mentioned  by  ten  or  twelve  miles.  They 
are  from  five  to  thirty  tons  weight.  They  mark  the 
line  of  the  glacial  flow,  and  their  polished  sides  show 
the  action  of  the  moving  ice. 

VOLCANOES. 

There  are  no  well-defined  volcanoes,  with  the  ex 
ceptions  of  Butte  mountain,  near  Jackson,  and  one 
west  of  Tragedy  Springs,  near  Silver  lake.  At  the 
last-mentioned  point,  there  are  evidences  of  the  most 
stupendous  volcanic  outbursts,  and  from  this  point 
the  lava  ridges  may  be  traced  for  forty  miles  or 
more,  toward  the  valley  of  the  Sacramento.  These 
lava  rivers  in  the  volcanic  epoch,  flowed  down  the 
lowest  places,  or  river  beds.  As  the  ages  rolled  on, 
the  eroding  waters  and  high  mountain  glaciers,  wore 
the  softer  slates  away,  and  left  these  g-idges,  as  we 
find  them  to-day,  the  most  elevated  portion  of  the 
county.  That  portion  of  the  county  to  the  east  of 
the  great  Mother  Lode,  is  traversed,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  by  igneous  rocks,  mostly  trap  and 
diorite.  These  dikes  cut  through  all  formations, 
and  are  found  extending  to  the  boulder  drift  and 
aluviuna  deposits.  (According  to  Clarence  King, 
United  States  geologist,  they  were  erupted  in  the 
cretaceous,  or  chalk  period.)  They  are  from  a  few 
inches  in  width  to  many  (sometimes  five  hun 
dred)  feet  wide.  We  have  traced  many  of  them  for 
a  distance  vof  two  miles,  through  several  formations. 
They  are,  in  many  instances,  intimately  connected 
with  the  formation  of  quartz  lodes;  and  where  they 
cut  a  ledge  or  intersect  it,  deposits  of  rich  ore  are 
often  found.  la  the  Pioneer  district,  five  miles  east 
of  Volcano,  the  small  quartz  lodes  in  the  granite, 
owe  their  origin  to  these  trap-dikes;  they  are  what 
is  known  as  segregated  lodes,  that  is,  drawn  from 
the  granite  by  the  heat  of  the  ascending  dike. 

Trap-dikes  cross  the  basin  on-  which  the  town  of 
Volcano  is  located,  in  almost  all  directions.  The 
richest  placer  deposits  have  been  found  in  close 
proximity  to  these  erupted  dikes,  on  one  or  the 
other  side.  They  appear  to  have  acted  as  gigantic 
riffles  during  the  glacial  period,  and  held  the  gold 
as  it  was  ground  out  of  the  abundant  quartz  lodes, 
much  as  is  common  in  a  sluice  at  the  present  time. 
A  large  dike  of  doleritic  trap  rock,  with  large  crys 
tals  of  augite,  malacolite,  and  sahlite,  of  a  dingy 
green  color,  passes  just  above  the  falls  on  Indian 
gulch,  near  Volcano,  and  through  which  a  tunnel 
has  been  driven.  '  This  heavy  dike  of  igneous  rock 
changed  the  inclosing  limestones  to  a  coarse  crys 
talline  carbonate  of  lime,  some  of  the  crystals  an 
inch  square.  Some  very  good  marble  has  been 
formed  in  the  same  way,  at  various  places  on  the 
limestone  belt.  This  great  dike,  in  a  few  hundred 


GEOLOGY  OF  AMADOR   COUNTY. 


139 


feet,  frays  out  into  numerous  small  dikes;  some  of 
them  cutting  small  quartz  veins,  in  the  here  silicious 
limestones,  which  show  gold  where  the  trap  passes 
through  the  quartz. 

Butte  mountain  gives  indubitable  evidence  of  hav 
ing  been  erupted  on  the  spot,  the  molten  matter 
coming  up  through  an  opening  in  the  slates.  We 
find  the  conical  mountain  composed  of  volcanic  rocks 
and  ashes,  resting  on  the  auriferous  slates.  This 
mountain  is  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  landscape, 
and  the  view  from  its  summit,  extensive  and  grand. 

COPPER.  '•*' 

What  is  known  as  the  copper  belt,  and  on  which 
the  Newton  copper  mine  is  located,  passes  across 
the  county  five  or  six  miles  to  the  west  of  the  great 
Mother  Lode.  The  slates  in  this  section  are  the 
magnesian  and  argillaceous.  Large  ledges  and 
strata  of  serpentine  rocks  cross  and  cut  these  slates 
in  all  directions.  The  ore  obtained  at  the  Newton 
mine  is  the  sulphuret,  known  as  chalcopyrite,  the 
yellow  oxide  of  copper.  There  is  some  iron  pyrites 
mixed  with  the  ore  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
which  lowers  the  percentage  of  the  ore  correspond 
ingly;  red  oxide  is  also  obtained  in  smaller  quanti 
ties. 

The  process  of  working  is  simple.  The  ore  is 
roasted,  then  leached,  and  the  copper  precipitated 
with  iron,  or  rather,  collected  on  iron  scraps. 

Along  this  copper  belt  are  numerous  croppings 
and  evidences  of  the  existence  of  other  deposits  of 
copper,  and  the  future  prospector  may  yet  uncover 
mines  equal  to  the  one  described  above. 

MINERALS. 

Iron  is  abundant;  and  the  day  is  not  distant  when 
the  inexhaustible  iron  deposits  of  Amador  will  be 
profitably  worked. 

Wood  is  abundant  for  the  manufacture  of  char 
coal;  limestone  of  the  best  quality  for  smelting 
purposes  without  limit;  andiron  ore  of  a  good  grade 
beyond  computation.  It  is  on  every  hand;  in  the 
limonite  that  binds  the  gravel  beds  in  solid  conglom 
erate  to  lodes  or  deposits  of  great  extent ;  in 
masses  of  dark  steel-gray  hematite,  and  lodes  of 
magnetic  iron  ore;  in  specular  iron;  in  masses  of 
iron  and  black  oxide  of  manganese;  in  ocherous 
earth  and  jaspery  croppings;  in  stalactites  and  small 
beautiful  specimens  of  titanic  ore;  last  but  not  least, 
in  the  blood-red  soil  of  the  environing  hills. 

GYPSUM. 

Small  deposits  of  sulphate  of  lime  have  been  found 
at  various  points  in  the  county,  but  not  in  paying 
quantities.  The  future  explorer  may  develop  quan 
tities  of  the  mineral. 

ASBESTOS. 

Small  veins  of  the  above  mineral  exist  all  over  the 
county,  changing  from  the  fibrous  to  immense  ledges 
of  steatite  of  a  coarse  variety. 


MARBLE. 

Marble  of  a  good  quality,  and'  of  diiferent  shades 
from  blue-veined  to  crystalline  white,  is  found  along 
the  limestone  belt.  Small  quantities  of  onyx  are  also 
found  in  the  same  vicinity. 

MANGANESE. 

Small  veins  of  the  above  mineral  are  also  met 
with. 

KAOLIN. 

A  good  quality  of  potter's  clay  is  found  in  hori 
zontal  deposits  near  Carbondale,  and  around  lone 
Valley.  A  good  deposit  of  the  same  mineral  exists 
at  Aqueduct  City. 

Accompanying  the  quartz  veins,  in  many  instances 
forming  selvedge  or  "gouge,"  as  it  is  called  by  the 
miners,  is  a  fair  quality  of  kaolin;  formed  from  decom 
posed  feldspar. 

AGATE — CHALCEDONY. 

In  Soldiers'  gulch,  back  of  the  town  of  Volcano, 
is  a  quartz  vein  passing  through  the  gravelly  deposit, 
formed,  by  the  action  of  water  holding  silica  in 
solution,  since  the  deposition  of  the  gravel.  It  is  a 
ferruginous,  jaspery  vein  of  geodic  chalcedony  and 
agate.  Some  of  the  cavities  are  most  beautifully 
lined  with  silicious  crystalline  deposits  of  these 
minerals. 

About  one  hundred  feet  to  the  north  of  the  above- 
described  curious  jaspery  formation,  is  a  dike  or 
trap,  which,  when  erupted,  baked  the  clay  on  either 
hand  for  a  distance  of  fifty  feet  into  porcelanite,  a 
species  of  jasper.  Near  this  dike  we  found  several 
casts  of  bones  of  the  megatherium  (?) — a  gigantic 
animal  that  existed  in  the  tertiary  period.  The  casts 
are  of  porcelanite,  and  very  large. 

In  some  of  the  clay  slates,  all  over  the  county,  we 
found  tracks  and  borings  of  worms  and  rain-drop 
impressions,  and  in  the  hard  blue  slates  along  the 
Mother  Lode,  we  frequently  find  the  wave  marks 
left  by  the  receding  Jurassic  sea.  In  a  mining  claim 
(at  Volcano)  near  the  junction  of  the  slates  and  lime 
stones,  we  found  some  fine  specimens  of  ferruginous 
lignite,  or  in  other  words,  fossil  woods  changed  to 
iron  ore,  the  fibre  of  the  wood  clear  and  distinct. 
Here  we  also  found  a  similar  sample  of  palm  wood, 
the  bark  still  remaining  on  the  wood.  The  other 
woods  found  presented  a  fibre  similar  to  alder  and 
maple.  We  also  found  fossil  plants,  two  in  number, 
all  of  which  probably  belonged  to  the  triassic  slates. 
In  the  high  volcanic  ridge,  known  as  Shake  ridge, 
about  three  miles  north-east  of  Volcano,  is  the  tunnel 
of  W.  Q.  Mason,  which  has  been  driven  under  the 
volcanic  matter  or  lava,  through  the  channel  rim  of 
slates,  cutting  an  ancient  river  bed,  or  lacustrine  de 
posit.  The  thinly  laminated  clayey  deposit,  has  been 
formed  in  still  water,  as  may  be  determined  from  the 
position  of  the  fossil  vegetation.  Charred  wood  and 
'ferruginous  lignite,  or  wood  changed  to  iron  ore,  is 
abundant.  Mr.  Mason  has  a  pine  cone — a  beautiful 


140 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


specimen,  changed  into  sulphuret  of  iron.  Here  we 
found  between  the  thin,  clayey  layers,  the  leaves  of  the 
following  trees:  Alder,  willow,  oak,  maple,  fig,  and  a 
very  large  leaf  we  could  not  determine.  These 
leaves,  and  what  appeared  to  be  the  fronds  of  a 
species  of  fern,  are  abundant,  forming  a  deposit  in 
some  places  two  or  three  feet  thick.  They  are  very 
fragile,  and  all  attempts  to  preserve  them,  even  for 
a  few  days,  were  futile. 

The  fossil  plants  belong  to  the  tertiary  period,  and 
the  volanic  flow,  that  ended  their  existence,  car 
bonized  and  preserved  their  varied  forms  intact. 
Similar  leaves  and  fossil  woods  are  found,  in  and 
around  Jackson  and  lone  valleys,  beneath  the  hori 
zontal  clay  strata  that  form  the  hills. 

Fossil  remains  of  the  elephant  and  mastodon  have 
been  found  at  various  places  in  the  county  by  miners 
and  others. 

In  Jackson  valley  the}7  have  been  upturned  by 
the  plow.  At  Grass  Yalley  a  tusk  of  a  mastodon, 
nine  feet  long,  was  washed  from  the  auriferous 
gravel  deposits. 

At  one  period  of  time  in  the  geological  history  of 
Amador,  the  rhinoceros  (an  animal  allied  to  the 
hippopotamus),  an  extinct  species  of  horse,  and  an 
animal  allied  to  the  camel,  wandered  through  the 
palm  groves  and  tropical  woods  of  Arcadian  Ama 
dor;  none  of  these  survived  the  grand  catastrophe 
that  swept  them  from  the  earth  and  buried  their 
bones  with  the  destroyed  groves  through  which 
they  wandered  under  the  great  lava-covered  ridges, 
in  the  ancient  river  beds  of  to-day. 

The  feathery  palm  lifted  its  proud  head  to  a  trop 
ical  sun;  the  wild  fig  dropped  its  fruit  along  the 
streams,  and  the  maple  flourished  on  the  gently 
rolling  hills;  gigantic  ferns  grew  in  rank  luxuriance 
around  the  margin  of  the  placid  lake;  birds  of  gay 
plumage  winged  their  flight  through  flowering 
groves,  and  the  air  was  rank  with  heated  vapors. 

But  a  change  came  over  the  spirit  of  the  dream;  a 
geological  epoch  had  been  accomplished,  and  the 
rising  Sierras,  with  their  teeming  volcanoes,  lit  up 
the  eastern  heavens  with  a  lurid  glare,  sending 
down  streams  of  lava  and  volcanic  material,  burying 
the  remains  of  those  animals  beneath  the  fiery  flood. 
Later  the  elephant  and  the  mastodon  wandered  over 
the  hills  and  valleys  of  our  county,  only  to  be  swept 
away  by  the  seas  of  ice,  or  ground  to  atoms  beneath 
its  accumulated  weight,  leaving  their  remains  as 
evidence  of  their  existence. 

BOTANY    OF   AMADOR   COUNTY. 

Sugar  Pine  (Pinus  Lambertina)  —  The  first  and 
grandest  tree  of  the  Sierras,  which  should  have  been 
named  pinus  saccharina,  an  appropriate  and  suggest 
ive  name.  It  deposits  a  sugary  mass,  similar  to  the 
manna  of  the  druggist,  but  a  mild  cathartic,  although 
pleasant  to  the  taste. 

This  majestic  tree,  with  its  long  horizontal  branches 
and  pendant  cones  of  twelve  to  twenty  inches  in 


length,  towering  high  above  its  fellows,  forms  a  most 
attractive  figure  in  the  landscape.  The  white  pine 
lumber  from  this  tree  is  the  best  met  with  in  the 
Sierras. 

Pitch  Pine  (Pinus  ponderosa) — Comes  next  in  value, 
and  immense  quantities  are  sawed  into  lumber  and 
shipped  to  the  valleys,  or  floated  down  the  ditches  to 
the  mines  at  Sutter,  Amador,  and  other  places. 

Arbor  Yitce  (Thugia  giyantea) — Or  the  noble  fir,  is 
found  in  the  deep  canons  a  few  miles  east  of  Yolcano. 

Red  Fir  (Abies  Doujlasii) — Is  also  found  on  the 
volcanic  rjdges,  and  down  the  canons. 

Balsam  Fir  (Picca  granrlis)—Is  also  met  with,  and 
used  for  economical  purposes. 

The  White  Cedar  (Labrocedus  ducurens) — Is  a  beau 
tiful  tree,  and  many  attempts  have  been  made  to 
transplant  it  to  the  valley  homes,  for  ornamental  pur 
poses,  but  with  only  partial  success. 

Nut  or  Rock  Pine  (Pinus  sabiana) — Is  found  grow 
ing  on  the  rock  lands  of  the  western  part  of  the 
county,  and  along  the  carboniferous  limestones,  bear 
ing  a  large  cone  full  of  edible  nuts.  The  wood  is  poor, 
even  for  fire-wood. 

Nutmeg  Tree  ( Torreya  C alifornica ) — Which  grows 
into  a  stately  tree  in  the  Coast  Range,  here  only 
reaches  a  small  shrub.  The  nuts  are  not  like  the 
nutmeg  of  commerce,  except  in  outside  appearance. 
The  meat  is  edible,  but  the  squirrels  usually  get  it. 

Western  Yew  (Taxus  brevlfofia) — Found  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  county,  as  also  the  mountain 
spruce. 

Bay  Tree,  or  Mountain  Laurel  (Oreodaphne  C  alifor 
nica,) — A  beautiful,  spicy  tree,  which  grows  to  an 
immense  size  in  the  Coast  Range,  but  here,  only  to  a 
respectable  shrub. 

White  Oak  (Quercus  Lobata)— Differs  from  that 
found  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

Quercus  Agrifolia — Quite  plenty  on  the  ridges,  and 
around  lone  valley. 

Canon  Live-Oak  (Q.  Crysolepsis) —  A  valuable 
wood  for  ship  timbers. 

California  Chestnut  (Castanopsis  Chrysophylla) — A 
shrubby  tree;  grows  on  the  rocky  lands. 

Hazelnut  (Corylus  Roslrata) — In  the  canons  and 
north  hill-sides;  bears  nuts  in  small  quantities. 

Alder  (Alnus  Viridis) — Found  growing  along  the 
streams.  In  the  Coast  Range  is  used  for  powder- 
wood. 

Common  Willow  (Salix  Biglowii)— Found  in  large 
trees  along  the  creeks  and  streams. 

Cottonwood  Poplar  (Populas  monilifera) — Large 
trees;  in  some  instances  along  the  creeks. 

Bayberry  or  Wax  Myrtle  (Myrica  Californica) — 
On  moist  hill-sides  and  streams. 

Leather  Wood  ( Dirca  palustris) — A  bush  six  to  ten 
feet  high;  grows  on  dry  ridges;  very  tough. 

Alder  Buckthorn  (jRhammus  Californica) — From 
five  to  ten  feet  high;  called  Wild  Coffee  from  the  fact 
the  berry  contains  seeds  that  resemble  coffee,  and 


ORIGIN  OF  MINERAL  VEINS. 


141 


have  been  so  used,  but  it  is  distinct  from  the  true 
coffee  plant. 

Mountain  Lilac  (Ceanothus  thyrsiflorus) — Two  va 
rieties,  blue  and  white;  a  fragrant,  handsome  tree  or 
shrub. 

Ceanothus  papillosus — Resembles  the  last;  found  in 
the  mountains;  the  body  of  the  tree  is  full  of  nobs 
made  by  the  attacks  of  insects;  used  for  canes  on 
account  of  this  peculiarity. 

ROSE    FAMILY. 

Wild  Cherry  (^Prunus  ilicifolia). 

Mountain  Holly  (Heteromeles  arbutifolia ) — Grows  as 
high  as  twenty  feet,  with  beautiful,  red  berries, 
which  ripen  in  January  or  February;  much  sought 
by  birds. 

Service  Berry  (Amelanchier  alnifolia) — Grows  high 
in  the  mountains. 

Chaparral-  Chemisal  (Adenostoma  fasclculatum) — 
Grows  from  five  to  twenty  feet  high;  covers  the 
rocky  hills  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  trees. 

*       MAPLE   FAMILY. 

Buckeye  Horse-chestnut  (jEsculus  Californica) — A 
beautiful  tree  in  the  Spring  when  in  bloom;  nut  used 
by  the  Indians  for  food,  who  soak  the  poison  out 
with  water. 

Big  Leafed  Maple  (Acer  macrophyllum) — Grows  into 
a  small  tree. 

Poison  Oak  (Rhustaxico  dendron)  and  (Rhus  diver- 
sllolba) — Either  variety  of  which  will  make  the  visitor 
wish  he  or  she  had  not  met  with  it.  This  obnoxious 
shrub  grows  all  over  the  State. 

HEATH    FAMILY. 

The  Madrona  or  Strawberry  Tree  of  the  Spaniards 
(Arbutus  Menziessii) — A  beautiful  tree  with  orange 
colored  branches  and  deep  green  varnished  leaves; 
bears  a  red  berry  of  which  the  wild  pigeons  are  fond. 
Manzanita  ( Arctostaphyhs  tomentosa)  and  (A. 
Glanca) — Two  varieties;  bears  berries,  which  the 
Indians  gather  in  large  quantities,  of  which  they 
make  a  kind  of  cider. 

Flowering  Dogwood  (Cornus  Nuttallii) — A  beauti 
ful  tree  when  in  bloom. 

C.  Californica — Grows  mostly  along  the  streams; 
another  species  of  Dogwood. 

Elder  ( Sambucus  glauca ) — Bears  edible  berries. 
Calif ornicum    Rhododendron  —  Is    found    in    some 
parts  of  the  county. 

Of    plants,  we    have,  lilies,  saxifrages,   orchides, 
equisetce,  sedges,  etc.,  ferns  in  variety,  wood  mosses, 
and    lichens;    there    are    lupines,  orthocarpus;    the 
poppy  family  is  represented  by  three  or  four  beauti 
ful  species,  and  the  lilies  by  as  many. 
There  are  two  or  three  species  of  violets. 
This  list  might  be  extended  much  farther. 


CHAPTER    XXVI 1. 

ORIGIN   OF    MINERAL    VEINS. 

Plutonic  Theory — Ocean  Floors — Other  Theories  Considered — 
Function  of  Wall  Rock  and  Gouge  —  Surface  Veins  — 
Probable  Depth  of  Veins — Methods  of  Deposit — Jurassic 
Gravel — Course  of  the  Blue  Lead. 

IT  may  seem  presumptuous  to  offer  any  ideas  on 
the  formation  of  the  various  metaliferous  veins  that 
ramify  through  our  mountains;  but  between  those 
who  think  God  called  all  things  into  existence  just  as 
they  are,  and  those  who  can  readily  explain  every 
thing^)  there  is  quite  room  enough  for  many  persons, 
however  different  their  opinions,  to  stand  without 
jostling  each  other.  Notwithstanding  all  the  dis 
coveries  in  science,  and  they  are  many  and  of  great 
importance,  we  are  but  on  the  boundaries  of  the 
infinite  field,  for  natural  science,  in  any  of  its  thou 
sands  branches,  is  an  illimitable  expanse  which 
would  require  an  eternity  to  explore. 

An  elaborate  treatise  on  the  formation  of  mineral 
veins  would  be  out  of  place  in  a  volume  of  this  kind, 
even  if  the  writer  were  capable  of  such  a  work; 
hence  only  matters  pertaining  to  the  industries  of 
the  county  will  find  place  here.  Thirty  years' 
experience  in  gold  and  other  mining,  much  of  which, 
for  want  of  knowledge,  has  been  unprofitable,  has 
left  many  valuable  hints,  which,  like  trees  blazed 
by  the  pioneer  through  the  pathless  woods,  serve  to 
guide  those  who  come  after.  An  abandoned  shaft 
or  mine  should  tell  its  tale  of  warning,  and  when 
properly  interrogated  will  probably  do  so. 

PLUTONIC   THEORY. 

It  was  formerly  held  that  all  mineral  veins  were 
the  result  of  internal  heat,  which  out  of  an  immense 
amount  of  material  always  hot,  molten, .sent  some 
small  fragments  to  the  upper  earth.  Nearly  all  the 
rocks  were  supposed  to  have  the  same  origin;  but 
the  inexplicable  difficulties  which  this  theory  led  to, 
soon  caused  its  abandonment.  The  metalic  veins 
were  too  finely  ramified,  reticulated  through  the 
rock,  to  admit  of  that  method  of  deposit.  If  the 
metaliferous  lodes  had  been  raised  to  the  necessary 
degree  of  heat  for  fusion,  the  wall  rocks  or  casings 
would  have  been  destroyed  or  vitrified;  whereas, 
the  slate  or  other  rocks  in  the  vicinity  of  a  vein  are 
frequently  unchanged.  The  ribbon  quartz,  consisting 
of  parallel  layers  sometimes  not  thicker  than  paper, 
and  extending  for  hundreds  of  feet  in  length  and 
depth,  would  be  impossible  by  the  Plutonic  theory. 
Then  again,  known  eruptive  rocks  are  entirely  differ 
ent  from  the  rocks  in  which  minerals  are  found. 
Lava  beds  contain  no  gold  or  silver. 

•  OCEAN  FLOORS. 

It  is  now  a  favorite  theory  with  many  that  metal 
iferous  veins  are  deposited  in  floors  of  the  ocean  pre 
vious  to  their  upheaval  into  mountain  ranges,  and 
that  the  metals  are  precipitated  by  chemical  action; 
in  proof  of  which  we  are  cited  to  the  precipitation 


142 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


of  iron  by  vegetable  matter  on  a  sea-shore.  The 
sea  of  Sargasso,  which  is  an  immense  field  of  sea 
weeds  in  mid-ocean,  near  the  tropics,  must  be, 
according  to  this  theory,  a  vast  mineral  bed,  perhaps 
of  gold  and  silver.  We  hope  no  one,  in  consequence  of 
this  suggestion,  will  get  up  an  expedition  to  stake  off 
and  work  this  mineral  bed,  although  it  might  prove 
fully  as  profitable  as  a  Cocos  island  investment.  It 
is  certain  that  nature  is  a  unit  in  all  her  works,  and 
that  all  things  work  together  for  final  results.  We 
have  seen  in  the  deposits  at  the  foot-hills,  which 
probably  have  an  extension  into  the  plains,  or 
former  bed  of  the  bay,  the  deposits  of  eilicious 
matter  in  the  shape  of  infusoria,  which  forms  beds 
several  feet  in  thickness.  Mid-ocean,  which  receives, 
though  slowly,  the  same  material,  held  in  suspension 
by  the  water,  is  consequently  reproducing  a  similar 
formation  in  the  bottom  of  the  ocean.  Let  us  suppose 
that  the  Sacramento  valley  be  buried  twenty  thou 
sand  feet  deep, — in  slickens,  if  you  please, — and  that 
after  remaining  long  enough  at  that  depth  for  the 
layers  of  sand,  clay,  and  gravel,  to  become  indurated 
or  solidified,  it  begins  to  slowly  emerge  as  a  mount 
ain  range.  Let  us  now  consider  the  minerals  likely 
to  be  found  in  the  rocks.  The  best  statistics  of  the 
composition  will  be  a  list  of  the  materials  which 
have  been  dumped  into  the  bay  by  the  rivers. 
According  to  the  best  authorities,  twenty  thousand  feet, 
at  least,  of  rocks  have  been  ground  or  torn  away. 
Much  of  this  was  gold-bearing;  indeed,  there  is 
much  evidence  in  favor  of  the  opinion  that  the  rich 
est  portions  of  the  quartz  veins  were  on  the  surface. 
No  twenty -five  pound  lumps  have  been  found  in  the 
veins.  The  gold  found  in  the  gulches  may  have 
been  the  coarser  particles,  rounded  by  attrition  of 
all  this  tremendous  denudation.  How  much  of  the 
gold  was  originally  coarse?  How  much  of  that 
now  found  in  the  quartz  veins,  if  ground  in  a  canon 
of  rocks  like  those  found  in  any  mountain  river, 
would  leave  coarse  rounded  gold  ?  Free  gold  is  usu 
ally  found  in  threads  and  spangles.  The  Hayward 
vein,  the  Keystone,  the  Plymouth,  did  not  enrich  the 
gulches  to  any  extent.  The  series  of  rich  surface 
veins,  near  Mace's  ranch,  hardly  make  a  ravine  worth 
working,  so  fine  is  the  gold.  The  fine  gold  of  the 
veins,  as  well  as  the  particles  worn  oif  the  sprangly 
threads,  leaving  the  rounded  dust  or  nuggets,  has 
gone  into  the  valley,  and  is  deposited  in  an  impalpa 
ble  state  in  the  sand,  clay,  and  gravel,  or,  perhaps, 
more  finely  divided,  has  gone  to  sea,  to  be  deposited 
in  the  mid-ocean  beds  of  earthy  deposits.  We  may 
trace  it  farther  than  this;  some  of  it  may  be  held  in 
solution.  The  Platner  process  of  dissolving  gold  in 
hydrochloric  acid,  has  shown  how  it  is  possible  for 
the  sea- water  to  hold  it  in  solution,  and  has,  perhaps, 
given  us  a  hint  of  its  possible  recovery  therefrom. 
How  about  the  proportion  left  in  the  gulches? 
When  one  looks  at  the  operations  of  a  glacier,  which 
reduces  everything  in  its  grasp  to  the  finest  clay; 
and  to  such  canons  as  the  American,  Mokelumne,  or 


Cosumnes  rivers,  which  take  in  tons  in  weight  of 
hard,  flinty  rocks,  reduce  them  to  powder,  and  send 
them  out  on  the  plains  as  slickens,  and  asks  what  has 
become  of  the  soft  gold,  it  must  be  .answered:  It  is 
not  destroyed,  but  not  one  per  cent,  of  it  is  left  to  be 
mined  out  in  the  rivers;  not  a  quarter  of  one  per 
cent.  even.  For  every  million  that  goes  to  the  mint, 
more  than  five  hundred  has  been  lost  as  far  as  the 
present  race  is  concerned.  It  may  be  worked  out 
when  our  Sierras  and  the  deep  sea  shall  exchange 
places,  but  not  before. 

To  continue  the  illustration  of  the  formation  of 
quartz  veins:  the  layer  of  rock  over  and,  perhaps, 
under  the  ranges  of  sand  or  gravel  containing  the 
gold,  shall  be  firm,  consistent,  holding  water,  and 
forming  a  subterranean  channel,  such  as  the  water 
in  our  artesian  wells  flows  through,  these  tight  floors 
and  roofs  becoming  the  wall  rocks  of  our  future 
vein.  When  these  strata  are  upheaved  so  far  as  to 
have  one  portion  of  the  "  U  "  several  hundred  feet, 
or  perhaps  a  thousand  feet,  higher  than  the  other, 
the  lower  portion  reaches  down  to  depths  where  the 
heat  maybe  much  above  the  boiling  point,  this  being 
reached  at  the  depth  of  twelve  thousand  seven  hun 
dred  and  twenty  feet,  or  an  increase  of  one  degree 
for  each  sixty  feet  of  descent.  The  iron,  sulphur, 
potash,  soda,  and  other  minerals,  usually  found  with 
all  ores,  were  not  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
gold,  supposed  to  be  in  the  soil  of  the  Sacramento 
valley,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  so  common  as 
to  be  perceptible  in  every  soil.  When  this  arrange 
ment  has  been  completed,  the  process  of  depositing 
mineral  veins  may  be  considered  to  have  commenced. 
It  is  not  essential  that  more  than  one  end  of  the 
"  U,"  or  succession  of  them,  shall  be  exposed.  We 
only  stipulate  for  such  an  arrangement  as  will  allow 
the  rain-water  which  falls  on  the  top  of  the  mount 
ain  to  sink  into  the  earth  and  carry  along  whatever 
mineral  it  may  be  able  to  hold  in  solution,  parting 
now  with  a  particle  of  potash  or  sulphur,  taking  up 
a  particle  of  magnesia,  silex,  or  other  minerals, 
until  it  reaches  the  alembic,  crucible,  or  laboratory, 
where  heat  comes  in  as  a  stimulant  to  its  holding  or 
solvent  powers.  It  is  impossible  to  overestimate  the 
capacity  of  a  circulation  of  this  sort.  When  the 
water  reaches  the  opposite  end  of  the  "  U,"  and  again 
encounters  the  cooler  temperature  of  the  surface,  it 
must  gradually  part  with  the  greater  portion  of  the 
mineral  which  it  picked  up  in  its  long  journey, 
though  not  quite  all,  for  every  spring  contains  more 
or  less  mineral  matter,  especially  if  it  emerges  in 
such  quantity  as  to  exceed  the  capacity  of  .the 
ground  for  cooling  it,  as  is  the  case  with  thermal 
or  hot  springs.  What  would  be  the  consequence  of 
a  break  or  crack  in  the  roof  or  floor  of  this  channel  ? 
Would  it  not  result  in  the  formation  of  a  side  or 
branch  vein?  An  irregularity  of  upheaval  which 
shall  separate  the  roof  of  the  subterranean  channel 
into  numerous  parts,  would  result  in  setting  up  new 
lines  of  deposit,  and  a  consequent  weakening  of  the 


ORIGIN  OF  MINERAL  VEINS. 


143 


main  lode.  Now,  it  is  a  fact,  so  common  in  quartz 
mining  as  to  amount  to  a  certainty,  that,  without  a 
good  hanging-wall  not  far  away,  a  vein  is  almost 
sure  to  fail.  If  it  were  true  that  the  minerals  are 
deposited  in  veins  on  ocean  floors,  this  condition 
would  not  be  so  imperious. 

A  cross  fracture  in  the  roof- wall  would  produce  a 
cross-vein  like  the  (rate  vein,  the  one  east  of  the  Zeile 
mine,  and  others  that  might  be  named.  How  can 
such  veins  be  accounted  for  on  the  supposition  that 
the  precipitation  is  while  the  locality  is  yet- a  floor? 
Why  should  quartz  be  the  vehicle  for  gathering 
and  retaining  gold  as  well  as  most  other  metals? 
The  solution  of  gold  by  the  Platner  process,  before 
referred  to,  may  give  us  a  hint  as  to  the  chemical 
agency  of  common  salt  and  sulphur  in  gathering  up 
the  gold  scattered  in  impalpable  particles  through 
the  soil  and  concentrating  it  in  veins;  the  precip 
itation  by  the  sulphuret  of  iron,  tells  its  own  story 
also,  as  this  form  of  iron  is  constantly  associated 
with  gold.  The  free  gold  and  large  lumps  still 
remain  to  be  accounted  for.  Some  miners  of  intel 
ligence  believe  that  gold  grows — by  accretion — both 
in  quartz  and  gravel.  Possibly  it  does.  Who  can 
tell  when,  if  ever,  the  particles  of  matter,  even  in  the 
hardest  rocks,  ceased  to  adjust  themselves  to  each 
other  ?  J.  T.  Burke,  the  oldest  and  most  experienced 
quartz  miner  in  the  county,  thinks  that  the  quartz 
veins  are  still  receiving  gold.  It  is  said  that  the 
silver  mines  of  Mexico,  which  were  worked  three 
hundred  years  since,  have  again  become  rich  from 
the  flowing  through  them  of  water  containing  silver 
in  solution.  The  copper  mines  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  county  are  known  to  be  in  an  active  condition, 
gaining  or  losing  ores  all  the  time. 

The  mineral  belts  of  Amador  county  are  various 
and  extensive,  but  there  are  many  reasons  for  believ 
ing  they  once  were  one  floor.  Beginning  with  the 
lower  veins  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  ocean,  as  the 
last  formed,  we  have  the  Arroyo  Seco  lead  near 
Muletown  on  the  west,  and  the  Newton  lead  on  the 
east;  thence  across  the  axis  of  elevation  (the  ser 
pentine  range  near  the  Mountain  Spring  House),  we 
have  another  extension  of  the  same,  but  a  few  miles 
in  width,  and  by  no  means  continuous  from  north 
to  south.  Some  rich  quartz  is  found  in  this  range, 
and  considerable  copper,  the  latter  in  chimneys  of 
small  extent.  Next  is  the  Mother  Lode,  which  has 
been  fully  described,  the  upper  end  or  east  side  of 
the  "  U"  being  near  Volcano.  East  of  Volcano  is  the 
last  one  to  be  considered,  for  the  reason  that  by 
denudation  the  upper  and  older  lines  of  elevation  are 
nearly  erased.  Why  the  lower  belt  near  the  foot 
hills  should  have  copper  instead  of  gold;  why  the 
middle  belt  should  have  the  custody  of  the  richest 
quartz  veins;  why  the  upper  or  Volcano  range 
should  have  its'veins  transverse  or  at  angles,  vary 
ing  with  the  cleavage  of  the  slate,  is  among  the 
many,  very  many,  mysteries. 

So  far,  we  have  only  taken  into  account  the  fissure 


or  true  veins,  which  may  be  considered  as  those  that 
reach  the  bottom,  or  continue  through  the  inverted 
syphon.  The  true  fissure  vein  may  be  in  the  shape 
of  a  chimney,  wide,  with  a  short  run  north  and 
south,  or  it  may  be  continuous  for  hundreds  of  feet, 
with  about  the  same  thickness;  but  in  either  case 
it  may  be  poor  or  rich,  the  essential  condition  of  its 
wealth  being,  that  it  must  be  located  in  a  gold-bear 
ing  soil  or  lode.  A  vein  of  quartz  by  itself  may  not 
be  rich  in  gold  any  more  than  a  ravine.  There  are 
quartz  mountains  in  New  Hampshire,  as  well  as  in 
California;  but  no  gold  in  them  that  is  known. 

SURFACE   VEINS. 

These  have  an  entirely  different  origin,  and  in 
general  pinch  out  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
surface.  They  are  probably  produced  by  the  pre 
cipitation  of  gold  and  quartz,  held  in  solution  by 
surface  streams.  Some  surface  veins  are  quite  rich; 
little  fortunes  are  often  made  out  of  them.  This  is 
the  character  of  many  of  the  veins  in  the  vicinity 
of  West  Point.  A  surface  vein  is  characterized  by 
a  nearly  total  want  of  gouge.  What  this  has  to  do 
with  a  quartz  vein,  may  not  be  apparent  to  the  gen 
eral  reader.  In  all  fissures  of  any  extent  is  found 
a  clay,  sometimes  several  inches  in  thickness,  which 
is  said  to  be  produced  by  the  slow  grinding  or  rub 
bing  of  the  walls  against  each  other.  The  rocks 
and  clay  are  striated,  the  lines  showing  the  direc 
tions  of  these  oscillations,  which  are  not  necessarily 
perceivable,  in  a  generation  even.  There  is  apt  to 
be  a  heavier  deposit  of  ore  along  the  gouge,  which, 
as  a  usual  thing,  also  is  a  water-course.  If  the  fis 
sure  is  but  temporary,  extending  down  a  few  hun 
dred  feet  at  most,  below  which  the  rock  is  solid, 
there  can  be  no  grinding  or  rubbing  of  the  walls 
together,  and,  consequently,  no  gouge.  These  sur 
face  veins  are  in  constant  formation,  though  some 
of  them  probably  are  contemporaneous  with  the  true 
fissure  veins.  A  small  quartz  vein  will  sometimes 
form  in  a  lava  bed;  also  in  the  coal  veins,  or  beds 
of  lignite,  in  the  foot-hills.  They  are  found  in  the 
tertiary  or  sandstone  hills  of  the  Coast  Range,  some 
of  the  veins  having  considerable  gold  in  them.  These 
hills,  by  the  way,  though  in  some  places  thousands 
of  feet  high,  bear  marks  of  a  birth  long  subsequent 
to  the  Sierras,  and  are,  probably,  in  great  part  com 
posed  of  the  debris  from  the  summits  of  the  Sierras, 
when  they  had  not  yet  bared  their  heads  of  granite. 
The  cement  of  old  buildings  sometimes  contains  thin 
veins  of  crystallized  quartz.  The  gold-bearing  veins 
of  steatite  near  lone,  probably  were  enriched  the 
same  way;  that  is,  by  surface  action.  Let  our 
future  chemists  take  a  hint  from  this  in  the  reduc 
tion  of  gold  quartz. 

PROBABLE   DEPTH   OP   VEINS. 

It  is  well  settled  that  quartz  and  other  mineral  veins 
have  no  particular  connection  with  the  center  of  the 
earth,  but  are  surface  affairs,  extending  no  deeper 
than  the  deposits  of  rocky  matter  that  in  the  great 


144 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


ycle  of  events  is  now  filling  up  an  ocean,  and  now 
being  lifted  to  be  denuded  and  sent  again  to  the  bot 
tom  of  the  deep  sea.  If  the  slope  in  the  Keystone, 
Gover,  and  Seaton  mines  were  maintained  for  a  few 
thousand  feet  it  would  be  apt  to  meet  the  bottom  of  the 
'•V,"  or  inverted  syphon.  The  wall  rock  of  the  Consol 
idated  Amador  failed  at  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  feet;  other  mines  may  extend  to  greater 
depths,  but  if  they  could  or  should  be  worked  down 
to  greater  depths,  probably  the  wall  rock  would  be 
found  gradually  getting  flatter.  Indeed,  the  univer 
sal  testimony  is  that  after  the  permanent  vein  is 
reached  a  change  in  the  direction  of  the  vein  is 
always  towards  a  horizontal.  The  opinion  sometimes 
entertained,  that  the  quartz  veins  extend  to  intermin 
able  depths  is  probably  erroneous,  though  the  limit 
may  never  be  reached  by  any  known  methods  of 
working  deep  mines. 

METHODS    OP    DEPOSIT. 

An  uneducated  person,  when  first  shown  a  piece  of 
crystalized  quartz,  is  apt  to  form  the  opinion  that  it 
had  been  melted  and  run  into  that  shape,  but  a  little 
observation  will  convince  him  that  the  regular  forms 
must  be  the  result  of  a  general  law  resulting  from  the 
adjustment  of  the  particles  to  each  other.  In  some 
specimens  of  crystals  we  may  seethe  lines  of  deposit 
which  are  always  parallel  to  the  terminal  faces. 
In  examining  veins  of  quartz  of  different  localities, 
we  find  some  in  fine  layers  (like  ribbons  when  viewed 
edgewise),  not  thicker  than  paper.  The  slightest 
amount  of  iron,  lime,  or  other  mineral,  in  solution 
with  the  silicious  matter,  will  suffice  to  mark  the 
lines  of  deposit.  In  other  veins,  which  appear  to  be 
solid,  we  may  get  a  hint  of  the  method  of  deposit 
by  the  lines  of  decomposition  or  decay,  which  show 
an  arrangement  of  particles  like  melting  ice,  which 
docs  not  melt  in  parallel  lines,  but  in  cavities.  So  a 
quartz  vein  will  show  a  deposit  of  irregular  crystals 
adhering  to  the  sides  of  a  cavity  and  gradually 
approaching  each  other  until  they  unite  and  become 
solid.  This  seems  to  be  a  common  form  of  deposit 
in  the  recent  or  surface  veins.  In  other  cases  the 
quartz  is  in  nodules  or  amorphous  bunches.  This  is 
the  case  in  the  Keystone  where  the  bunches  are 
sometimes  so  large  as  to  contain  forty  thousand  tons 
of  rich  milling  ore.  The  Hayward  had  a  boulder 
vein  also,  though  it  would  scarcely  pay  for  milling. 
A  more  thorough  investigation  may  show  a  uniform 
and  decided  difference  in  the  lines  of  deposit  of  sur 
face  and  true  fissure  veins,  by  which  their  character 
may  be  determined. 

JURASSIC     GRAVEL. 

Geologists  have  determined  the  gold-bearing  quartz 
and  adjoining  rocks  to  belong  to  the  Jurassic  age. 
This  classification  is  said  to  rest  on  the  discovery  of 
fossil  reptiles,  and  is  probably  correct.  The  point  to 
note  in  the  matter,  which  seems  to  have  escaped  the 
attention  of  the  professors,  is  the  existence  of  large 
bodies  of  gravel  in  different  portions  of  the  county,  in 


strata  parallel  to  the  quartz  veins,  and  probably 
extending  down  as  far  or  farther  than  the  quartz 
veins.  These  veins  of  gravel  are  full  of  quartz  peb 
bles,  as  well  rounded  as  any  that  can  be  found  in 
creek  or  river,  and  are  no  spheroidal  concretions 
formed  when  the  slates  were  a  plastic  mass,  but  are 
evidently  the  product  of  a  rapid  stream  passing  over 
auriferous  quartz.  Where  is  the  stream  that  rounded 
these  pebbles?  Where  is  the  system  of  quartz  veins 
which  must  antedate  the  Mother  Lode  from  which 
these  pebbles  were  torn?  Where  is  the  mountain 
that  gave  impetus  to  these  streams  that  rounded 
them?  The  beds  appear  in  such  quantities  and  in 
such  places  and  conditions  as  to  forbid  the  idea  of 
their  having  fallen  into  a  fissure  in  the  earth.  They 
have  the  regular  stratification  and  cleavage  of  the 
slate;  the  layers  being  separated  frequently  by  thin, 
delicate  lines  of  slate  such  as  maybe  seen  in  any  allu 
vial  deposit.  The  gravel  may  be  seen  in  nearly  all 
the  cafions  west  of  the  Mother  Lode,  but  the  most 
decided  outcrop  is  about  one  thousand  feet  east  of 
Drytown,  where  there  are  two  distinct  deposits  each 
a  hundred  feet  thick,  separated  by  a  strata  of  the 
black  clay  slate,  common  to  the  country.  This  reef 
extends  the  whole  length  of  Murderer's  gulch  on  the 
north,  and  to  the  Rancheria  hill  on  the  south,  a  distance 
of  two  miles,  and  from  the  gold  found  in  the  ravine 
near  by,  is  evidently  gold-bearing.  What  becomes 
of  the  Mother  Lode  theory  now  ?  Here  is  gravel 
that  is  as  old  in  its  place  as  the  Mother  Lode,  that 
presupposes  an  older  lode  still,  not  only  that,  but  a 
subsequent  upheaval.  There  is  but  one  conclusion  in 
the  matter  possible;  there  must  have  been  an  older 
Mother  Lode,  or  grandmother,  if  such  a  term  is  per 
missible,  which  existed  and  was  in  a  mountain  or 
range  of  mountains  ere  the  upturning  of  the  slates  in 
whose  company  the  gravels  rest.  As  there  are  some 
two  or  three  thousand  feet  of  clay  slate  between  this 
gravel  and  the  Mother  Lode,  older  than  the  quartz, 
occupying  the  inferior  position,  millions  of  years 
were  necessary  for  the  slow  deposit  of  the  clays 
afterwards  indurated  into  slate.  Reference  to  evi 
dence  of  a  former  mineral  region,  denuded  to  the 
granite  rock  in  a  former  age  has  once  before  been 
made. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  State  where  the  integ 
rity  of  the  mountain  topshasbeen  better  maintained, 
there  arelanjd  rivers  which  seem  to  run  towards  the 

O 

south  and  become  lost.  The  Blue  Lead,  the  largest 
of  these,  is  said  to  have  been  traced  to  El  Dorado 
county.  As  this  river  was  fur  to  the  east,  occupying 
a  much  greater  altitude,  these  gravel  beds  may  be 
the  lacustrine  termination  of  the  Blue  Lead  which  by 
a  subsequent  upheaval,  is  now  tightly  inclosed  in  its 
coffin  of  slate.  The  question,  "  What  has  become  of  the 
Blue  Lead?  "  may  possibly  be  answered  here.  The 
discovery  may  have  no  economic  value  but  it  will  be 
an  interesting  leaf  to  read  in  thegeology  of  California. 
This  lead  of  gravel,  tracing  it  by  the  appearance  in 
places,  seems  to  have  taken  a  south-western  direction 


ARTHUR    B.    SAN  BORN. 


QUARTZ  MINING. 


145 


across  the  county.  It  may  be  seen  in  Sutter  creek 
about  four  miles  below  the  town,  and  again  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  county  near  the  Mokelumne 
river.  Although  the  veins  have  never  been  worked, 
a  thorough  prospecting  might  prove  them  to  have 
some  economic  value. 


CHAPTEE    XXVIII. 

QUARTZ    MINING. 

Quartz  Mining,  Commencement  of — Quartz  Miners'  Convention — 
Account  of  the  Mother  Lode — Sketch  of  Different  Mines — 
Gwin  Mines — Casco — Murphy's  Ridge — Huffaker — Moore — 
Zeile— Description  of  a  Model  Mill — Plainer  Process  of 
Reducing  Sulphurets  —  Hinkley  Mine  —  Monterichard — 
Kennedy — Tubbs — Oneida — Summit — Hay  ward — Character 
of  the  Same —  Railroad  —  Wildman — Mahoney — Union  or 
Lincoln — Accident  in  the  Lincoln — Mechanics — Herbertville 
— Spring  Hill — Keystone — Consolidation  of  Granite  State 
and  Walnut  Hill — Discovery  of  the  Bonanza — Statistics  of 
Same — Big  Grab,  and  Failure  to  Hold  ifc — Account  of  the 
Suit — Original  Amador — Bunker  Hill — Pennsylvania  Gover 
— Black  Hills — Seaton — Potosi — Quartz  Mountain  —  Ply 
mouth  Group — Enterprise — Nashville. 

THE  intelligent  men  who  worked  the  gulches  and 
rivers  in  an  early  day,  soon  sought  the  sources  of 
the  gold.  Sometimes  gold  was  found  with  quartz 
adhering  to  it,  or  occasionally  a  quartz  pebble 
riveted  through  and  through  with  gold.  The  veins 
of  quartz  seaming  the  hills  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
richest  placers,  also  served  to  point  to  that  rock  as 
the  original  source  of  the  gold.  At  Carson  Hill,  in 
Mariposa  county,  quartz  had  been  found  immensely 
rich;  but  the  expense  of  blasting  the  rock  out  and 
crushing  it  was  such,  that  no  serious  attempts  were 
made,  in  Amador  county,  until  1851.  The  whole 
country  abounded  with  quartz;  in  some  places  there 
were  mountains  of  it,  which  had  filled  the  ravines 
with  broken  quartz,  where  no  gold  was  to  be  found; 
so  that  the  search  for  auriferous  quartz  was  a  tedious 
affair  until  men  were  put  upon  the  scent. 

The  first  discovery  of  gold  in  quartz  seems  to  have 
been  made  by  a  man  by  the  name  of  Davidson,  a 
Baptist  preacher,  in  February,  1851,  on  the  south  side 
of  Amador  creek  near  the  spring  then  used  by  the 
miners.  Boulders  of  considerable  size  were  lying 
on  the  top  of  the  ground,  supposed  to  have  been 
detached  from  the  vein.  Gold  was  found  in  some  of 
these,  and  subsequently,  in  the  vein  from  which  these 
came.  Associated  with  Davidson  were  Glover, 
Herbert,  and  P.  Y.  Cool,  all  ministers;  hence  the 
claim  was  known  as  the  "ministers'  claim."  Samuel 
Hill,  afterward  a  resident  of  Buckeye,  was  taken  in 
as  a  capitalist,  and  the  company  organized  as  the 
Spring  Hill  Company.  About  the  same  time, 
Thomas  Eickey,  and  his  son  James,  afterward  resi 
dents  of  lone,  located  the  vein  on  the  north  side  of 
the  creek,  since  known  as  the  Original  Amador.  Gold 
could  also  be  seen  in  this  rock.  None  of  these  men 
had  ever  seen  any  quartz  mining;  in  fact,  there  was 
none  in  the  world  to  compare  with  what  may  be 
seen  now  at  any  mining  town.  Hill,  of  the  Spring 
Hill  Company,  went  to  Sacramento  and  bought  a 
19 


steam  engine,  aged  and  ancient  in  style,  which  proved 
a  'mine  of  trouble  to  them,  as  it  took  an  enormous 
quantity  of  wood  to  make  steam.  The  main  shaft 
was  wood  with  bearings  of  round  bar  iron,  two 
inches  in  diameter,  which  were  driven  in  with  a 
hammer,  the  end  of  the  log  being  banded  with  iron. 
The  cams  were  large  spikes  of  bar  iron  driven  into 
the  shaft  and  afterward  bent.  The  stamps  had 
wooden  stems,  and  spikes  driven  into  the  stems  for 
tappits  or  projections,  against  which  the  cams  should 
play  to  raise  the  stamps.  The  gold  was  saved,  or 
rather  lost,  by  means  of  a  rocker  about  eight  feet 
long,  worked  by  the  same  power  as  the  stamps. 
The  machinery  proving  a  failure,  was  soon  rebuilt 
with  improvements  suggested  by  experience. 

The  mill  on  the  north  side  was  started  about  the 
same  time,  September  5,  1851,  with  somewhat 
better  machinery.  The  shaft  was  of  wood,  but  had 
axe-bar  iron  four  inches  wide  and  half  an  inch  thick 
for  cams,  the  bars  being  bent  after  they  were  put  in 
the  shaft.  The  stamps  also  had  wooden  stems  with 
slots  in  the  middle  to  receive  the  cams.  Dan  Fiddler 
was  the  master  mechanic,  and  J.  T.  Berke  the 
superintendent  of  this  mine.  It  made  dividends  as 
well  as  wages  for  its  owners,  who  were  all  workers. 
Quicksilver  was  tried,  but  from  some  cause  failed  to 
give  satisfactory  results.  It  was  also  discovered 
that  much  of  the  gold  was  lost,  being  too  fine  to 
settle  into  the  ordinary  riffles.  While  experiments 
were  being  made  to  remedy  the  matter,  a  German 
who  had  had  experience  in  mining  in  Peru,  pro 
posed  to  amalgamate  with  arastras.  With  his 
assistance  the  company  took  out  about  seventy-five 
ounces  a  week,  the  German  receiving  one-thirteenth 
part  for  his  share.  This  was  the  first  successful 
quartz  mining  in  the  county. 

QUARTZ  MINERS'  CONVENTION. 

The  discovery  of  gold-bearing  quartz  aroused  the 
whole  country.  All  were  looking  forward  to  the 
time  when  the  gulches  and  surface  claims  should  be 
exhausted,  and  there  were  numbers  of  men  who 
thought  this  was  the  case  as  early  as  1851.  Quartz 
was  now  tried  everywhere;  like  any  other  mining 
craze  it  went  beyond  all  reasonable  bounds.  Possi 
bilities  became  certainties.  A  mill  had  been  put  up 
at  Quartzburg  on  the  Cosumnes  river  which  was 
thought  to  be  making  fabulous  fortunes  for  its  own 
ers,  which,  however,  was  far  from  true.  It  may  as 
well  be  told  here  that  the  superintendent,  Dr.  Har 
ris,  a  native  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  brought  out 
seventeen  thousand  dollars  to  work  the  mine,  drew 
on  the  company  for  twenty-eight  thousand  dollars 
more,  and  then  abandoned  the  mine  to  the  hired 
hands  to  make  their  back  wages  out  of  it  if  they 
could.  The  lead  or  Mother  Lode,  as  this  system 
of  veins,  chutes,  or  chimneys,  has  been  called, 
was  soon  traced  to  the  Cosumnes  on  the  north, 
and  the  Mokelumne  on  the  south.  All  kinds 
of  claims  were  set  up  and  a  harvest  of  lawsuits 


146 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


seemed  impending,  when  it  was  resolved  to  hold  a 
quartz  convention  and  make  regulations  to  ensure 
the  peace  and  security  of  quartz  mining,  which,  after 
a  proper  notice,  was  held  at  Rancher! a,  that  being 
probably  the  largest  place  in  the  county. 

The  following  is  copied  from  the  book  of  records 
now  in  the  hands  of  M.  B.  Church  of  Drytown. 

"QUARTZ    MINING   LAWS. 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  miners  of  Dry  Creek,  Ran- 
cheria  Creek,  Amador  Creek,  Sutter  Creek,  holden 
near  the  town  of  Rancheria,  June  7, 1851,  in  accord 
ance  with  previous  public  notice,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  rules  and  regulations  for  quartz  miners,  in 
the  mining  districts  hereinafter  described. 

"  T.  J.  Lawton  was  chosen  President;  Samuel  Her 
bert,  Vice-President;  Wm.  Salter,  Jr.,  Secretary. 

"  On  motion  of  O.  L.  Palmer,  a  committee  of  three 
was  appointed  consisting  of  0.  L.  Palmer,  Wm.  Fen- 
ton,  of  Rancheria,  and  Hiram  B.  Platt,  of  Drytown,  to 
prepare  resolutions  for  the  consideration  of  the  meet 
ing.  The  committee  offered  the  following  report, 
which  was  accepted. 

"Resolved,  That  rules  and  regulations  for  the 
security,  peace  and  harmony  of  the  miners,  who  are 
now  or  who  may  be  hereafter  engaged  in  prospect 
ing  and  working  quartz  mines,  are  positively  neces 
sary. 

"2. — That  incompliance  with  that  necessity,  we  do 
hereby  ordain  and  establish  the  following  rules  and 
regulations  for  the  government  of  the  district  within 
the  following  bonds,  to  wit:  All  that  portion  of  the 
county  of  Calaveras  that  lies  south  of  the  dividing 
ridge  between  Cosumues  river  and  Dry  creek  and 
north  of  the  Mokelumne  river. 

"  3. — That  the  size  of  a  claim  in  quartz  veins  shall 
be  two  hundred  and  forty  (240)  feet  in  length  of  the 
vein  without  regard  to  the  width,  to  the  discoverer  or 
company,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  (120)  feet  in 
addition  thereto  for  each  member  of  the  company 
that  shall  now  or  may  be  hereafter  organized. 

"4. — That  no  claims,  hereafter  made,  shall  be  con 
sidered  good  and  valid,  unless  the  same  shall  have 
been  staked  off,  in  conformity  with  the  provisions 
of  Resolution  3,  and  written  notice  of  the  size  of  the 
claim,  and  the  number  of  the  men  in  the  company, 
posted  on  a  stake  or  tree  at  each  end  of  the  claim, 
together  with  the  date  of  the  day  when  the  claim 
was  made;  and  all  claims  now  made  shall  be  staked 
off  in  conformity  with  these  resolutions,,  within  five 
days  from  the  date  of  the  adoption  of  these  resolu 
tions. 

"5. — That  the  size  of  the  claim,  the  names  and  num 
ber  of  men  composing  the  company  that  holds  the 
claim,  together  with  a  brief  description  of  the  loca 
tion  of  the  same,  so  that  it  may  be  identified,  shall, 
within  ten  days  after  the  claim  is  made,  be  filed  in 
the  office  of  the  Justice  of  the  Peace,  in  whose  dis 
trict  the  same  may  be  located.  And  all  persons 
holding  such  claims  shall  file  the  same  within  ten 
days  from  this  meeting,  and  all  persons  hereafter 
making  claims  (within  ten  days  after  the  claims  are 
located),  or  otherwise,  said  claims  shall  be  forfeited. 

"  6. — In  all  cases  where  claims  are  held  by  a  com 
pany  working  jointly,  they  shall  not  be  required  to 
work  in  more  than  one  place;  but  where  held  by 
individuals,  each  several  claim  must  be  worked. 

7. — Whenever  a  claim  has  been  abandoned,  and 
such  can  be  clearly  proved  before  the  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  where  such  filing  was  made,  said  claim  shall 


be   forfeited  to  the  person  or  persons   establishing 

such  proof. 

"  8. — That  these  rules,  regulations,  and  proceedings, 

be  signed   by  the   president   and  secretary  of  this 

meeting,  and  filed  in  the  Justice's  office  at  Drytown. 

•'T.  J.  LAWTON,  Pres., 
"AVAi.  SALTER,  Sec." 

The  number  of  talented  men  in  this  Convention 
was  noted,  although  it  was  not  unusual  for  such 
bodies,  in  the  early  fifties,  to  be  composed  of  men 
who  might  have  sat  in  Legislative  halls,  with  credit 
to  themselves  and  all  concerned. 

The  Convention  was  hopeful,  and  even  confident, 
of  success.  Some,  who  were  not  in  possession  of 
satisfactory  claims,  wished  the  size  to  be  cut  down. 
It  was  urged  that  fifty  feet  of  a  vein,  which  probably 
had  no  bottom,  was  quite  enough  to  satisfy  any 
reasonable  man.  One  thousand  dollars  a  ton  was 
set  as  the  probable  value  of  the  quartz.  Some  of 
the  veins  were  fifty,  and  even  a  hundred,  feet  wide. 
It  was  easy  to  figure  up  into  millions  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  top  on  a  fifty-foot  claim.  Some 
ventured  to  say  that  the  quartz  would  not  pay 
a  dollar  a  pound.  Mr.  Davidson,  being  a  candid, 
unexcitable  man,  was  called  upon  to  give  his  opinion 
as  to  the  value  of  it.  He  said  that  he  had  no  wish 
to  deceive  the  Convention,  but  he  doubted  if  the 
rock  would  average  more  than  ten  cents  per  pound, 
or  two  hundred  dollars  per  ton  (he  had  not  then 
started  his  mill);  and  claims  were  made  one  hundred 
and  twenty  feet,  with  two  extra  claims  to  the  dis 
coverer.  What  would  have  been  the  feelings  of  the 
Convention  if  they  could  have  foreseen  that  one- 
tenth  of  the  sum  named  would  come  to  be  considered 
very  rich?  Scarcely  one  of  all  the  number  who 
assembled  that  day,  but  what  retired  from  quartz 
mining,  bankrupt  and  discouraged.  This,  however, 
is  anticipating. 

Quartz  mining  was  now  fairly  inaugurated.  In 
a  short  time,  the  Granite  State,  the  Herbertville,  the 
Union.  Eureka,  Badger,  Wolverine  (the  last  three 
being  consolidated  in  the  Hayward  mine),  Oneida, 
all  came  in  a  short  time.  The  Granite  State  was 
the  first  to  put  up  a  mill  with  iron  shaft,  tappits  and 
stems.  John  Conness  was  a  stockholder  in  this 
mine.  Garfield,  afterwards  Governor  of  Washington 
Territory,  invented  the  stamp  with  tapering  stem 
and  socket,  to  correspond.  Shaking  tables  'were 
introduced  in  1852,  and  were  in  use  until  1860.  The 
Chile  mill,  with  rotating  balls  and  revolving  barrel, 
was  introduced  by  P.  M.  Randal.  The  last  is  still 
used.  Roasting  the  ore  was  tried,  but,  though  it 
was  more  easily  pulverized,  it  was  soon  abandoned 
as  not  satisfactory.  The  sulphurets  were  saved  by 
means  of  blankets  or  rawhides,  placed  along  the 
bottoms  of  the  sluices,  and  amalgamated  in  the  Chile 
mill,  or  revolving  barrel. 

THE    MOTHER    LODE. 

Perhaps  no  term  more  inappropriate  could  have 
been  selected.  Tbe  name  is  inappropriate  because 


QUARTZ   MINING. 


147 


there  is  no  principal  lode  or  vein  at  all,  but  rather 
a  series  or  system  of  veins,  chutes  or  chimneys  along 
a  certain  range  of  country,  varying  in  width  from 
two  hundred  to  four  thousand,  or  perhaps  eight 
thousand  feet.  In  some  places  there  are  hundreds 
of  veins,  as  on  the  Black  hills  and  Murphy's  ridge, 
some  of  which  are  mere  threads,  ramifying  in  every 
direction.  In  other  places,  the  ore-bearing  ground 
is  narrowed  within  walls  two  or  three  hundred  feet 
apart,  as  at  the  Keystone,  Plymouth,  and  the  Hay- 
ward  mines;  though  even  here,  as  we  shall  see,  the 
ore  is  not  concentrated  in  a  single  vein.  The  term 
mother,  is  also  misleading,  for  it  gives  the  idea  that 
all  other  veins  are  connected  somehow,  and  fed  from 
this,  than  which  nothing  could  be  more  erroneous. 
Evidently,  the  first  theorists  presumed  that  all 
mineral  veins  came  out  of  the  interior  regions  of 
the  earth,  where  the  fires  are  always  glowing,  and 
that  down  some  thousand  feet  all  the  veins  of  quartz, 
big  and  little,  would  come  together  in  one  main 
lode,  extending  the  whole  length  of  the  State,  or  as 
far  as  the  gold  range  extends. 

SKETCH    OF   THE    DIFFERENT    MINES. 

The  Cfwin  mine,  though  in  Calaveras  county,  is 
really  the  beginning  of  the  series  of  veins  which 
have  made  Amador  the  richest  county  in  the  State 
in  quart/.  This  is  in  Rich  gulch,  which  is  supposed 
to  have  derived  its  wealth  from  the  breaking  down 
of  the  vein  matter.  The  owner,  Dr.  Gwin,  is  better 
known  as  Duke  Gwin,  from  his  having  that  title  con 
ferred  on  him  for  valuable  aid  to  the  Emperor  Max- 
imillian  of  Mexico.  The  mine  is  said  to  be  paying 
well.  The  series  of  veins  here  is  quite  wide,  several 
other  veins  cropping  out  a  thousand  feet  or  more  to 
the  east.  v 

The  Casco  mine  is  on  the  north  side  of  the  Mokel- 
umne  river,  and  consequently  in  Amador  county. 

This  mine  was  worked  in  1868  by  J.  E.  Harden- 
burg  some  eight  hundred  feet  deep,  the  rock  being 
crushed  by  a  water-mill  of  twenty  stamps,  not  far 
from  the  mine.  The  owner  sunk  twenty  thousand 
dollars  in  the  operation.  The  Casco  mine  is  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  range,  which  here  is  quite  wide. 
Abraham  McKinney  has  a  mine  on  the  west  side  of 
the  range,  which  is  yet  undeveloped,  but  which 
shows  some  very  rich  specimens,  some  of  which  are 
of  singular  appearance,  containing  gold  in  crystal 
line  forms  in  coarse  granulated  quartz.  Persons 
who  entertain  an  opinion  that  gold  is  deposited  in  a 
melted  state,  will  find  a  puzzling  problem  in  these 
specimens;  The  rock  east  of  here  (hanging-wall)  is 
syenitic  or  stratified  rock,  resembling  granite,  vary 
ing  in  texture  and  character  at  every  dividing  seam. 
On  the  west  the  wall  rock  (foot-wall)  is  the  hard 
metamorphic  slate  sometimes  termed  by  the  miners 
"  blue  granite." 

MURPHY'S  RIDGE. 

This  singular  formation  is  the   Mother  Lode   in 
its  integrity  with  tho  foot  and  hanging-walls  washed 


away  and  occupied  by  ravines,  Murphy's  gulch  and 
Black  gulch  on  one  side,  and  Hunt's  gulch  on  the 
other.  It  is  likely  that  the  gouge,  which  is  generally 
a  soft,  clayey  mass,  which  seems  to  have  been  formed 
by  the  slow  grinding  of  the  walls  against  the  vein, 
gave  direction  to  the  course  of  the  water  which 
finally  eroded  them  away.  On  the  west  side  of  the 
ridge  the  miners  have  followed  the  gouge  down  in 
places  to  a  considerable  depth  for  the  gold  that  lies 
on  the  foot- wall.  The  ravines  were,  perhaps,  the 
richest  ever  found  in  the  county,  as  they  were 
worked  with  profit  for  twenty  years,  one  set  of 
miners  after  another  taking  away  their  "piles." 

The  ridge  is  a  network  of  small  veins  which  ramify 
in  every  direction  through  a  rather  soft  earthy  slate. 
Some  of  the  seams  are  immensely  rich,  four  or  five 
hundred  dollars  being  taken  out  of  a  bucketful  of  the 
rotten  rock.  Sometimes  the  gold  is  found  in  combi 
nation  with  arsenic,  or  arsenical  sulphurets,  which 
pay  a  thousand  dollars  or  more  to  the  ton,  though 
the  tons  are  not  many,  as  the  veins  may  not  be  a 
half  inch  in  thickness.  In  places  the  ridge  is  being 
washed  down  by  hydraulic  power.  As  much  of  the 
gold  is  too  fine  to  be  saved  by  this  process,  much 
must  be  lost.  In  other  instances  the  small  veins  of 
quartz  are  mined  out  and  crushed,  paying  good 
wages.  "  There  is  millions  in  it,"  i.  e.,  the  hill  or 
ridge,  but  how  to  get  it  out  economically  is  the  ques 
tion.  Isaac  N.  Dewitt  owns  twenty  acres  of  this 
ridge,  being  a  long  strip  four  hundred  feet  wide  along 
the  center. 

Many  experienced  miners  think  all  these  veins 
will  come  together  below,  and  offer  as  a  reason  for 
this  opinion  that  the  wall  rocks  are  converging  as 
they  go  down.  James  Morgan,  a  man  with  much 
experience  in  mining,  is  of  this  opinion,  and  is  now 
running  a  cross  cut  some  four  hundred  feet  below  the 
summit  of  the  ridge,  to  test  the  theory.  A  shaft 
sunk  four  hundred  feet  on  the  east  side  of  the  ridge, 
did  not  expose  any  workable  vein. 

HUFFAKER   LEAD. 

This  once  very  rich  mine,  some  two  thousand  feet 
or  more  to  the  east  of  the  last-named  mine,  is  not 
worked  at  present.  It  is  said  that  in  1856  the  Huff- 
aker  brothers  and  -  -  Harris,  found  quartz  that 
would  pay  twenty  thousand  dollars  per  ton.  The 
gold  was  found  in  bunches  or  pockets.  Like  all 
pocket  veins,  this  one  marred  about  as  many  fortunes 
as  it  made.  James  Morgan  is  now  sinking  on  this 
lode  with  good  prospects.  This  vein  is  believed  to 
have  supplied  the  gold  that  enriched  the  hills  around 
the  south  side  of  the  Butte  Basin. 

THE    MOORE    MINE 

Is  at  the  head  of  Hunt's  gulch,  on  the  eastern  side 
of  the  Mother  Lode.  It  is  a  curiosity,  and  is 
worthy  of  observation.  It  is  a  rather  thin  vein  of 
good  looking  quartz,  with  an  enormous  mass  of  bar 
ren  quartzose  rock  for  a  foot-wall,  the  whole  mass 
being  considerable  out  of  the  range  of  Murphy's 


148 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


ridge,  which  is  thought  to  be  the  main  lode.  North 
of  Murphy's  the  quartz  seems  to  be  wanting,  though 
a  few  small  veins  crop  out  over  a  space  perhaps  half 
a  mile  wide,  some  of  these  being  in  the  hard,  meta- 
morphic  slate,  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  axis 
of  elevation  when  the  mountian  chains  were  formed. 
These  veins  may  be  traced  along  the  ridge  west  of 
Jackson  and  the  Oneida.  Though  they  contain  some 
gold  they  pinch  oat  at  a  short  distance  from  the  sur 
face,  and  are  avoided  by  quartz  miners. 

There  has  been  considerable  prospecting  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Jackson,  and  several  times  the 
announcement  of  the  beginning  of  the  quartz  mining 
era  was  made,  but  it  never  came.  So  many  promising 
mines  were  discovered  that  in  1862  the  Kearsing 
brothers  erected  a  four-stamp  mill  and  arastra,  run 
by  water-power,  for  custom  work.  The  mill  was 
afterwards  enlarged  to  ten  stamps,  but  it  was  not  a 
paying  concern.  In  18G2 

THE  ZEILE  MINE 

Was  discovered  by  Leonard  Coney,  who  put  up  a 
mill  with  sixteen  stamps,  with  works  to  reduce  the 
sulphurets,  though  the  Platner  process  was  not  intro 
duced  at  that  time.  Some  very  good  runs  were  made, 
realizing  ten  thousand  dollars  per  month.  In  April, 
1866,  it  was  sold  by  Charles  T.  Meader,  who  had 
been  running  it,  to  Dr.  Zeile,  of  San  Francisco,  for 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  Work  was  sus 
pended  until  within  the  past  two  years,  since  which 
time  new  hoisting  works  and  mill,  with  all  the  lat 
est  improvements,  have  been  placed  on  the  mine. 
As  this  is  considered  the  model  mill  of  the  county, 
a  description  of  it  will  be  in  place.  The  hoisting 
works  over  the  shaft  have  powerful  pumps,  which 
can  be  set  in  motion  without  interfering  with  the 
other  machinery.  An  air-compresser  saves  the  work 
of  striking  the  drills,  while  an  automatic  dumper 
does  away  with  the  dangerous  work  of  bucket  land 
ing,  by  which  so  many  men  have  been  injured. 
The  rock  is  carried  on  a  tramway  to  the  upper  story 
of  the  mill,  where  a  "  grizzly "  separates  the  fine 
from  the  coarse  rock,  the  latter  going  into  a  rock- 
breaker,  which  prepares  it  for  the  stamps.  From 
the  rock  breaker  the  quartz  goes  to  the  automatic 
feeder,  a  machine  that  seems  almost  endowed  with 
life,  so  closely  does  it  watch  the  batteries,  supplying 
them  with  quartz  at  the  moment  the  stamps  begin 
to  strike  the  bed  of  the  mortar.  The  action  is  sim 
ple  and  reliable.  The  idea  originated  with  James 
Tullock,  of  Volcano,  who  erected  the  first  one  some 
years  ago.  Several  designs  have  been  patented 
since,  but  his  holds  a  place  yet  among  quartz-mills. 
The  tappit  or  collar  around  the  stem  of  the  stamp, 
by  means  of  which  the  cam  raises  the  stamp,  is  the 
agent  employed.  It  is  put  in  connection  with  a 
revolving  belt  or  table,  containing  the  quartz  to  be 
fed  to  the  battery,  so  that  when  the  stamp  descends 
to  the  bottom  of  the  mortar,  the  tappit  moves  the 
table,  and  drops  some  rock  into  the  battery,  which 


it  continues  to  do  until  the  want  is  supplied.  An 
automatic  feeder  is  required  for  each  battery.  When 
the  pulverized  quartz  has  passed  through  the  shak 
ing  tables,  and  other  machinery  for  saving  the  free 
gold,  it  passes  to  the  machine  known  as  the  "  Frue 
Concentrator,"  for  saving  the  sulphurets.  This 
machine  is  a  recent  invention,  and  considered  a 
great  improvement  over  either  the  Buddie  or 
the  Hendy  concentrator.  The  pulp  is  caught  on 
a  wide  rubber  belt,  which,  with  an  oscillating  motion, 
is  made  to  carry  the  tailings  up  an  incline  against 
a  gentle  stream  of  water,  which  washes  away  the 
lighter  particles,  leaving  the  sulphurets,  which  are 
heavier,  to  adhere,  by  their  own  specific  gravity,  to 
the  endless  belt,  which  passes  into  a  water-bath, 
removing  the  sulphurets,  which  are  thus  saved  in  a 
very  concentrated  condition. 

THE    PLATNER   PROCESS 

Of  reducing  sulphurets  was  introduced  into  Cali 
fornia  by  a  miner  by  the  name  of  Deakin,  and  is  now 
in  general  use.  By  this  process  the  sulphurets  form 
erly  lost  are  made  to  pay  from  fifty  to  six  hundred 
dollars  per  ton,  amounting  in  some  instances  to  twenty 
per  cent,  of  the  entire  gold  product.  The  "chlorination 
works  "  is  a  long  building  with  a  furnace  some  forty 
feet  long,  and  sixteen  feet  wide  with  arched  roof  from 
one  to  three  feet  above  the  floor.  There  are  several 
openings  along  the  sides  to  put  in  and  withdraw 
the  charge,  (which,  in  a  furnace  of  the  above  size, 
would  be  about  three  tons,)  also  to  observe  the  pro 
gress  of  the  work.  The  first  heat  is  moderate  and  is 
intended  to  expel  the  moisture,  after  which  the  heat 
is  increased  and  the  sulphur  is  set  on  fire.  This 
burns  for  some  hours,  keeping  the  mass  at  a  dull  red 
heat;  after  the  sulphur  has  burned  out  the  fire  must 
be  increased  so  as  to  drive  off  the  arsenic  and  other 
base  metals.  Too  much  heat  will  now  volatilize  the 
gold,  which  will  be  found  gilding  the  roof  of  the 
arch.  Too  little  fire  leaves  the  fine  particles  of  gold 
coated  with  a  metal  that  would  prevent  the  last  and 
most  important  process  (to  be  described  hereafter), 
so  that  constant  watchfulness  is  requisite,  though  a 
trusty  man,  without  being  a  chemist,  soon  learns  the 
necessary  treatment.  The  mass,  after  being  roasted 
from  twenty -four  to  thirty-six  hours,  is  allowed  to 
cool  off,  and  is  then  place  in  tubs  five  or  six  feet  wide 
and  two  feet  high  with  tight-fitting  covers,  where  it 
is  subjected  for  thirty-six  hours  to  the  action  of 
chlorine  gas  which  dissolves  the  gold,  forming  the 
chloride  of  gold  which  is  soluble  in  water.  The  pro 
cess  of  making  gold  soluble  is  particularly  described, 
because  it  may  be  necessary  to  remember  this  when 
we  consider  the  origin  of  the  gold  deposits  in  the 
quartz  veins.  The  chlorine  gas  is  obtained  by  the 
action  of  sulphuric  acid  on  common  suit  and  oxide  of 
manganese,  all  cheap  articles.  It  is  a  corrosive  gas 
eating  up  other  metals  as  well  as  gold,  and  "also 
destroys  animal  matter,  purifying  the  atmosphere  of 
offensive  odors.  Water  is  now  turned  into  the  tubs 


QUARTZ   MINING. 


149 


and  the  gold  comes  out  as  a  greenish-brown  liquid; 
in  fact,  gold  is  of  a  green  color,  notwithstanding  the 
ordinary  opinion,  as  may  be  seen  by  looking  through 
a  very  thin  film  of  gold,  which  will  appear  of  a  beau 
tiful  green.  Water  is  run  through  the  mass  until  no 
green  tinge  is  left.  Sulphate  of  iron  (copperas)  is 
now  added  to  the  solution  and  in  a  short  time  the 
gold  begins  to  settle  in  the  shape  of  a  brown  powder, 
which,  upon  being  put  in  the  crucible,  melts  into  gold 
995.  fine,  worth  twenty  dollars  per  ounce.  The  cost 
of  reducing  sulphurets  this  way  is  about  seventeen 
dollars  per  ton.  It  is  expected  that  the  cost  of 
extracting  and  reducing  ore  at  this  mill  will  fall 
below  two  dollars  per  ton.  If  this  can  be  accom 
plished,  it  will,  perhaps,  cause  many  other  mines  of 
low  grade  ore  to  be  worked.  The  works,  with  the 
powerful  and  massive  machinery,  form  a  wonderful 
contrast  to  the  mills  at  Amador  thirty  years  ago. 

THE    HINKLEY    MINE 

Is  a  pocket  mine  and  was  discovered  in  1863  while 
the  owner  was  digging  a  post  hole.  Some  four 
thousand  dollars  were  taken  out  in  a  few  days.  The 
vein  is  two  and  a  half  feet  thick  at  the  surface;  at  a 
depth  of  forty  feet  it  was  five  feet  thick;  turned  from 
a  perpendicular  to  a  horizontal  for  thirty  feet,  and 
then  ran  down  nearly  vertically  again.  It  has  pro 
duced  eighteen  thousand  dollars  at  an  expense  of  six 
thousand  dollars.  It  has  many  times  made  its  owner 
happy,  but  the  rock  when  away  from  a  pocket  is 
distressingly  poor.  Mr.  Hinkley  owns  about  four 
hundred  feet  of  the  vein. 

A  few  hundred  yards  east  of  the  Zeile  mine  is  a 
slash  vein,  so  called,  running  nearly  at  right  angles 
with  the  ordinary  course.  At  the  Gate  is  another  of 
great  width  and  nearly  a  thousand  feet  long.  They 
are  seen  occasionally  in  other  parts  of  the  county, 
and,  although  they  have  never  been  worked  to  any 
extent,  they  are  important  as  throwing  considerable 
light  on  the  formation  of  quartz  veins. 

The  Monterichard  is  a  cross  vein  in  the  hard 
metamorphic  slate  about  two  miles  west  of  Jackson. 
It  was  discovered  in  1876  by  a  Frenchman  who  gave 
his  name  to  the  mine.  It  has  paid  very  well,  making 
for  thirty -two  months  from  two  thousand  to  three 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  month 
with  a  mill  often  stamps.  The  vein  isnarrow,  vary 
ing  from  six  inches  to  two  feet,  with  walls  well 
defined.  It  was  run  by  James  Meehan,  Sanguinetti, 
and  Muldoon,  until  March,  1880,  when  it  was  sold  to 
Lloyd  Tevis,  of  San  Francisco,  for  twenty  thousand 
dollars.  The  new  owner  put  in  ten  more  stamps, 
making  a  twenty-stamp  mill.  The  vein  pinched  out 
soon  after  and  the  mine  is  suspended.  It  is  generally 
thought  Tevis  got  the  worst  of  the  bargain. 


THE    KENNEDY   MINE 


So  named  from  its  discoverer,  was  developed  by 
John  Fullen,  James  Fleming,  and  James  Bergon, 
working  the  rock  at  the  Oneida  mill.  In  1871  it  was 


taken  by  a  joint-stock  company,  the  Richlings  being 
large  owners.  The  mine  has  hardly  been  a  success, 
and  in  1880  it  was  closed  down.  The  vein  is  close  to 
the  foot-wall  and  has  pitched  rapidly  to  the  east, 
following  a  pitch  of  nearly  forty -five  degrees,  which 
is  considered  very  flat.  It  is  believed  that  it  will 
eventually  join  a  vein  about  six  hundred  feet  to  the 
east,  called  the  "Volunteer."  The  lode  does  not  fol 
low  the  rift  of  the  slate  and  consequently  is  not  a 
true  fissure  vein. 

THE  TUBE'S  MINE 

Was  on  the  eastern  part  of  the  lode  near  the  Gate. 
It  did  not  pay  and  was  shut  down.  Stephen  Kendal 
was  the  manager  of  the  works.  There  seems  to  have 
been  no  substantial  wall  rock  and  consequently  no 
permanent  vein. 

THE   ONEIDA. 

This  location  was  made  in  1851,  by  a  number  of 
men  from  the  central  part  of  New  York.  Like  all 
the  companies  engaged  at  that  time  in  quartz  min 
ing,  the  Oneida  had  extravagant  expectations. 
When  a  run  had  been  made,  the  interested  parties 
gathered  around  to  see  the  batteries  cleaned  up. 
The  sand,  quicksilver,  and  amalgam  were  gathered, 
and  the  operator  commenced  the  panning  process, 
turning  off  the  quicksilver  as  it  ran  together.  As  the 
sand  was  washed  out  the  amalgam  grew  less  and  less 
as  did  the  prospects  of  the  miners.  The  whole  pro 
ceeds  of  several  days'  crushing  finally  shrunk  to  a 
handful  containing  a  few  ounce.8  of  gold,  not  half 
enough  to  pay  expenses,  to  say  nothing  about  a 
fortune.  The  mill  and  mine  were  leased,  in  1854,  to 
Dr.  E.  B.  Harris  for  a  nominal  rent,  for  the  purpose 
of  having  it  developed.  He  was  endowed  with 
great  physical  strength  and  indomitable  energy,  as 
well  as  good  judgment,  and  by  selecting  good  rock, 
and  acting  as  fireman,  engineer,  amalgamator, 
machinist,  miner,  and  superintendent,  by  turns, 
making  about  a  dozen  men  of  one  and  that  one  him 
self,  he  made  the  mine  pay,  for  that  year,  about 
twenty  thousand  dollars  over  expenses.  At  that 
time  machinery  was  generally  taken  to  Sacra 
mento  for  repairs,  necessitating  long  delays  and 
much  expense.  One  day  a  cam-seat,  or  groove, 
on  the  shaft  which  holds  the  key  gave  away, 
and  the  cam  was  dangling  like  a  broken  leg. 
To  take  out  the  shaft  and  send  it  to  Sacramento 
was  expensive,  both  in  time  and  money,  and 
it  was  resolved  to  drill  a  hole  through  both  cam  and 
shaft  and  put  a  large  pin  through  them  to  hold  the  cam. 
By  superhuman  exertion  this  was  done  in  about  three 
hours,  the  order  to  "  fire  up  "  ringing  simultaneously 
with  the  coming  through  of  the  point  of  the  drill,  and 
in  half  an  hour  the  mill  was  pounding  away.  A 
year  or  two  afterward  the  mine  was  rented  to  Swain 
of  lone,  who  in  one  year  lost  as  much  as  Harris  made. 

The  mine  afterward  fell  into  the  hands  of  Fullen, 
Flomming,  Bergon  &  Co.,  who  worked  it  with  but 
moderate  success  for  some  years.  About  1865,  it 


150 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


was  purchased  by  William  M.  Stewart,  then  U.  S. 
Senator  for  Nevada,  James  Morgan,  and  others,  for  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  of  which  sum  the  share 
holders  received  eighty  thousand  dollars,  the  other 
twenty  thousand  dollars  going  to  the  negotiators  of 
the  sale,  Seaton  and  Farley.  The  mine  was  retim- 
bered,  the  mill  enlarged  to  sixty  stamps,  and  new 
hoisting  works  erected,  making  the  mine  an  invest 
ment  to  the  stockholders  of  something  over  a  quarter 
of  a  million.  The  vein  was  fifty  feet  thick,  though 
of  low  grade,  and  with  improved  machinery  it  was 
expected  to  realize  large  dividends;  but  the  mine 
was  an  expensive  one  to  work,  the  walls  being  soft 
and  apt  to  swell  or  crawl,  and  also  full  of  water. 
Sometimes  great  masses  of  soft  earth,  mud,  and 
gouge  would  break  loose  and  run  down  the  stopes 
and  shafts,  burying  up  or  clogging  the  lower  works. 
Sometimes  a  shaft  would  close  up,  timbers  two  feet 
in  diameter  being  slowly  crushed  endwise  into  kin 
dling-wood.  Where  there  was  so  much  movement 
underground,  the  surface  must  become  unstable  also, 
and  the  hoisting  works  required  frequent  rebuilding 
or  adjustment.  The  mine  proved  a  losing  concern 
and  became  a  grave  for  about  four  hundred  thousand 
dollars. 

It  is  now  owned  by  a  Boston  company,  and  is 
under  the  superintendence  of  Robert  Robinson. 
Water-power  has  been  substituted  for  steam-power, 
making  a  saving  of  many  thousand  dollars  in  a  year; 
the  water  is  to  some  degree  exhausted,  and  at  a 
lower  level  the  walls  become  harder  and  more  easily 
timbered,  so  that  the  mine,  almost  for  the  first  time 
in  its  history,  has  been,  perhaps,  put  on  a  paying 
basis.* 

The  depth  on  the  slope  is  eleven  hundred  and 
fifty  feet,  but  at  the  lower  level  the  vein  is  nearly 
flat,  and  the  vertical  depth  is  not  much  over  sjx 
hundred  feet.  The  eastern  or  lower  workings  are 
about  in  a  line  with  the  buddle  house,  perhaps  four 
hundred  feet  east  of  the  shaft.  At  this  point  the 
vein,  which  seems  to  have  followed  the  rift  of  the 
slate,  and  is,  therefore,  the  true  fissure,  is  nearly 
pinched  out,  and  a  drift  of  six  hundred  feet  length 
wise  the  vein,  failed  to  discover  any  swell  or  deposit. 
A  single  boulder  or  bunch  of  quartz  weighing  a  few 
hundred  pounds,  and  very  rich,  was  all  that  was 
found  at  this  depth  that  was  encouraging.  How  this 
was  deposited,,  or  perhaps  lost  there,  is  a  question  for 
geologists.  As  the  lower  level  has  been  allowed  to 
fill  up  with  water,  it  is  probable  that  no  deeper 
explorations  are  contemplated. 

There  are  some  encouraging  indications  of  a  vein  or 
body  of  ore  in  what  is  called  the  west  wall.  In 
working  out  bodies  of  ore  left  in  the  upper  levels,  a 
stringer,  or  thin  vein  of  quartz,  was  found  leading 
to  the  west,  which  experienced  miners  think  indi 
cates  another  ore  body.  If  this  should  be  realized 
the  mine  may  have  a  brilliant  future. 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  we  learn  that  the  mine  has  indefi 
nitely  suspended  work. 


North  of  the  Oneida,  the  range  is  buried  for  some 
distance  under  a  pliocene  river,  with  perhaps  two 
hundred  feet  of  gravel,  sand,  and  boulders.  As  this 
has  not  been  found  to  be  rich,  no  explorations  under 
it  have  been  made,  and  if  the  lode  crops  out  it  has 
not  been  seen.  Farther  north  is  the 

SUMMIT  MINE, 

Or,  more  properly,  a  prospect  hole,  for  no  paying 
quartz  was  found,  though  the  shaft  was  sunk  several 
hundred  feet  deep,  at  a  cost  of  some  twenty  or 
thirty  thousand  dollars.  The  experiment  was  made 
by  Hall  McAllister  of  San  Francisco. 

HAYWARD   MINE. 

The  next  mine  north  of  the  Summit  mine  is  the 
Consolidated  Amador,  better  known  by  the  name  of 
the  man  whose  energy,  with  a  good  share  of  luck, 
developed  it  into,  probably,  the  best-paying  gold 
mine  in  the  world.  In  1853  three  mines  on  the 
south  side  of  Sutter  creek — Wolverine,  Eureka,  and 
Badger — were  struggling  for  existence,  Alvinza 
Hay  ward  owning  the  largest  interest  in  the  one  last 
named.  None  of  the  quartz  mines  at  that  time 
were  giants  ready  at  the  asking  to  bestow  fortunes; 
on  the  contrary,  they  were  always  requiring  enor 
mous  outlays  for  sinking  shafts,  running  cross-cuts, 
timber,  wood,  and  machinery — all  making  quartz 
mining  a  precarious  employment.  The  Wolverine 
was  among  the  first  to  fail.  The  Eureka  was  divided 
into  about  sixty  shares,  most  of  the  holders  being 
working  men.  The  Badger  was  equipped  with 
hoisting  works  and  a  mill  on  the  creek  below  the 
town.  The  quartz  was  hauled  on  wagons  to  the 
mill.  Whether  because  the  rock  was  inferior  or 
unskillfully  handled,  it  hardly  ever  paid  expenses, 
oftener  less  than  more,  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  mine,  though  a  promising  one,  had  promised  so 
much  that  its  credit  was  utterly  destroyed.  Ninety 
thousand  dollars  or  more  hung  over  it,  not  like  the 
sword  of  Damocles,  suspended  by  a  single  hair,  but 
due  for  wood,  steel,  provisions,  and  labor,  besides 
borrowed  money.  Many  times  the  proprietor  was 
tempted  to  throw  up  the  works  and  turn  them  over  to 
the  creditors;  but  they  as  often  told  him  to  go  on; 
that  he  could  make  it  pay  if  any  one  could.  Often 
on  a  Sunday  morning,  when  the  laborers  came  for 
their  pay,  a  dollar  or  two  for  tobacco  money  was  all 
that  could  be  spared.  On  one  occasion,  the  propri 
etor  was  seen  carrying  wood  on  his  back  from  the 
side-hill  to  keep  the  engine  running.  A  Mr.  Norton 
furnished  wood  on  long  time,  and  relieved  that 
source  of  solicitude.  Four  or  five  years  of  such 
struggling  had  broken  down,  one  after  another,  the 
most  of  those  who  had  commenced  quartz  mining  in 
1851.  In  1857  the  struggle  still  continued.  There 
was  a  change  impending.  The  pay  chimney  was 
struck,  and  now  the  double  eagles,  instead  of  scant 
half-dollars,  were  paid  to  the  men.  The  pay-streak 
was  likely  to  run  into  the  Eureka  ground,  and  the 
owner  quietly  commenced  buying  up  shares  of  that 


QUARTZ   MINING. 


151 


company's  stock.  Five  hundred  dollars  a  share, 
considering  the  mill  which  they  had  erected 
at  an  estimated  expense  of  thirty  thousand  dollars, 
just  the  amount  at  which  the  shares  were  rated,  was 
not  too  much.  It  was  soon  known  that  a  majority 
of  the  stock  had  passed  into  his  hands,  and  the  bal 
ance  hastened  to  part  with  their  stock,  selling  as  low 
as  four  hundred  dollars  per  share;  though  assured 
that  no  freezing  out  was  intended,  the  shares  all 
passed  into  Mr.  Hayward's  control.  It  now  became 
known  that  it  had  been  placed  on  a  permanent,  pay 
ing  basis,  yielding  from  twent3T-eight  thousand  to 
sixty-five  thousand  dollars  per  month. 

GENERAL    CHARACTER    OF    THE    HAYWARD    MINE. 

As  this  was  not  only  the  best  mine  in  the  range, 
but  the  deepest,  the  explorations  having  reached  the 
depth  of  two  thousand  two  hundred  arid  fifty 
feet,  a  particular  description  of  its  locality,  wall 
rocks,  and  surface  indications,  will  be  interesting,  as 
throwing  light  on  the  nature  of  quartz  veins  in  gen 
eral.  Although  there  were  large  masses  of  rock  in 
the  vein,  and  covering  the  ground  in  the  vicinity  of 
this  mine,  the  ravine  below  was  only  moderately 
rich.  The  surface  rock  that  was  within  a  few  hundred 
feet  of  the  top,  paid  from  eight  to  twelve  dollars  a 
ton  only.  In  the  early  days  of  quartz  mining,  when 
the  means  of  closely  saving  the  gold  had  not  been 
discovered,  this  would  hardly  pay;  though  after  the 
mine  passed  into  other  hands,  the  same  rock,  by 
means  of  improved  machinery,  being  taken  out  and 
reduced  for  two  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents  per 
ton,  according  to  the  report  of  the  superintendent, 
J.  C.  Faul,  paid  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol 
lars  in  dividends.  The  wall  rocks  of  the  range,  which 
here  was  only  two  or  three  hundred  feet  wide,  were 
firm,  metamorphic  slate,  called  by  the  miners,  gran 
ite,  a  term  which  often  misleads  persons  seeking 
information.  It  scarcely  ever  has  any  of  the  appear 
ance  of  true  granite",  and  in  most  instances  is  simi 
lar  in  texture  to  the  great  reef  of  rock  lying  west 
of  the  quartz  belt,  or  range  of  mining  towns, 
which  has  already  been  spoken  of  as  one  of  the 
axes  of  elevation,  and  the  western  boundary  of  the 
ancient  valley.  This  wall  rock,  on  the  east  side  of 
the  vein,  went  down,  solid  and  firm,  about  one  thou 
sand  seven  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  after  which  it  was 
much  broken  up,  the  quartz  paying  to  this  depth. 
There  were  two  principal  veins;  perhaps  deposits 
would  be  a  better  term,  as  but  one  of  the  deposits 
was  in  the  shape  of  a  vein,  the  other  being  called  a 
boulder  vein,  from  its  being  in  detached  masses,  like 
boulders,  through  occupying  a  regular  rift  or  fissure 
in  the  slate.  The  continuous  vein  was  next  to  the 
hanging  or  eastern  wall,  and  both  veins  had  a  pitch 
or  slope  to  the  east  of  about  twenty  feet  to  the  hun 
dred,  so  that  a  perpendicular  shaft,  to  reach  the  vein 
at  a  depth  of  two  thousand  feet,  must  be  started 
about  four  hundred  feet  east  of  the  cropping*.  It 
may  be  as  well  to  mention  here  that  experienced 
miners  never  expect  to  find  the  true  course  of  a  vein 


until  they  have  sunk  from  four  to  eight  hundred 
feet  on  it.  An  ore-bearing  vein  or  fissure,  if  an 
extensive  one,  is  always  more  or  less  open,  admit 
ting  water.  A  few  calculations  as  to  the  power  of 
displacement  in  a  seam  containing  water  may  be 
interesting.  "  Water  presses  in  proportion  to  its 
perpendicular  height."  At  a  depth  of  thirty-three 
feet  the  lateral  pressure  is  two  thousand  one  hun 
dred  and  sixty  pounds  to  the  square  foot,  at  sixty-six 
twice  that,  at  one  hundred  three  times,  and  so  on  as 
far  as  the  water  reaches,  which  is  usually  as  far  as 
any  ore  is  found.  Let  us  now  estimate  the  thrust 
or  lateral  pressure  on  a  hill  one  thousand  feet  high, 
and  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  displacing  force 
along  a  distance  of  another  thousand  feet,  though 
hills  containing  ore  are  not  often  elevated  above  the 
surrounding  country  more  than  a  few  hundred  feet; 
but  the  power  of  displacement  acts  in  other  instances 
as  well  as  in  mineral  veins,  as  a  powerful  agent  in 
the  formation  of  valleys,  and  more  especially,  as  we 
shall  hereafter  see,  in  the  formation  of  the  mineral 
veins  themselves.  Making  the  pressure  at  thirty- 
three  feet  a  ton,  (in  round  numbers,  for  the  sake  of 
convenience,)  at  one  hundred  feet  it  is  three  tons;  at 
five  hundred  feet,  fifteen  tons,  which  will  be  the 
average  of  the  one  thousand  feet  in.  depth,  or  fifteen 
thousand  tons  for  the  column,  one  foot  later 
ally,  and  one  thousand  times  that  for  the  whole 
thrust  of  the  little  seam  of  water  of,  say,  an  eighth 
of  an  inch  in  thickness,  making  fifteen  millions  of 
tons.  What  wonder  then  that  we  find  the  surfaces  of 
quartz  veins  thrown  hundreds  of  feet  out  of  line,  or 
in  some  instances  doubled  quite  over.  If  those  per 
sons  who  are  so  ready  to  invoke  the  agencies  of 
earthquakes  for  every  displacement  of  rocks  and 
mineral  veins,  would  study  the  effect  of  agencies, 
silent  and  slow,  yet  irresistible  as  fate,  now  at 
work,  they  would  not  be  obliged  to  conceive  of 
mountains  being  tossed  from  place  to  place  like  foot 
balls. 

Both  veins  had  a  dip  to  the  north,  the  boulder 
vein  soon  leaving  the  other,  which  only  dipped 
slightly,  so  that  it  passed  into  the  Eureka  ground 
some  hundred  feet  below.  At  a  depth  of  six  hun 
dred  feet,  the  hanging-wall  or  eastern  vein  pinched 
nearly  out.  As  the  pay  was  mostly  in  this  vein, 
the  other  paying  only  in  spots,  the  mine  for  awhile 
appeared  to  have  been  worked  out;  but  the  same 
pluck  which  had  developed  it  came  in  play,  and  the 
gouge,  or  soft  clay  in  the  fissure,  was  followed  down 
two  hundred  feet  further,  and  the  vein  opened  better 
than  ever.  A  vein  of  sulphurets,  one  inch  in  thick 
ness,  ran  diagonally  across  the  main  lode,  that  was 
half  gold.  Immense  quantities  were  surreptitiously 
taken  by  the  workmen,  who  were  compelled  to  strip 
themselves  on  coming  out  of  the  shaft,  step  across 
the  room,  put  on  other  clothes,  leaving  the  mining 
suit  to  be  examined  by  the  inspector,  a  person 
appointed  for  the  purpose.  All  sorts  of  devices 
were  employed  to  conceal  the  gold.  One  miner 


152 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


threw  away  a  pair  of  old  boots.  The  inspector 
examined  them,  and  found  several  ounces  of  speci 
mens,  which  the  owner  expected  to  get  after  night 
fall  should  enable  him  to  get  the  boots  unobserved. 
Some  concealed  specimens  in  their  hair;  and  even 
the  anus  was  used  for  that  purpose.  A  small  quartz 
mill  was  set  up  in  an  abandoned  tunnel,  for  reducing 
rich  rock.  Notwithstanding  all  possible  vigilance 
on  the  part  of  the  superintendents,  a  great  deal  was 
stolen.  A  kind  of  demoralization  existed  among 
many  of  the  miners,  especially  those  of  foreign  birth, 
which  caused  such  abstractions  to  be  considered  as 
commendable,  sharp  tricks  rather  than  ciimes. 

A  great  number  of  persons  have  lost  their  lives 
here,  some  by  carelessness,  and  some  by  unavoidable 
accidents.  Any  one  may  see  that  familiarity  with 
danger  will  breed  contempt  for  it,  by  watching  the 
miners  going  up  or  down  the  shaft.  Three  or  four 
will  get  into  the  tub,  and  as  many  more  on  the  out 
side,  and  go  up  or  down  as  though  they  were  riding 
along  a  smooth  road  instead  of  being  suspended, 
where  a  fall  would  precipitate  them  a  thousand  feet, 
against  timbers  and  rocks.  An  indiscreet  movement 
of  the  head,  when  the  bucket  is  in  rapid  motion, 
has  resulted  in  shaving  a  man's  head  half  away. 
Sometimes  incorrect  signals  are  made  with  the  bell 
wire,  and  a  bucket  is  raised  when  it  should  be  low 
ered;  at  other  times,  a  trap  along  a  level  will  be 
left  open,  and  a  man  walking  along  with  a  dim 
light  will  "fall  a  hundred  or  two  feet,  to  be  killed  or 
maimed  for  life.  Sometimes  a  ladder  will  give 
away,  and  a  man  will  fall  from  the  carelessness  or 
awkwardness  of  the  carpenter  who  put  up  the  lad 
ders.  Some  sixty  men  had  been  lost  in  the  first 
twenty  years  of  its  working. 

Although  the  mine  was  called  the  Hayward  mine, 
several  other  men  have  had  interests  at  different 
times.  When  the  mine  was  in  debt,  partial  inter 
ests  were  disposed  of  to  obtain  necessary  means  to 
work  it. 

O.  L.  Chamberlain,  Dan  Fiddler,  Charles  McNe- 
mair,  and  A.  H.  Rose,  have  been  at  times  part 
owners.  The  latter's  interest  was  a  result  of  a  piece 
of  questionable  enterprise,  not,  however,  unusual 
with  that  smart  operator  in  quartz  mining.  In  1864 
or  1865  a  number  of  persons  were  willing  to  take  the 
usually  unprofitable  position  of  Public  Administrator. 
After  the  election  it  was  learned  that  not  only  a  share 
in  the  rich  Hayward  mine,  but  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars  in  dividends,  were  the  unclaimed  assets  of 
Charles  McNemair,  who  went  to  Frazer  river  in  1857, 
before  the  Hayward  mine  had  become  a  paying  insti 
tution,  and  was  supposed  to  be  lost.  In  due  course 
of  time  Mr.  Tynan,  the  Public  Administrator,  filed 
a  petition  for  letters  of  administration,  showing  at 
the  same  time  probable  proof  of  the  death  of  McNe 
mair,  who  was  last  seen  going  up  the  river  in  a  boat, 
which  was  reported  to  have  foundered  with  all  hands 
on  board.  A  stay  of  proceedings  was  obtained  by 
the  introduction  of  an  affidavit  to  the  effect  that 


McNemair  had  been  seen  in  British  Columbia  subse 
quently  to  the  alleged  loss  of  the  boat,  and  conse 
quently  might  be  still  living.  It  is  said  that  this 
affidavit  was  procured  by  A.  II.  Rose,  to  delay  events 
until  he  could  purchase  the  interests  of  the  different 
heirs  of  the  McNemair  estate.  At  all  events,  he  soon 
appeared  as  claimant,  he  having  sent  a  trusty  agent 
to  Illinois,  the  former  home  of  McNemair,  who  had 
purchased  the  whole  estate,  a  share  in  the  mine,  as 
well  as  the  accumulated  dividends,  for  about  three 
thousand  dollars,  a  mere  bagatelle  compared  to  its 
real  value.  What  representations  were  made  to 
effect  this  transaction  is  not  known;  but  several  visits 
were  made  to  California  by  lawyers  in  the  interests 
of  the  heirs,  and  it  was  some  years  before  the  matter 
was  hushed  up.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  no  more 
information  of  the  missing  man  was  received  after 
the  purchase  of  the  estate  by  Rose. 

After  the  mine  had  been  successfully  worked  for 
about  fifteen  years,  it  was  sold  to  a  joint-stock  com 
pany  for  six  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  was  listed 
on  the  mining  market  at  the  Stock  Exchange  as  the 
Consolidated  Amador.  The  mine  was  too  well  known 
to  be  used  as  a  bait  for  the  public,  and  was  not  called 
on  the  board  a  great  while.  The  mine  perhaps  paid 
for  itself  but  did  not  equal  the  expectation  of  the 
stockholders.  It  was  twice  burned  out,  the  immense 
amount  of  timber  in  the  mine  and  the  great  cham 
bering,  making  it  an  impossibility  to  stay  a  confla 
gration  after  it  had  once  got  fairly  started. 

The  first  of  these  fires  occurred  in  April,  1870.  It 
was  supposed  that  it  originated  from  a  lighted  candle 
being  left  on  a  timber  in  the  north  shaft.  The  men 
below  were  hoisted  out  of  the  other  shafts  and  the 
mine  closed  up.  Some  days  after  an  examination 
was  made;  a  number  of  men  going  down  the  shaft 
were  rescued  with  the  utmost  difficulty  on  account 
of  the  noxious  gasses  engendered  by  the  fire.  As 
the  lower  levels  were  still  burning,  the  shafts  were 
covered  up  and  the  hoisting  works  removed.  The 
mine  was  repaired  at  an  enormous  expense,  as  it  was 
supposed  that  the  rock  would  continue  at  an  infinite 
depth,  but  though  the  sump,  or  advanced  shaft,  was 
carried  down  to  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet,  no  ore  body  below  the  seventeen-hundred-foot 
level  was  worked.  At  that  point  the  great  lode  had 
shrunken  from  forty  to  less  than  six  feet  in  width, 
with  a  run  from  north  to  south  of  thirty  feet,  instead 
of  four  hundred  and  fifty,  and  very  moderate  in  pay 
at  that.  The  lower  sinking  failed  to  discover  any 
new  development  of  the  vein;  in  fact,  the  fissure  was 
all  that  was  found,  and  when  the  last  great  fire 
occurred,  it  was  deemed  best  to  abandon  the  locality 
and  open  the  mine  in  a  new  place,  some  six  hundred 
feet  towards  the  north,  on  the  ground  near  the  old 
Wolverine  claim,  which  had  been  many  years  before 
consolidated  with  the  Badger  and  Eureka.  The  rock 
now  being  taken  out  at  a  depth  of  four  hundred  and 
fifty  feet,  is  not  of  the  kind  formerly  found  in  the 
south  end  of  the  claim,  but  perhaps  will  pay  for 


FRUIT  f\ANCH/  RESIDENCE  OF  JOHN   NORTHUP. 

JULIEN  DISTRICT.  AMADOR  COUNTY.  CAt 


RANCH  <#*  RESIDENCE  OFA.A.VAN.SANDT. 

Tf  N5.  i  AMADOR  COU  NTY,  CAL. 


OF THE 

UNIVERSITY, 


QUARTZ  MINING. 


153 


crushing.  The  superintendent  does  not  expect  to 
find  good  rock  until  the  walls  become  well  defined. 

THE   RAILROAD    MINE 

Is  the  name  given  to  a  vein  of  quartz  some  two  or 
three  hundred  feet  east  of  the  Wolverine.  It  was 
worked  down  four  or  five  hundred  feet,  and,  though 
some  rich  rock  was  found  (a  thousand  dollars  once 
being  taken  out  of  a  candle-box  full  of  rock),  the  vein 
was  neither  rich  nor  permanent,  and  the  work  was 
suspended.  The  wall  rocks  were  hard,  with  little 
gouge,  a  surface  opening  only  being  indicated. 

THE    WILDMAN    MINE 

Was  on  the  north  side  of  the  creek.  Some  good 
rock  was  taken  out  of  this  ground,  but,  like  the 
majority  of  quartz  veins,  has  not  made  its  owners  rich. 
As  this  vein  is  located  out  of  range  with  the  other 
mines,  many  experienced  miners  believe  that  proper 
cross-cutting  towards  the  west  will  be  likely  to  strike 
a  paying  chimney. 

THE    MAHONEY. 

This  ground  was  formerly  owned  by  Hayward, 
who  thought  he  had  found  a  thousand  dollars  when 
he  sold  it  to  the  Mahoney  brothers  for  that  sum. 
Though  not  equal  to  the  Consolidated  Amador,  it 
made  very  handsome  dividends  for  a  good  many 
years.  The  vein,  forty  feet  wide  or  more,  was 
worked  down  nearly  eight  hundred  feet  when  work 
was  suspended  on  account  of  the  death  of  the  last  of 
the  four  Mahoney  brothers,  by  consumption,  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years.  A  few  years  since  it  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Senator  Stewart  of  Nevada.  Some 
sinking  was  done  by  James  Morgan  of  the  Oneida 
Mining  Company,  nothing  new  being  developed. 
The  company  erected  a  mill  near  the  hoisting  works, 
the  rock  formerly  having  been  crushed  by  a  water- 
mill  on  the  creek  some  distance  away.  At  a  depth 
of  eight  hundred  and  fifty  feet  the  vein  is  not  well 
defined,  the  walls  being  much  broken.  The  rock  is 
supposed  to  pay  only  moderately.  Those  who  saw 
this  place  in  an  early  day  would  be  ready  to  say 
that  the  quartz  veins  here  made  a  sharp  turn  to  the 
east,  into  what  is  called  Tucker  hill.  This  hill  is 
netted  with  quartz  veins  sometimes  in  slate  and  often 
in  the  hard  hanging-wall  of  the  main  range.  Some 
small  fortunes  have  been  made  out  of  the  occasion 
ally  rich  veins,  which,  though  promising  on  the  top, 
soon  pinch  out.  Nearly  all  the  ^surface  has  a  little 
gold  in  it,  and  the  gulches  in  the  vicinity  were  the 
best  around  Sutter  creek. 

The  true  direction  of  the  main  lode  may  be  seen 
by  the  cavity  made  by  the  falling  in  of  the  upper 
portion  of  the  mine  worked  twenty  years  ago. 

THE   UNION   OR   LINCOLN, 

Or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  the  Stanford  mine,  was 
the  first  discovery  in  Sutter  creek.  E.  B.  Mclntyre, 
Samuel  Hanford,  Levi  Hanford,  E.  C.  Downs,  N. 
Drew,  and  others  of  Amador,  formed  a  company  in 
20 


1851  to  hunt  a  quartz  mine.  They  first  tried  Quartz 
mountain  near  Lower  Rancheria.  This  not  proving 
satisfactory , they  divided  into  smaller  parties  and  tried 
other  places.  One  of  the  parties  came  on  the  south 
side  of  the  ridge,  Sutter  creek  then  having  about  a 
dozen  inhabitants.  Much  money  had,  even  then, 
been  expended  in  sinking  on  barren  veins,  and  the 
company  had  made  it  a  condition  that  no  shaft 
should  be  commenced  until  gold  was  found  in  the 
ledge  or  vein  in  place.  Floating  rock  with  gold  in 
it  was  found  on  the  flat  west  of  the  present  Mahoney 
and  Union  locations.  Some  narrow  veins  were  found 
on  the  hill-side  near  the  sulphuret  works,  but  these 
not  proving  satisfactory  they  ran  an  open  cut  a  few 
feet  in  depth  and  struck  the  main  lode,  in  which  they 
found  a  speck  of  gold.  As  this  satisfied  the  condi 
tions  of  the  incorporation,  a  shaft  was  commenced 
and  good  rock  soon  after  discovered,  from  which, 
with  modern  machinery,  fifty  or  seventy-five  dol 
lars  to  the  ton  could  be  extracted. 

They  found  a  company  of  men  working  quartz  on 
the  south  side  of  the  Tucker  hill,  who  set  up  a  claim 
to  the  discovery  they  had  made.  To  quiet  all  dis 
putes,  the  south  side  company,  consisting  of  Malva- 
ney,  Sherwood,  Armstrong,  and  others,  were  taken 
in,  making  the  company  which  was  thereafter  called 
the  "  Union,"  numbering  about  sixteen  men,  E.  B. 
Mclntyre  being  president,  and  N.  Drew,  secretary. 
A  water-mill  was  builfc,  near  the  present  residence  of 
R.  C.  Downs,  with  five  stamps.  This  was  the  first  mill 
in  Sutter  Creek,  the  Hayward  mill  being  next. 
David  Armstrong,  who  afterwards  built  a  saw-mill 
near  Pine  Grove,  was  the  mill-wright.  The  power 
was  a  breast-wheel,  with  a  wooden  shaft  and  wooden 
cams,  the  latter  being  set  into  the  shaft  in  mortises 
and  curved  at  the  end  to  match  the  tappits,  which 
were  also  of  wood,  set  into  mortises  in  the  square 
wooden  stems  of  the  stamps.  Armstrong  was  a 
good  mechanic,  and  the  work  was  well  done,  though 
much  power  was  lost  in  the  unavoidable  friction  of 
the  wooden  machinery.  It  worked  as  well  as  could  be 
expected,  and  something  over  expenses  was  made 
out  of  the  quartz.  The  gold  was  saved  on  blankets 
laid  along  the  sluices,  which  were  washed  every  half- 
hour.  Quicksilver  was  tried,  but  it  would  not  unite 
with  the  gold.  An  amalgamator  from  the  Nashville 
mine,  on  the  Cosumnes,  was  hired  to  superintend 
the  sluices.  He  discovered  that  the  quicksilver  was 
adulterated  with  lead;  after  this  was  gotten  rid  of 
there  was  no  difficulty  in  amalgamation. 

In  1852  the  mine  and  mill  were  leased  to  a  com 
pany  that  made  five  thousand  dollars  to  each  partner. 
After  the  expiration  of  the  lease,  the  Union  company 
again  worked  it,  Frank  Tibbetts  being  superintend 
ent.  It  was  a  common  report  that  two  million 
dollars  were  taken  out  of  the  mine  during  the  next 
eight  years,  but  the  company  became  bankrupt,  and 
in  October,  1859,  the  mine  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Leland  Stanford,  who  made  R.  C.  Downs  superin 
tendent.  Under  his  management  the  mine  became 


154 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


highly  remunerative.  It  was  now  called  the  "  Lin 
coln,"  and  was  worked  by  Downs  and  Stanford  until 
1873,  when  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  some  foreign 
capitalists,  who  put  up  a  mill  on  the  south  side  of  the 
hill,  and  made  other  inprovements.  At  present  the 
mine  is  not  worked,  the  shaft  and  pumping  machin 
ery  being  used  to  drain  the  Mahoney  mine.  In  this 
mine  the  paying  vein  was  next  to  the  hanging-wall, 
which,  as  in  the  Mahoney,  the  adjoining  mine,  was 
the  hard,  metamorphic  slate,  called  "  blue  granite  " 
by  the  miners.  A  cross  cut  into  it  indicated  no 
change  or  prospect  of  a  parallel  vein.  The  gouge 
was  on  the  foot-wall,  which  at  a  depth  of  five  or  six 
hundred  feet,  gradually  changed  to  a  quartzose  char 
acter.  The  pitch  of  the  vein  was  sixty-seven  to 
seventy  degrees  from  horizontal,  and  was  from  two 
to  twenty  feet  thick.  It  will  be  seen  that  this  cluster 
of  mines  was  practically  exhausted  at  a  depth  of 
less  than  one  thousand  feet,  though  deep  sinking 
may,  as  in  the  Hayward  mine,  reveal  a  stronger 
vein  than  the  surface  one;  the. well-defined  foot  and 
hanging-walls  favoring  the  presumption. 

The  most  startling  and  serious  accident  that  ever 
occurred  in  the  mines  in  this  county,  happened 
here,  in  1875.  The  following  account  taken  from 
the  Independent,  a  dail}7  paper  published  at  Slitter 
Creek  at  the  time,  will  be  read  with  interest: — 

"  Now  that  the  dead  and  alive  are  all  out  of  the 
mine  and  properly  cared  for,  we  shall  attempt  to 
give  a  correct  version  of  the  affair.  On  Friday 
morning,  at  seven  o'clock,  the  day  shift  were  let 
down,  consisting  of  fifteen  men,  part  of  whom  went 
on  the  three-hundred-foot,  and  part  on  the  five-hun 
dred-foot  level.  Those  on  the  first  were  working 
in  the  stope,  and  three  running  the  tunnel  toward 
the  old  south  shaft,  which  had  been  deserted  for 
upwards  of  eight  years,  and  was  filled  with  stagnant 
water  and  foul  air.  Hardly  had  the  drifters  worked 
an  hour  when  they  broke  through,  and.  at  first,  a 
small  volume  of  water  rushed  in  and  drove  them 
out.  The  alarm  was  immediately  given,  and  fore 
man  Horn,  with  another  man,  went  down.  They 
found  William  Wadge  and  Antonio  Robles  almost 
dead  from  suffocation,  and  took  them  to  the  top. 
Wadge  soon  recovered  and  was  taken  home,  while 
Robles  suffered  terribly  for  some  hours,  when  he 
was  removed,  but  died  during  the  night.  The  most 
intense  excitement  now  prevailed,  and  Superintendent 
Stewart,  Foreman  Horn,  and  others,  commenced  the 
work  of  getting  to  the  remaining  men  below.  The 
foul  air  had  become  so  strong  that  no  light  would 
burn  within  thirty  feet  of  the  three-hundred-foot 
level.  The  workmen  exerted  every  nerve  to  extri 
cate  the  now  supposed  dead  men.  Finding  that  all 
chances  were  lost  to  pass  the  first  level,  the  water 
buckets  were  put  to  use,  and  at  night  they  had 
cleared  the  water  out  to  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
five-hundred-foot  level,  yet  they  could  not  descend. 
All  night  the  work  went  on,  and  by  morning  four 
of  the  unfortunate  men  were  found.  Saturday  after 
noon  the  shaft  was  so  cleared  of  the  bad  air,  by  the 
aid  of  the  air  pumps,  that  Mr.  Horn  managed  to 
reach  the  top  of  the  lower  level. 

"About  eight  o'clock,  while  the  water  bucket  was 
down,  the  signal  rope  was  pulled  and  the  bell  rung, 
which  caused  great  excitement  above.  When  the 


bucket  arrived  at  the  top,  there  sat  upon  it  Joseph 
Bath,  and  alive.  He  sang  out  to  the  astonished 
crowd,  '  I  am  all  right,  there  are  three  more  alive 
in  the  lower  level.'  Reader,  imagine  the  scene.  We 
cannot  give  it  in  words.  The  bucket  was  lowered, 
and  up  came  the  three  other  men.  It  is  impossible 
for  us  to  give  a  description  of  the  feelings  of  the 
people  at  this  time.  Mr.  Bath  has  given  us  a  full 
account  of  the  whole  affair — at  least  what  happened, 
underground — and  in  all  history  nothing  has  ever 
come  to  our  notice  that  can  in  the  slightest  compare 
with  this.  None  of  the  men  about  the  mine  have 
a  word  of  fault  to  find  with  the  management  from 
first  to  last.  We  hear  nothing  but  praise  to  Super 
intendent  Stewart  and  Foreman  Horn  for  their  untir 
ing  perseverance.  For  over  two  days  and  nights 
Mr.  Horn  never  left  his  post,  and  not  till  the  last 
man  was  found  and  taken  out  did  the  brave  man 
have  any  rest. 

"  We  here  give  the  names  of  the  dead  and  living 
in  full.  Dead — Patrick  Frazier,  leaves  a  wife  and 
four  children,  Ireland;  John  Collier,  wife  and  five 
children,  Ireland;  Dennis  Lynch,  Ireland,  wife  and 
two  children;  William  Coombs,  England,  wife  and 
two  children;  W.  H.  Rule,  England,  single;  Gr.  B. 
Bobbino  and  Bartolomeo  Gazzolo,  single,  Italy; 
Antonio  Robles,  Mexico,  single;  Nicolas  Balulich, 
Austria,  wife  and  four  children.  Saved — Jos.  Bath, 
wife  and  four  children,  England;  Bart.  Curotto, 
wife  and  four  children,  Italy;  Stefano  Poclepovich, 
wife  and  six  children.  Italy;  AVilliam  Wadge,  wife 
and  several  children,  England;  John  O'Neil,  Ireland. 
Mr.  Frazier  had  an  insurance  of  one  thousand  dol 
lars,  and  Mr.  Collier  a  policy  of  two  thousand  dol 
lars  in  the  Phoenix  Mutual  of  Hartford. 

"Seven  were  buried  on  Sunday,  and  two  on  Mon 
day.  Never  before  has  so  much  sadness  and  sorrow 
been  mixed  .with  so  much  joy  and  hnppiness  as  has 
been  the  case  within  the  past  three  days." 

The  accident  was  evidently  owing  to  a  faulty 
survey,  which  failed  to  indicate  the  proximity  of 
the  old  works.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the  victims 
had  presentiments  of  the  danger,  and  bid  their 
families  good-bye  on  leaving  home  the  morning  of 
the  accident.  The  feelings  of  the  parties  inclosed 
in  the  drift  must  have  been  terrible.  It  was  expected 
that  all  were  dead,  but  the  drift  being  ascending, 
the  chamber  of  air  prevented  the  water  from  filling 
it.  Those  who  attempted  to  swim  out  through  the 
submerged  end  of  the  level  were  lost.  Can  imagina 
tion  conceive  a  more  terrible  situation  ? 

THE  MECHANICS'  MINE 

Was  a  vein  a  mile  east  of  the  Mother  Lode  in  the 
vicinity  of  Sutter  creek.  The  rock  was  good-look 
ing,  and  for  a  time  the  mine  was  considered  promising, 
but  it  proved  a  losing  concern,  and  is  not  worked 
at  present. 

THE    HERBERTVILLE    MINE 

Is  some  mile  or  more  north  of  the  Sutter  creek 
cluster,  the  intervening  ground  not  having  any 
strong  croppings  indicating  a  large  lode,  though 
several  shafts  have  been  sunk  on  the  thin  veins 
which  appear  at  the  surface.  The  Herbertville  is 
singular  in  having  the  loot-wall  of  the  hard  meta 
morphic  slate.  The  direction  of  this  vein  hardly 
conforms  to  the  general  trend  of  the  Mother  Lode; 


QUARTZ  MINING. 


155 


it  is  also  somewhat  out  of  range,  being  to  the  east  of 
the  other  mines;  from  these  circumstances  it  is  con 
sidered,  by  many  experienced  miners,  as  an  acci 
dental  deposit,  not  occupying  a  true  fissure.  It  was 
first  worked  in  1854,  by  Jones  &  Davis.  The  vein 
was  twenty  feet  wide  in  places,  and  had  a"  run  of 
nearly  three  hundred  feet,  pinching  out  at  the  depth 
of  six  hundred  feet.  The  rock  was  very  good,  fre 
quently  paying  forty  dollars  a  ton.  It  was  among 
the  best  mines  twenty  years  ago,  but  is  not  worked 
at  present.  If  this  was  an  accidental  vein,  it  was  a 
happy  accident — for  the  owners  at  least.  A  cross 
cut  to  the  west  might  discover  the  true  vein.  A 
boulder,  weighing  several  tons  and  quite  rich  in  gold, 
was  found,  some  years  since,  in  a  situation  which 
indicated  it  as  a  float  from  a  vein  farther  west.  E. 
B.  Mclntyre  of  Sutter  Creek  is  the  owner  of  this 
chance  for  a  mine. 

SPRING   HILL. 

Though  promising  at  the  beginning,  these  mines 
had  ruined  nearly  all  who  had  been  connected  with 
them.  "  Quartz-mine"  debts  were  harder  to  collect 
than  saw-mill  debts,  which  is  saying  a  great  deal. 
Sharp  practice  was  often  necessary  to  get  pay  for 
hay,  grain  or  timber  furnished  the  mines.  In  1857, 
Stone,  of  the  Buena  Vista  ranch,  sold  the  Spring  Hill 
Company  a  quantity  of  hay,,  but  when  he  called  for 
his  money  he  was  put  off  on  various  pretexts.  He 
was  as  shrewd  as  they  and  had  a  sheriff  watch  the 
mill,  to  attach  the  amalgam  when  it  was  taken  up. 
It  was  hidden  in  the  lower  works  out  of  his  way. 
The  sheriff  went  down  after  it.  The  mining  company 
quit  pumping  and  let  the  shaft  fill  up  with  water> 
not  soon  enough,  however,  to  save  their  amalgam. 
Stone  got  his  pay.  It  is  not  intended  to  convey  the 
idea  that  quartz  mining  is  necessarily  demoralizing, 
more  than  any  other  business  which  happens  to  be 
unprofitable.  The  mill  and  mine  (Spi'ing  Hill)  was 

owned  by  P.  M.  Eandal,  B.  F.  Pendleton,  and  

Palmer  until  1858,  when  they  finally  broke  up,  the 
creditors  taking  the  property  and  running  it  with 
success,  paying  off  the  debts,  after  which,  about 
1861,  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  Isaac  Perkins.  He 
ran  it  for  four  years  at  a  loss;  then  the  Hoopers, 
father  and  son,  tried  it  with  no  better  success.  In 
1867,  work  was  suspended  until  it  was  consolidated 
with  the  Keystone  Company's  property. 

THE    KEYSTONE. 

This  mine  has  the  most  eventful  history  of  any 
of  the  Amador  mines.  Though  never  called  on 
the  stock-boards,  it  has  almost  a  world-wide  reputa 
tion.  It  was  here  that  quartz  mining  in  this  county 
commenced,  and  here  were  made  the  first  failures  as 
well  as  successes.  In  the  history  of  the  beginning  of 
quartz  mining,  we  left  the  Spring  Hill  and  Granite 
State  making  their  first  efforts  in  the  work.  We 
have  seen  that  the  Spring  Hill  was  located  by  the 
minister  company,  consisting  of  Davidson,  Herbert, 
Glover,  and  Cool.  The  Granite  State  was  located  by 


Wheeler;  the  Walnut  Hill,  named  after  Beecher's 
famous  seminary  near  Cincinnati,  by  two  brothers 
named  Holt.  The  mill  was  in  the  house  now  used  by 
the  Keystone  company,  as  an  office  and  assaying 
room.  After  the  mill  and  mine  had  been  run  for  a 
while  at  a  loss,  the  two  brothers  proposed  to  run  it 
themselves  for  what  they  could  make  out  of  it.  They 
found  a  bonanza,  making  twenty  thousand  dollars  in 
a  short  time. 

The  Granite  State  was  located  near  the  present 
Keystone  mill;  the  Spring  Hill  towards  the  creek, 
these  mines  had,  at  first,  been  worked  with  arastras 
which  made  selected  rock  yield  one  hundred  dollars 
per  ton,  but  the  process  was  slow  and  was  abandoned, 
though  an  attempt  was  made  to  run  the  arastras  by 
water-power,  which  also  was  a  failure.  These  three 
mines  constitute  the  property  now  known  as  the 
Keystone. 

CONSOLIDATION   OP 

The  Granite  State  and  Walnut  Hill.  About  1857 
these  two  mines  had  some  share-holders  in  common, 
one  of  whom,  Samuel  Mannon,made  a  proposition  that 
they  should  consolidate,  which  was  adopted,  the  new 
company  being  called  the  Keystone;  but  the  move 
did  not  relieve  the  indebtedness  which  was  over 
whelming,  everything  being  attached  for  much  more 
than  it  was  worth.  A  mortgage  on  it  was  foreclosed, 
but  an  older  judgment,  in  the  hands  of  A.  H.  Eose 
and  Phil.  Crusart,  took  the  mine,  Eose  eventually 
becoming  sole  owner.  It  was  not  supposed  to  be  a 
paying  property,  though  it  was  worked  more  or  less, 
the  mill  being  used  for  custom  work  as  well  as  for 
the  mine.  Once  during  the  time  it  was  sold  to  Frank 
Tibbetts,  who  run  it  at  a  serious  loss,  and  the  prop 
erty  reverted  to  Eose.  In  1869  it  was  sold  to  J.  M. 
McDonald,  Michael  .Reese  and  others,  of  San  Fran 
cisco,  for  one  hundred  and  four  thousand  dollars, 
which  was  thought  by  outsiders  to  be  an  enormous 
price.  It  had  previously  been  offered  for  fifteen 
thousand  dollars,  but  the  rich  discoveries  then  being 
made  along  the  range  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Seaton 
mine  shot  quartz  up  with  alarming  rapidity.  It 
is  currently  reported  also,  that  the  Mint  receipts  for 
custom  work,  were  used  to  enhance  the  apparent 
value  of  the  mine.  At  all  events  the  first  workings 
were  a  total  failure.  The  old  proprietor  was  heard 
to  say  that  that  no  child  born  would  live  to  see  the 
mine  pay  for  itself!!  This  may  all  be  legitimate 
among  stock- dealers. 

DISCOVERY  OP   THE   BONANZA. 

Old  miners  had  suspected  another  vein  to  the  east 
in  what  was  considered  the  hanging-wall,  though 
this  opinion  was  not  shared  by  the  former  proprie 
tors.  Occasionally  a  blast  in  the  hanging-wall 
would  show  stringers  of  quartz  which  indicated 
another  deposit.  A  cross-cut  was  started,  but  a 
beginning  had  hardly  been  made  when  rich  quartz 
was  uncovered.  Quartz  in  the  hanging-wall  was  a 
novelty,  but  there  it  was  sparkling  with  gold.  The 


156 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


first  month's  crushing  paid  forty  thousand  dollars, 
and  the  next — and  ever  since  the  same.  By  select 
ing  the  best  rock  it  could  be  made  to  pay  a  million 
a  year  for  an  indefinite  time,  but  all  rock  that  will 
pay  two  dollars,  which  is  considered  about  the  cost 
of  extracting  and  crushing,  is  worked.  The  vein  is 
a  boulder  vein,  that  is,  lying  in  bunches,  kidney- 
shaped,  and  varying  in  size  from  a  few  tons  to  forty 
thousand  tons.  The  bunches  are  connected  by 
stringers.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the  boulder  vein 
in  the  Hayward  mine  was  next  the  foot-wall,  and 
was  not  uniformly  rich.  There  seems  to  be  no  rule 
governing  in  such  deposits.  The  pitch  of  the  mine 
is  about  forty-five  degrees.  The  following  figures 
from  the  actual  survey  will  give  an  idea  of  pitch. 

Distances.                    On  the  slope.      Horizontal.  Vertical. 

1st  Level 475  ft.    294.77ft.  394.23ft. 

«  ..556  358.63  424.88 

"  ...681  439.25  520.40 

" 812  523.75  620.51 

"  950  612.76  725.96 

..1080  696.61  825.30 


The  run  north  and  south  is  seven  hundred  and 
sixty-five  feet  between  the  pinches.  The  best  de 
posits  are  found  on  the  flat  portion  of  the  foot- wall, 
these  places  acting  like  a  riffle  in  retaining  the 
quartz.  Within  the  last  two  years  new  and  sub 
stantial  works  have  been  erected.  From  the  hoisting 
works  to  the  mill,  everything  is  arranged  for  con 
venience.  The  ore  falls  into  substantial  ore  houses, 
that  will  hold  a  month's  crushing,  so  that  a  repair  of 
the  shaft  or  mine  will  cause  no  delay  of  work. 

One  hundred  and  thirty  men  find  constant  em 
ployment  here.  The  rates  of  labor  have  not  varied 
much  for  twenty  years,  and  are 

For  Under-ground  Miners,  per  day, $3  00 

Laborers  above  ground,   "     "    ,...***' 2  50 

Blacksmiths  "     "    3  50 

Carpenters  "     " 4  00 

Engineers  "     "    300 

The  lumber  used  in  one  year  is  enormous: — 

5,000  round  timbers" with  sawed  lumber $26,000  00 

25,000  pieces  of  lagging,  @  $95  00  per  M.     2,375  00 

2,000  cords  of  wood  @  $6  00  per  cord 12,000  00 

It  will  be  seen  that  nearly  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  is  distributed  annually  by  this  mine  in  the 
matter  of  expenses. 


The  Assessor  furnishes  the  following  report  of  the 
proceeds  for  1879,  which  may  approximate  the  facts: 

Amount  of  rock  crushed,  in  tons 39,000 

Total  yield $451,000  00 

Expenses  claimed  by  mine 273,000  00 

"         allowed  by  Assessor 195,000  00 

BIG   GRAB. 

The  history  of  these  mines  would  be  incomplete 
without  an  account  of  the  daring  attempt,  under 
cover  of  an  agricultural  claim,  to  obtain  possession 
of  all  these  mines.  In  August,  1869,  that  portion  of 
the  county  was  surveyed  and  sectionized  by  J. 
G.  Mather,  and  the  plot  of  the  section  and  mines, 
and  other  improvements  thereon,  reported  to  the 
general  office  at  San  Francisco. 


36 


A.  H.  Rose  had  a  vineyard  and  farm  east  of  the 
town  of  Amador;  so  it  was  supposed  that  it  would  be 
on  the  east  half-section,  section  thirty-six.  As  sec 
tions  sixteen  and  thirty-six  in  each  township  had 
been  donated  to  the  State  for  school  purposes,  no 
alarm  was  raised  or  objections  interposed  when  a 
patent  for  the  east  half-section  was  applied  for,  and 
obtained  from  the  State;  though  the  fact  that  Henry 
Casey,  instead  of  A.  H.  Rose,  the  actual  owner  of 
the  vineyard,  applied  for  and  obtained  the  deed  to 
the  land,  Rose  acting  as  his  business  agent,  would 
naturally  cause  inquiry  and  suspicion  of  fraud. 

The  plot,  as  subsequently  corrected,  and  now  on 
file  in  the  State  Surveyor  General's-  office  at  San 
Francisco,  is  as  follows: — 


31 


Section  36,  T.  7  N.,  B.  10  E. 


T.  7  N.,  R.  11  E 


(UNIVERSITY; 

y.  OF  Jr 


QUARTZ  MINING. 


157 


When  the  plot  had  been  consummated  Henry  Casey 
disappeared,  and  A.  H.  Kose  appeared,  armed  with 
a  deed  from  the  State,  as  the  claimant  for  millions 
worth  of  property.  It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  the 
matter  through  the  courts.  It  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  it  was  finally  carried  up  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior.  The  following,  from  the  Washington  cor 
respondent  of  the  Sacramento  Union,  will  give  a  clear 
idea  of  the  dangers  the  Amadorians  have  surmounted: 

"  WASHINGTON,  April  9,  1873. 

"  Extraordinary  professional  and  lobby  interests 
are  being  organized  and  concentrated  here  by  A. 
H.  Kose,  to  bear  upon  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
in  the  important  case  of  the  Keystone  Consolidated 
Mining  Company,  the  Original  Amador  Mining  Com 
pany,  Bunker  Hill  Quartz  Company,  and  the  town 
site  of  Amador,  against  the  State  of.  California. 
The  purpose  is  to  secure  a  reversal  of  the  decision  of 
the  General  Land  Office,  whereby  to  turn  over  to 
Eose  and  his  associates  property  worth  millions  of 
dollars,  for  which  the  nominal  sum  of  four  hundred 
dollars  was  partly  paid  by  Henry  Casey,  the  alleged 
grantee  from  the  State.  The  case  involves  extraor 
dinary  features,  apparent  frauds,  as  well  as  a  princi 
ple  of  the  utmost  importance  to  thousands  of  mine- 
owners  and  mines  in  controversy,  situated  on  the 
Mother  Lode  of  California,  which  have  been  worked 
since  1850.  Eose  sold,  for  one  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  dollars,  the  Keystone  mine,  and  he  now 
seeks  to  recover  it  in  the  name  of  Casey.  The  town 
of  Amador  was  founded  in  1850,  its  site,  and  all 
the  mines  situated  upon  the  east  half-section  of  sec 
tion  thirty-six,  township  seven  north,  range  ten 
east,  Mt.  Diablo  meridian.  In  1870  certain  parties 
procured  a  United  States  survey  of  that  township, 
and,  it  is  alleged,  induced  the  Deputy  Surveyor,  by 
fraudulent  field  notes,  to  represent  the  mines  and 
town  as  located  upon  the  west  half  of  the  section. 
This  was  to  deceive  occupants,  so  as  to  induce 
them  to  apply  for  the  wrong  tract,  while  the  specu 
lators  could,  without  opposition,  purchase  from  the 
State  for  four  hundred  dollars,  and  receive  a  patent 
for  the  tract  on  which  these  properties  were  actually 
located.  The  fraud  was  discovered  and  exposed  by 
abundant  proofs,  demonstrating  unquestionably  the 
surveyor's  infidelity,  in  returning  as  agricultural 
land  the  richest  half-section  of  mineral  land  ever  dis 
covered.  The  patent  not  having  been  issued,  the  bona 
fide  mining  claimants  and  town  authorities  immedi 
ately  applied  to  the  Land  Department  for  patents 
under  the  mineral  and  town  site  laws,  but  the 
would-be  purchasers  from  the  State  then  boldly 
claimed  that  the  School  Land  Act  of  March  3,  1853, 
was  a  grant  en  presente  of  both  surveyed  and  unsur- 
veyed,  and  both  mineral  and  agricultural,  lands  com 
prised  in  the  sixteenth  and  thirty-sixth  sections  of 
every  township,  and  consequently  that  the  mineral 
lands  in  controversy  situated  in  the  thirty-sixth  sec 
tion,  passed  to  the  State  immediately  on  the  passage 
of  the  Act  of  1853.  To  this  it  in  replied  that  min 
eral  lands  were  excluded  from  the  grants  to  the 
State;  that  the  State  title  did  not  vest  in  any  lands 
uniil  surveyed,  there  being  prior  thereto  BO  sections 
sixteen  and  thirty-six;  the  Act  of  1853  provided  that  as 
to  mineral  lands  only  township  lines  should  be  run, 
which  provision  was  not  repealed  until  July  9,  1870; 
that  it  was  competent  for  Congress,  before  vested 
rights  attached,  to  make  a  diiferent  appropriation  of 
the  lands;  that  before  the  survey  Congress  did,  by 
the  Act  of  July  26,  1866,  make  a  different  appro 


priation  of  the  mineral  lands;  that  if  this  were  not 
so,  yet  the  particular  tract  in  controversy  was 
expressly  excepted  from  the  State  grant  by  the 
seventh  section  of  the  Act  of  1853,  by  reason  of  its 
settlement  and  the  erection  of  dwelling-houses 
thereon  prior  to  the  survey.  The  local  land  officers 
and  the  Commission-General  of  the  Land  Office 
decided  against  the  pretentious  of  the  private  claim 
ants  who  use  the  State's  name,  and  the  case  is  now 
pending  on  appeal  before  the  Secretary  of  the  In 
terior.  The  danger  grows  out  of  the  fact  that  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  California,  in  the  case 
of  Sherman  against  Buck,  decided  that  the  Act  of 
1853  did  vest  title  to  all  sixteenth  and  thirty -sixth 
sections  in  the  State  prior  to  the  survey.  And 
although  it  is  believed  the  court  will  grant  a  rehear 
ing  and  reverse  that  decision,  its  action,  neverthe 
less,  lends  color  of  support  to  the  attempt  now  making 
to  obtain  possession  of  the  Amador  mines  and  estab 
lishes  a  principle  fraught  with  immense  danger  to 
thousands  of  other  interests.  Eose  is  here  person 
ally  pressing  the  case,  in  addition  to  Wm.  H.  Patter 
son  and  other  well-known  California  lawyers  and 
lobbyists  to  assist  in  its  prosecution.  It  is  probable 
dilatory  tactics  will  be  employed  to  postpone  the  decis 
ion  of  this  tainted  claim  until  the  Benjamin  Snelling 
case  from  the  Marysville  district  can  be  presented  to 
the  Secretary  for  a  decision  of  the  naked  question  of 
the  right  of  the  State  to  the  sixteenth  and  thirty- 
sixth  sections  of  mineral  lands;  so  that  if  the  right  of 
the  State  is  affirmed,  it  will  be  comparatively  easy  to 
find  a  pretext  for  deciding  Eose's  case  in  his  favor. 
The  question  has  a  vital  importance  to  all  mineral 
occupants  on  the  sixteenth  and  thirty-sixth  sections. 
If  the  mineral  claimants  in  either  the  Keystone  or 
Snelling  cases  are  defeated,  then  all  mines  upon  simi 
larly  numbered  subdivisions,  or  which  upon  future 
survey  may  prove  to  be  so  numbered,  are  at  the 
mercy  of  the  first  applicant  to  purchase  from  the 
State  at  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  an  acre.  It 
is  represented  here  that  the  parties  who  are  initiated 
in  this  speculation  have  already  taken  the  requisite 
steps  to  file  the  first  applications  for  all  similar  sec 
tions  throughout  the  State.  The  same  dangers 
threaten  mineral  occupants  in  every  other  mineral 
State." 

"  WASHINGTON,  April  28,  1873. 
"  The  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to-day  decided  the 
very  important  and  much  contested  cases  of  the  Key 
stone  Mining  Company  et.  al.,  vs.  State  of  California, 
and  of  Benjamin  Snelling  vs.  the  State  of  California, 
both  of  which  involved  the  question  whether  the 
grant  to  said  State  of  sections  sixteen  and  thirty 
six  for  school  purposes  by  the  Act  of  March  3,  1853, 
included  said  sections  when  they  were  on  mineral 
lands.  The  Secretary  held,  first,  that  the  title  to 
said  sections  sixteen  and  thirty-six  does  not  vest  in 
the  State  until  survey  has  been  made,  which  brings 
into  existence  and  locates  said  section,  and  that  said 
minir.g  companies,  having  appropriated  said  lands 
under  the  Act  of  July  26,  1866,  prior  to  such  survey, 
they  had  the  better  right.  Second,  that  the  seventh 
section  of  the  Act  of  1853  exceptsfrom  the  grant  all 
of  sections  sixteen  and  thirty-six,  on  which  there 
had  been,  prior  to  the  survey,  a  settlement  by  the 
erection  of  a  dwelling-house  or  the  cultivation  of  any 
portion  of  the  land,  and  that  the  settlement  referred 
to  was  technically  known  as  pre-emption  settlement. 
Third,  that  the  grant  was  not  intended  to  include, 
and  does  not  include,  said  sections  when  they  are  on 
mineral  lands.  The  decision  was  given  against  the 
State  in  both  cases." 


158 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Extraordinary  reports  are  current  as  to  the  means 
by  which  this  fraudulent  survey  was  accomplished. 
J.  G.  Mather  was  not  in  the  field  at  the  time,  though 
his  name  was  attached  to  the  plot  returned  to  the 
office.  His  deputies  were  Uri  Nurse  and  Marcellus 
Nurse,  father  and  son,  the  latter  doing  the  work. 
Some  say  the  survey  was  made  by  moonlight;  others 
that  a  lantern  was  used,  and  some  go  so  far  as  to 
name  the  persons  who  acted  as  chain  and  torch 
bearers  in  these  midnight  surveys.  Young  Nurse  is 
reported  as  saying  that  he  made  fifteen  thousand 
dollars  during  the  season.  Mather  is  made  to  bear 
the  responsibility,  and  has  not  since  been  employed 
by  the  Government  in  any  work,  nor  is  he  likely 
to  be. 

The  contest  was  finally  terminated  November  22, 
1880. 

"  In  the  case  Ivanhoe  Mining  Company  vs.  Key 
stone  Consolidated  Company,  the  Supreme  Court 
held  that  in  the  grant  of  the  sixteenth  and  thirty- 
sixth  sections  of  the  public  lands  to  the  State  of 
California  for  school  purposes,  the  title  to  the  mineral 
lands  did  not  pass,  for  the  reason  that  it  was  the 
established  policy  of  the  Government  to  withhold  the 
mineral  lands  from  sale,  and  that  in  this  case  the 
land  in  question,  having  been  improved  before  the 
survey,  it  was  exempt  from  sale  by  reason  of  section 
seven  of  such  law." 

The  owners  of  mines  and  houses  on  the  famous 
thirty-sixth  section  may  now  rest,  secure  in  the 
results  of  their  industry. 

THE   ORIGINAL   AMADOR, 

Sometimes  called  the  Little  Amador,  is  the  mine  on 
the  north  side  of  the  creek,  which  was  taken  up  by 
Thomas  Rickey  and  son  in  February,  1851.  This 
mine  was  about  the  first  to  pay  dividends,  J.  T. 
Burke,  still  living  in  Amador,  being  thesuperintend- 
dent.  In  1854,  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  some 
Germans,  who  ran  it  until  1857,  when  it  gradually 
failed,  work  being  totally  suspended  in  1858.  In  the 
meantime  it  was  sold  to  Haverstick  and  Leninger  of 
lone,  the  latter  soon  becoming  the  sole  owner,  the 
mine  at  this  time  being  valued  at  only  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars.  J.  T.  Burke,  the  first  superintend- 
dent,  leased  the  mine  from  Leninger,  giving  him  half 
the  profits.  His  knowledge  of  the  mine  enabled  him 
to  pay  Leninger  the  sum  of  eight  thousand  dollars 
forjiis  share  of  the  profits.  After  the  expiration  of 
the  lease,  work  was  suspended  until  1862,  when  J.  T. 
Burke  bought  it  for  three  thousand  dollars,  one-third 
down,  balance  in  installments.  The  mine  paid  for  a 
short  time,  but  the  rock  failing,  it  went  back  to 
Leninger,  who  sold  it  to  John  C.  Faul  for  a  nominal 
price.  The  mine  was  developed  under  his  manage 
ment,  the  hoisting  works  and  mill  being  rebuilt. 
The  reputation  of  the  mine  was  such  that  it 
was  sold  to  an  English  company  in  1870,  for  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  It  is  not  considered 
a  paying  property.  Work  is  nearly  suspended 
at  present.  Old  miners  think  that  a  cross-cut 


to  the  west  might  strike  a  paying  vein.  The 
present  works  are  near  the  hanging-wall.  A  shaft  is 
now  being  sunk  on  the  summit,  near  the  Bunker 
Hill  ground.  The  hoisting  is  done  with  a  wire  cable 
from  the  old  hoisting  works  nearly  a  thousand  feet 
away. 

THE    BUNKER    HILL. 

This  is  one  of  the  mines  included  in  the  famous 
thirty-sixth  section,  a  portion  of  the  ground  being  on 
the  doubtful  tract.  Superintendent  Palmer  furnishes 
the  following  information  about  the  mine:  It  was 
worked  in  1851,  by  Snediker,  Briggs,  and  others,  mak 
ing  the  quartz  pay  twenty  dollars  per  ton,  until  the 
works  were  carried  down  some  depth.  It  is  now  four 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  deep,  with  two  veins  of  paying 
rock.  The  vein  next  to  the  hanging-wall  is  about 
five  feet  thick.  The  second  one  varies  from  one  foot 
to  thirty  feet  in  thickness,  and  is  what  is  called  a 
chimney,  dipping  to  the  north  about  forty-five 
degrees.  The  hanging- wall  is  well  defined  and  reg 
ular;  the  foot-wall  being  somewhat  broken.  The 
general  pitch  is  about  twenty-eight  degrees  from  a 
perpendicular.  The  two  veins  are  about  sixty  feet 
apart,  no  gold  being  found  in  the  slates  between 
the  veins.  The  sulphurets,  constituting  about  three 
per  cent,  of  the  entire  rock,  are  worth  about  eighty 
dollars  per  ton,  this  being  about  one-tenth  of  the 
entire  product,  which  at  these  figures  would  be  about 
twenty-five,  dollars  per  ton.  The  rock  shows  an 
improvement  as  a  greater  depth  is  reached. 

New  hoisting  works,  mill  and  chlorination  works 
are  being  erected,  and  a  new  shaft  is  being  sunk. 
The  mill  is  to  have  forty  stumps  run  by  water-power, 
and  everything  is  to  be  substantial  and  first-class. 
The  property  is  owned  by  a  joint-stock  company  and 
bids  fair  to  be  highly  remunerative. 

There  are  no  mines  of  note  for  some  distance  north 
of  the  Bunker  Hill;  though  several  shafts  have  been 
sunk  no  valuable  lodes  were  opened. 

THE   PENNSYLVANIA. 

This  mine  was  worked  by  J.  W.  Pierson,  of  Oakland. 
Either  bad  management  or  other  causes  have  given 
it  an  unenviable  reputation.  About  a  year  since, 
fortunately  while  there  was  no  one  in  the  works,  it 
caved  in,  the  whole  works  collapsing.  As  the  mine 
is  being  dismantled  it  is  likely  that  it  was  not  found 
profitable. 

THE    GOVER. 

This  is  an  old  mine  with  a  varied  experience,  the 
balance  generally  being  on  the  wrong  side  of  the 
ledger.  It  has  been  worked  to  a  depth  of  one  thou 
sand  and  thirty  feet;  has  two  veins,  the  one  next  the 
hanging-wall  about  seven  feet  thick  containing  the 
pay.  The  pitch  is  about  forty-five  degrees.  The 
vein  one  hundred' and  thirty  feet  west  is  about  four 
feet  thick  and  does  not  contain  much  gold.  A  cross 
cut  at  seven  hundred  feet  showed  no  improvement  in 
the  west  vein;  at  this  depth  the  eastern  or  hanging- 


QUARTZ   MINING. 


159 


wall  vein  was  good,  averaging  twelve  dollars  and  a 
half  per  ton,  but  gradually  became  poorer  as  a  greater 
depth  was  reached.  The  west  vein  was  not  tested 
below  the  seven-hundred-foot  level. 

There  is  no  appearance  of  a  chimney  in  this  mine, 
the  vein  maintaining  about  the  same  width  on  a  run 
of  seven  hundred  feet.  This  is  a  solitary  case,  every 
other  paying  vein  being  in  the  shape  of  a  channel, 
chute,  or  chimney.  The  hoisting  works  and  water- 
power  mill  (twenty  stamp)  are  substantial  and  well 
arranged.  The"  town,  called  New  Chicago,  built  up 
on  the  strength  of  this  and  the  adjoining  mines,  is 
distressingly  quiet.  There  is  a  prospect  (January  1, 
1881)  of  the  Gover  resuming  work. 

THE    BLACK    HILLS. 

This  is,  to  some  extent,  a  repetition  of  Murphy's 
ridge  in  the  southern  part  of  the  county,  the  veins 
being  irregular  in  location  and  very  much  so  in  their 
value.  Immense  sums  have  been  taken  out  by  the 
Italians,  Austrians  and  Mexicans,  who  have  been 
working  this  section  for  twenty  years  or  more.  There 
is  a  strong  hanging-wall  but  no  foot-wall  except  the 
ordinary  slate.  Sometimes  the  quartz  shows  in  large 
chimneys  of  barren  rock  a  hundred  feet  thick;  at 
other  times  it  ramifies  into  a  thousand  seams  all 
containing  gold.  The  hills  have  been  sluiced,  hydrau- 
liced,  coyoted,  and  tunnelled  and  worked  in  every 
way  conceivable,  and  still  a  great  number  of  men 
make  a  living  for  their  families,  most  of  whom  live 
in  the  hollows  below  the  mine  in  a  primitive  style? 
with  goats  and  children  swarming  over  the  hills. 
Efforts  have  been  made  to  mine  this  scientifically, 
and  long  tunnels  have  been  run  under  or  down  the 
hanging-wall,  which  has  a  slope  of  about  forty-five 
degrees,  but  the  Mexican  with  his  crow-bar  and 
bataya  still  holds  the  country.  The  gulches  heading 
against  this  quartz  reef  were  all  rich,  clear  to  the 
summit,  and  it  was  by  following  up  these  that  the 
rich  threads  of  quartz  interlacing  the  hill  were  found. 

THE    SEATON    MINE. 

Twenty  years  ago  this  was  a  power  in  the  land.  It 
was  immensely  rich  in  places.  It  adjoins  the  Black 
hills  on  the  north.  The  same  rule  as  at  the  other 
mines  in  this  cluster  holds  good,  i.  e.,  a  strong  hanging- 
wall.  A  mill  and  hoisting  works  were  erected,  and 
the  results  were  such  as  to  make  a  boom  in  quartz;  a 
million  of  dollars  seeking  investment  in  the  county 
in  a  short  time.  Some  of  these  ventures  have  proved 
failures,  others  exceeded  the  most  sanguine  expecta 
tions  of  the  investors.  The  mine  is  owned  by  an 
English  company,  and  at  present  is  not  paying 
dividends,  but  perseverance  may  uncover  another 
bonanza  which  will  repay  them  for  all  their  toil. 
THE  POTOSI. 

This  mine  was  developed  by  the  Hinksons  of 
Drytown,  and  for  many  years  was  a  source  of  profit, 
if  not  of  fortunes.  The  wall  rock  on  the  east  is 
here  broken  off,  and  for  two  miles,  or  until  Plymouth 
is  reached,  the  veins  are  scattered,  spreading  in 


some  instances  to  two  thousand  feet  in  width.  Some 
mills  have  been  erected,  and  though  occasional  runs 
have  been  made  which  were  profitable,  the  mines 
in  general  proved  a  poor  investment.  Most  of  the 
veins  are  held  by  persons  too  poor  to  sink  on  them, 
the  prospects  not  being  good  enough  to  induce  cap 
italists  to  invest.  Some  of  the  veins,  with  econom 
ical  management,  may  pay  for  working  at  the  top, 
and  thus  pay  for  testing  them. 

QUARTZ    MOUNTAIN. 

Although  this  is  not  usually  considered  on  the 
range,  or  Mother  Lode,  it  is  most  convenient  to 
consider  it  here.  It  is  an  immense  body  of  quartz 
covering  twenty  acres  or  more  of  ground.  It  seems 
to  be  a  vein,  perhaps  one  hundred  feet  thick,  and 
perhaps  a  thousand  feet  long,  which,  from  its  original 
inclination,  has  fallen  over  to  the  eastward,  as  much 
as  twenty  acres  lying  nearly  flat,  forming  a  promi 
nent  object  for  miles  around.  It  early  attracted  the 
attention  of  quartz  miners,  and  was  examined  and 
claimed  in  1851,  at  the  time  of  the  first  quartz 
excitement.  The  ravines  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
were  not  rich,  although  a  three-hundred-dollar 
lump  is  said  to  have  been  found  in  the  long  gulch 
running  from  it  towards  the  creek.  It  is  rock  of  a 
peculiar  character,  being  much  purer,  and  more 
compact  than  the  quartz  of  the  Mother  Lode.  The 
bullion  from  it  is  of  low  value,  being  worth  only  ten 
or  twelve  dollars  to  the  ounce,  and  very  light,  forty 
per  cent,  of  it  being  silver,  on  which  account  it  is 
hard  to  save.  The  quartz,  notwithstanding  its  favor 
able  appearance,  has  not  yet  milled  above  two  dol 
lars  per  ton,  and  has  proved  a  losing  business  to 
all  persons  engaged  in  it.  The  ore  has  been  treated 
in  every  possible  method,  but  the  successful  reduc 
tion  of  it  has  not  yet  been  accomplished.  The  sul- 
phurets  are  extremely  rich,  being  worth  five  or  six 
hundred  dollars  a  ton.  South  of  the  Quartz  mountain 
the  country  has  been  .very  rich  in  coarse  gold.  Some 
quartz  veins  crop  out  on  the  heads  of  Deep  and 
Indian  gulches,  which  have  the  same  pitch  to  the 
west  that  characterizes  the  Quartz  mountain,  and 
are  probably  a  part  of  the  same  formation.  As 
Rancheria  creek  above  the  town  contains  liJLtle 
gold,  and  there  is  little  indication  of  an  ancient 
river  bed  in  this  vicinity,  it  is  highly  probable  that 
Deep  and  Indian  gulches,  as  well  as  the  flats  around, 
were  enriched  by  the  system  of  quartz  veins,  to 
which  Quartz  mountain  belongs.  Mack  Culbert  and 
sons  are  working  a  vein  on  the  hill  above  Indian 
gulch,  with  fair  prospects  of  making  it  pay.  It  is 
likely  that  a  thorough  search  will  discover  workable 
veins.  Reference  was  made  to  this  mountain  in  the 
article  on  quartz  veins. 

PLYMOUTH  GROUP  OF  MINES. 

It  is  more  convenient  to  consider  them  under  one 
heading,  although  there  are  several  incorporations, 
the  management  being  by  one  set  of  men.  The  situa 
tion  of  the  mines  will  be  understood  by  a  diagram: — 


160 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


The  Plymouth  mine  was  discovered  by  Green 
Aden  in  1853  or  1854.  The  mine,  then  called  the 
Phoenix,  was  developed  by  the  Hoopers,  and  was 
worked  by  them  until  1871,  when  it  passed  into  the 
hands  of  Hayward,  D.  O.  Mills  and  Company.  It 
was  then  worked  under  the  superintendence  of 
Charles  Green,  who  developed  it  into  its  present 
profitable  condition.  The  mine  is  singular  in  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  site  of  a  glacier  erosion,  which 
smoothed  down  every  rock,  however  hard  or  soft, 
leaving  none  of  the  hard  reefs  so  prominent  in  con 
nection  with  other  paying  quartz  veins.  A  reef  of 
rocks  across  the  lower  end  of  the  valley,  west  of 
Puckerville,  formed  the  moraine  or  terminal  line  of 
the  erosion. 

The  ordinary  hanging-wall  is  thought  to  be  some 
six  hundred  feet  to  the  east  of  the  vein,  but  as  a  drift 
has  been  run  only  eighty  feet  in  that  direction,  the 
hanging-wall  may  be  much  nearer  than  is  supposed. 
The  vein,  which  averages  fifty-two  feet  in  thickness, 
had  a  moderate  slope  towards  the  east,  until  it 
reached  a  depth  of  one  thousand  feet,  when  it  sud 
denly  became  much  flatter,  having  a  slope  of  about 
forty-five  degrees.  The  richest  quartz  was  found  on 
this  slope,  there  being  a  sudden  increase  in  quality 
as  well  as  quantity  at  this  bend.  A  nother  peculiarity 
of  the  mine  is  that  the  pay  chimney  runs  towards 
the  south.  .  In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to 
speak  of  the  lawsuit  now  pending  for  trespass  and 
damage.  Though  Alvinza  Hayward  is  a  principal 
owner  in  both  the  Empire  and  Pacific,  other  stock 
holders  have  interests  in  but  one,  and  in  working 
down  on  the  chimney,  which  runs  into  the  Pacific,  the 
Empire  men  received  profits  which  accrued  from  the 
Pacific  ground;  hence  a  suit  for  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  dollars  damage.  The  Empire  acknowl 
edged  a  demand  for  eighty  thousand  dollars,  but  this 
did  not  satisfy  the  Pacifies.  To  complicate  matters 
still  more,  the  Merchants'  Exchange  Bank  of  San 
Francisco,  through  some  business  complications  with 
Hayward,  stepped  in  as  an  intervener,  and  the  suit 
became  a  triangular  duel.  An  army  of  lawyers  and 
short-hand  reporters  was  brought  up  from  San 
Francisco  and  quartered  around  Jackson.  Two 
thousand  pages  of  testimony  were  taken  to  be  used 
in  the  higher  courts,  for  this  was  but  the  beginning 
or  skirmishing  line  in  the  war.  Those  who  have 
never  read  the  account  of  the  "triangular  duel'1  in 
Captain  Maryatt's  "  Midshipman  Easy,"  may  get  an 
idea  of  this  suit  by  imagining  a  three-handed  game 
of  euchre,  all  parties  playing  against  Hayward,  who 
was  bound  to  be  euchred  in  any  event,  having  the 
most  of  the  cost  (o  pay.  An  award  of  seventy-one 
thousand  dollars  damage  was  made  by  Judge  Moore, 


before  whom  the  case  was  tried,  and  the  matter  is 
still  running  through  the  courts. 

The  chimney  at  the  depth  of  twelve  hundred  feet 
has  gone  five  hundred  and  ninety-two  feet  to  the 
south,  at  which  point  hoisting  works  of  the  most 
substantial  kind  are  being  constructed,  the  shaft 
being  square,  with  four  compartments.  The  tall 
tower  stands  over  the  shaft,  a  prominent  feature  in 
the  landscape.  This  elevation  is  to  give  room  for 
waste  rock  that  often  accumulates  to  an  inconven 
ient  degree  around  mining  works.  The  eighty-stamp 
mill,  the  largest  in  the  county,  is  run  by  water- 
power,  the  canal  being  a  portion  of  the  company's 
works.  A  large  portion  of  the  timber  and  lagging 
used,  comes  down  the  canal,  which  receives  its  sup 
ply  of  water  from  the  Cosumnes  river.  About  four 
thousand  tons  of  rock  are  crushed  each  month,  yield 
ing  forty  thousand  dollars  or  upwards. 

Like  other  large  mines,  this  consumes  a  great 
amount  of  material,  the  yearly  demand  being — 

3,500  cords  of  wood  valued  at $21,000 

7,000  pieces  of  round  timber. 21,000 

35,000  pieces  of  lagging 3,500 

In  addition  to  this,  half  as  much  may  be  reckoned 
for  dimension  timbers  for  new  works  on  the  surface. 
The  names  of  some  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  are 
on  the  pay-roll. 

ENTERPRISE. 

North  of  the  Plymouth  group  the  mines  have  not 
been  developed,  though  there  are  indications  of 
extensive  quartz  deposits.  Indian  creek,  which 
follows  nearly  the  course  of  the  quartz  lodes,  was 
quite  rich,  as  were  the  side  gulches  putting  into  it. 
A  few  j^ears  since  a  town  was  started  on  the  pros 
pects  of  the  Enterprise  mine,  which  flourished  for  a 
time,  but  when  the  work  was  suspended  the  place 
shrunk  away.  The  mines  along  this  range  seem  full 
of  water,  the  west  or  foot- wall  (the  west  bank  of 
Indian  creek)  having  numerous  springs,  which  may 
come  from  extensive  mineral  deposits  on  that  side. 
A  mineral  lode  has  once  been  a  water  channel  though 
subsequent  erosions  and  cleavages  may  have  changed 
its  course. 

NASHVILLE. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  Cosumnes  is  the  place 
called  Nashville,  formerly  Quartzburg,  which,  though 
in  El  Dorado  county,  may  be  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  Amador  mines  as  being  the  extension  and 
probable  termination  on  the  north,  as  the  Gwin  mine 
is  on  the  south,  of  that  remarkable  deposit  which 
we  have  endeavored  to  describe,  called  the  Mother 
Lode  in  Amador  county,  as  north  of  the  Nashville 
group,  and  south  of  the  Gwin  mine,  the  quartz 
deposits  are  irregular  and  cannot  compare,  in  pro- 


QUARTZ  MINING  EAST  OF  THE  MOTHER  LODE. 


161 


ductiveness  or  regularity,  with  the  mines  between 
the  two  named  points.  This  mine  was  worked  at  an 
earlier  day  than  any  of  the  Amador  mines,  as  the 
mill  was  a  model  for  some  of  them.  The  mine  was 
developed  by  Dr.  Harris  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  who 
sunk  for  his  company  some  forty  thousand  dollars. 
The  first  power  used  was  steam,  but  afterwards  a 
dam  was  thrown  across  the  river  at  a  cost  of  thirty 
thousand  dollars,  which  was  a  needless  expense,  as 
a  small  canal  a  mile  or  two  in  length,  has  since  been 
equal  to  the  power  gained  by  the  dam.  During  the 
Summer  of  1851  a  man  by  the  name  of  Eustice,  from 
Missouri,  discovered  a  rich  vein  near  Nashville, 
which  he  allowed  the  Mexicans  to  work  for  a  royalty, 
which  was  an  arrangement  that  they  should  purchase 
their  supplies  of  him,  which  condition  they  generally 
observed.  The  Mexicans  worked  the  rock  with 
arastras,  with  which  they  are  experts,  and  made  it 
pay  much  better  than  did  the  mill  men  who  came 
after  them.  As  many  as  thirty  or  forty  of  these 
might  be  seen  grinding  at  a  time.  Perhaps  two 
hundred  men,  women,  and  children  were  congre 
gated  around  the  mine,  which  pinched  out  at  a  depth 
of  about  a  hundred  feet.  The  arrangement  was 
mutually  satisfactory  and  profitable,  and  Eustice  car 
ried  away  about  sixteen  thousand  dollars  for  his 
share.  The  mines  are  not  worked  at  present,  and 
seem  never  to  have  been  as  rich  and  asextensiveas  the 
mines  in  Amador  county.  This  closes  the  account  of 
the  great  Mother  Lode  as  it  exists  in  Amador  county. 
In  the  chapter  on  the  formation  of  mineral  veins, 
reference  to  the  mines  is  occasionally  made. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 
QUARTZ  MINING  EAST  OF  THE  MOTHER  LODE. 

Downs  Mine — Mark  lee — Tellurium — Thayer — Clinton  Mines — 
Mace  Range  of  Mines — Pioneer  and  Golden  Gate  Mines — 
Quartz  Veins  West  of  the  Mother  Lode — Kirkendall — Soap- 
Stone  or  Steatite  Mine — Quartz  Mining  in  the  Future — 
Put  Money  in  Thy  Purse — School  Cabinets — Copper  Min 
ing — General  Craze — Country  Formed  into  Districts — Funny 
Notices — New  Towns — Result  of  the  General  Search — 
Chrome  Iron — Failure  of  Meader — Remarkable  Discovery — 
Present  Condition  of  Copper  Mining. — Newton  Mine. 

No  man  who  has  made  gold  mining  a  subject  for 
thought,  ever  doubted  that  the  gold  found  in  our 
gulches  and  rivers  originally  came  from  the  quartz 
veins.  When  the  news  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
the  quartz  at  Sutter  Creek  and  other  places  was 
learned,  the  belief  that  the  quartz  veins  on  the  upper 
range  of  placers,  which  were  not  inferior  in  richness 
to  the  lower  ones,  became  general.  Soldiers'  gulch 
had  several  veins  crossing  it,  and  so  had  numerous 
other  rich  placers.  Quartz  boulders,  with  gold 
riveted  through  and  through  them,  were  sometimes 
found,  as  well  as  rough  quartz,  which  did  not  appear 
to  have  been  moved  any  great  distance  from  the 
vein.  Small  veins  were  found  with  considerable 
gold  in  them,  and  in  1867  there  were  not  less  than 
one  hundred  stamps  in  operation  within  a  few  miles 
21 


of  Yolcano,  and  nearly  two  hundred  on  the  upper 
range.  The  following  table  will  show  that  the  upper 
veins  were  being  fully  tried: — 


Location  in 
Amador  county 

Name  of  Mill. 

M 

i  •< 
"  1 

&§ 

/ 

: 

or 

£ 

No.  Arastra. 

Power 

Cost. 

Present  Occupants. 

Amador  City  . 
Clinton  '.'. 

Amador  
Bunker  Hill.. 
Fleeharti  
Hazard   

1856 
1855 
1866 
1857 
1856 
iS56 
1865 

HI 
8 
Id 
8 

4r. 

to 

111 

steam 
s  &  w 
steam 
water 
steam 
s  &  w 
steam 

s  &  w 
water 
s  &  w 

steam 
water 

steam 

water 

s  &  w 
water 

S  &  W 

water 
s  &  w 
water 

steam 
s  &  w 

steam 
^ater 
<'  earn 

10.000 
12,000 
10,0:)0 
6000 
40,000 
40,000 
10,000 
10,000 
20,000 
10,00(! 
100,000 
10,00€ 
10,000 
8,000 
5,000 
10,000 
40,000 
7,500 
10,000 
15,000 
10,000 
10,000 
40,000 
10,000 
15,000 
20,000 
10,000 
12,000 
9,000 
10,000 
20,000 
8,000 
4,000 
20,OCO 
15,000 
20,000 
9,000 
8,00(i 
5.0CO 
8,000 

Middleton  &  Co. 
William  A.  Palmer. 
Gardner  &  Fleehart. 
Gardner  &  Fleehart. 
Gashwilder  &  Co. 
Hooper  &  Co. 
W.  J.  Paugh. 
E.  T.  Steen. 
Hooper  &  Co. 
Creed  &  Wood. 
Seaton  M.  Co. 
Ragon  &  Co. 
C.  T.  Mea'Jer. 
S.  C.  Fogus. 
C.  T.  Meader. 
Tubbs  &  Co. 
•James  Morgan. 
Biuno  &  Co. 
Gushing,  Ryder  &  Co. 
Hurst  &  Co. 
A.  Hay  ward. 
R.  C.  Downs. 
A.  Hayward. 
R.  C.  Downs,  Supt. 
Mahoney  Brothers. 
C.  T.  H  eader. 
C.  T.  Wheeler. 
California  Furnace  Co 

Keystone  
Spring  Hill.  .. 
Rockv  Falls.. 

Union  

1858 
i860 
1857 
1865 
1865 
1864 
i860 
1862 
1806 
1854 
1804 
1864 
1868 
1858 
1858 
1858 

185S 
1866 
1859 
186a 
1S5S 
1865 
1865 
186i 
I860 
1*63 

10 

M 

H; 
•<( 
10 
16 
10 
10 
10 
40 
4 
10 
20 
Hi 

III 
41, 

20 

1'i 
20 
12 
10 
10 
Hi 
HI 
10 
LO 
u 

Dry  town  ...   .„ 

Plymouth  
Totosi  

Seaton  

Fiddletown  .... 
Jackson  

Richmond  ..  . 
Coneys  
tluobards  .... 
Kearsings  .... 

« 

t> 

Tubbs  

Lower  Randiccia 
Pine   Grove. 
Rancheria.  .  . 
Sutter  Creek 
ii        <> 

Volcano      

Oneida  
Italian  

Tellurium  .  .  . 
Loval  League 
Badger  

Downs  

Eureka  

Lincoln  Q  M  Co 
-Vlahoney  .  
Meader  

VVildumna  .  .  . 
Belding  
Eagle  
Fogus  
Golden  Gate.. 
Italian  
Monday 

J.  T.  Farley. 
Kurd  &  Co. 
Rose  &  Co. 
Fogus  &  Co. 
Lawton  &  Co. 
C.  T.  Meader. 
J.  T.  Farley. 
W.  H.  Thoss. 
Lawton  &  Co. 
Tulloch  &  Co. 
M.  Tynan. 

« 

ii 

ii 

ii 

Mitchells  . 

u 

Pioneer  
Sirocco  

18&5 

u,eo 

in 
20 

it 

u 

Sulphuret  
Tulloch  
Till  loch 

1864 
1865 

1865 
1865 

15 
1 
12 

2 
'l 

ii 

ii 

"     

Tynan  

It  took  twenty  years  of  costly  experience  to  learn 
quartz  mining  and  the  nature  of  quartz  veins.  There 
were  these  differences  in  the  veins  on  the  Mother 
Lode  and  in  the  other  parts  of  the  county;  on  the 
Mother  Lode  the  veins  generally  had  a  north  and 
south  direction;  on  the  others  they  ran  in  all  direc 
tions;  though,  often  than  otherwise,  conforming  in 
directions  to  the  rifts  of  the  slate,  they  turned  appar 
ently  at  every  little  obstruction  and  had  no  uniformity 
of  direction,  dip,  or  strike.  There  was  a  gouge  or 
selvage  beside  the  Mother  Lode;  scarcely  any  at  all 
on  the  upper  veins,  many  of  the  largest  of  the  veins 
being  encased  in  solid  walls,  in  fact,  as  the  miners 
use  to  say,  melted  into  it.  Along  the  Mother  Lode 
was  a  solid  wall  (frequently  on  both  sides)  which  was 
continuous,  and  could  readily  be  traced  through  the 
county;  on  the  upper  ranges  the  wall  rock,  or  rock 
adjoining  the  quartz,  would  change  its  character 
every  few  feet,  sometimes  being  a  hard  metamor 
phosed  flinty  rock,  at  other  places  turning  to  steatite, 
or  soft,  earthy  slate.  Those  of  our  readers  who 
studied  the  Mother  Lode,  in  its  entirety,  will  remem 
ber  the  functions  of  a  firm  wall  rock  and  the 
importance  of  a  gouge,  one  as  holding  the  quartz 
deposit  to  its  place,  the  other  showing  a  deep  fissure 
or  a  greater  length  of  deposit.  There  is  a  probability 
that  the  aggregate  amount  of  gold  in  the  West  Point 
system  of  veins,  which  also  crosses  Amador  county, 
is  greater  than  in  the  Mother  Lode  of  the  same 
length,  and  so  of  the  other  veins  that  traverse  the 
eastern  part  of  the  county  within  a  few  miles  of  Vol- 


162 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


cano.  The  great  sea  that  deposited  the  rocks, 
did  not  leave  the  material  for  a  firm  overlying  bed. 
The  corals,  building  up  reefs,  and  modifying  the 
influence  of  the  ocean  currents,  perhaps,  interfered 
with  the  deposit  of  a  stratum  as  uniform  in  its  char 
acter  as  was  done  a  few  miles  farther  west.  At  any 
rate,  when  the  mountains  were  lifted  out  of  the  sea 
the  mass  of  rock  overlying  the  gold-bearing  strata 
opened  in  various  directions,  besides  at  the  axis  of 
elevation;  hence  the  water  holding  gold  and  other 
minerals  in  solution  found  its  way  to  the  surface, 
sometimes  through  limestone,  sometimes  through 
granite  or  syenite,  and  sometimes  through  soft  slate, 
the  fissures  following  no  direction  long,  nor  extend 
ing  to  great  depths,  as  at  the  Mother  Lode,  though 
the  conditions  admit  of  exceptions. 

With  these  few  general  remarks  the  subject  of 
their  formation  may  be  dismissed  and  a  few  of  the 
mines  noticed. 

THE   DOWNS    MINE 

Apparently  conforms  more  nearly  to  a  true  fissure 
vein  than  any  in  the  upper  series  yet  found,  though 
differing  in  its  direction  from  veins  on  the  Mother 
Lode.  It  has  a  gouge,  a  large  amount  of  vein  mat 
ter  or  distinctly  characterized  rock,  and  firm  walls, 
all  of  which  conditions  are  favorable  to  permanence 
and  depth.  This  mine  was  located  as  early  as  1857 
by  Phil.  Scibenthaler,  Geo.  Felmath,  and  others. 
The  rock  on  the  surface  was  worked  by  arastras  and 
paid  from  forty  to  one  hundred  dollars  per  ton. 
They  then  enlarged  the  works  and  put  up  a  twenty- 
stamp  mill.  There  was  not  rock  enough  avail 
able  to  keep  the  mill  running,  and  the  company 
failed,  work  being  suspended  until  1866,  when  the 
whole  property  was  bought  by  James  M.  Hanford 
for  one  hundred  dollars.  Work  was  resumed,  the 
quartz  being  hauled  to  the  Fogus  mill,  two  and  a  half 
miles  below  Volcano,  for  reduction.  The  milling  was 
badly  done,  saving  only  eight  dollars  and  twenty-five 
cents  per  ton.  A  year  later  the  shaft  was  sunk  forty 
feet  deeper.  Two  tons  ground  in  an  arastra  paid 
twenty-six  dollars  per  ton.  This  so  encouraged  the 
proprietor  that  sinking  was  continued  still  further. 
A  swell  was  struck  ir  the  vein  which  now  became 
four  feet  in  thickness,  though  the  body  of  the  vein 
had  no  greater  amount  of  gold  than  before,  now  pay 
ing  only  twenty  dollars  per  ton;  but  this  was  good 
rock.  Fifteen  feet  deeper  the  vein  contracted  to  its 
original  width  of  two  feet.  The  next  crushing  of 
rock,  taken  from  below  the  swell  at  a  depth  of  ninety 
feet,  paid  sixty-eight  dollars  per  ton  by  the  arastra 
process.  It  was  also  discovered  that  there  were  two 
continuous  parallel  veins  within  the  two  wall  rocks, 
which  were  about  thirty  feet  apart,  though  one  of 
the  veins  was  of  much  less  value  than  the  other. 
The  narrow  vein  (the  first  one  worked)  is  now  pay 
ing,  by  mill  process,  twenty-five  to  forty  dollars  per 
ton.  The  mill  is  run  by  water-power  and  all  the 
appliances  are  calculated  to  work  economically.  All 
the  circumstances  point  towards  a  permanent  and 


profitable  mine.  The  vein  has  an  easterly  and  west 
erly  direction  and  can  be  distinctly  traced  some  dis 
tance  towards  the  west,  showing  good  rock  all  the 
way.  J.  N.  Peck  &  Co.  own  one  extension  under 
the  name  of  the  Golden  Star,  and  Benjamin  Ross 
another'. 

THE    MARKLEE    MINE. 

This  mine  is  north  of  Volcano  and  not  far  from 
Dry  Creek.  It  was  worked  with  profit  for  aboiit  two 
years.  Many  good  runs  were  made  on  it.  May  11, 
1872,  sixteen  days'  run  with  twelve  stamps  netted 
thirteen  thousand  dollars.  It  was  sold  to  an 
English  company,  who  put  some  one  in  charge  who 
was  either  unacquainted  with  quartz  mining,  or  had 
a  job  on  hand,  as  he  drifted  away  from  the  pay 
chute,  at  least  in  the  opinion  of  the  workmen  who 
seemed  to  be  better  acquainted  with  the  nature  of 
the  quartz  than  the  foreman.  The  mill  and  hoisting 
works  were  removed  and  the  mine  and  improvements 
left  to  ruin.  In  the  opinion  of  many  the  mine  is  still 
good. 

THE   TELLURIUM 

Is  a  few  hundred  feet  east  of  Pine  Grove.  The 
quartz  in  this  vein  is  in  considerable  quantity,  form 
ing  a  regular  vein.  It  appears  rather  white  and  pure 
to  contain  much  mineral,  but  is  said  to  pay  thirty  or 
forty  dollars  per  ton,  which,  however,  is  very  doubt 
ful.  The  name  Telhirium  seems  to  have  been  given 
rather  as  a  fanciful  title  than  because  any  of  that 
mineral  exists  in  the  rock.  As  usual  with  mines 
owned  in  cities  or  out  of  the  State,  the  management 
has  been  given  to  incompetent  men,  the  working  of 
the  mine  being  experimental  rather  than  practical. 

THE   THAYER    MINE 

Was  on  the  north  side  of  Grass  Valley  creek,  and 
in  1859-60  was  a  promising  vein.  A  man  by  the 
name  of  Thayer  (from  the  city,  of  course)  gave  his 
name  to  it,  and  also  demonstrated  the  inutility  of 
new  quartz  machines,  like  many  before  and  since, 
and  probably  many  yet  to  come.  His  plan  was  an 
enlargement  of  the  Chile  wheel,  which,  in  this 
instance,  was  made  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  diameter, 
shod  with  iron  castings,  and  traveling  in  a  circular 
gutter  fifty  or  sixty  feet  in  circumference,  also  lined 
with  iron.  The  principle  was  correct  enough,  and 
has  since  been  used  with  good  effect  with  heavy  cast- 
iron  balls  rolling  in  a  cast-iron  basin  four  or  five  feet 
in  diameter;  but  in  his  case  the  castings  worked 
loose,  both  in  the  track  and  on  the  circumference  of 
the  wheel,  making  a  total  wreck  in  the  course  of  a 
few  days.  The  machinery  was  sold  for  old  iron,  and 
work  suspended  for  some  years.  Some  miners 
jumped  the  claim  and  opened  a  paying  vein,  at  least 
for  a  time.  The  surface  of  the  vein,  or  a  sheet  of  it, 
perhaps  twenty  feet  wide,  was  found  flat  on  the 
ground,  having  apparently  fallen  over.  A  hundred 
tons  of  this  rock,  crushed  at  the  Fogus  Mill,  paid 
about  thirty-four  dollars  per  ton.  An  attachment 
was  laid  on  the  money  by  three  lawyers  from  Mokel- 


QUARTZ  MINING  EAST  OF  THE  MOTHER  LODE. 


163 


umne  Hill,  all  of  whom  were  dignified  as  Judges. 
An  expensive  lawsuit  followed.  Surveyors  were 
sent  to  map  the  ground,  experts  to  theorize  on  the 
probabilities  of  the  existence  of  a  vein,  and,  in  fact, 
the  whole  legal  mining  machinery  which  had  been 
introduced  into  Comstock  mining  litigation,  was 
brought  into  play  on  the  real  discoverers  of  the  pay 
ing  vein.  They  had  to  yield.  The  mine  is  now 
nearly  forgotten. 

THE    CLINTON    MINES 

Were  once  considered  good,  but  are  not  worked  at 
present.  These  belong  to  the  Pine  Grove  range, 
and,  like  them,  have  a  short  run  in  length  as  well  as 
depth. 

THE    MACE    RANGE 

Has  the  north  and  south  trend  following  the  rifts 
of  the  slate.  Though  rich  on  the  surface,  they 
pinch  out  at  a  short  depth,  and  are  not  true  fissure 
veins.  It  would  seem  possible  that  these  veins  are 
produced  by  surface  action,  that  is,  by  the  precipita 
tion  of  minerals  held  in  solution,  by  water  flowing 
over  the  surface,  as  the  veins  seem  to  have  no  con 
nection  with  a  gold-bearing  strata,  like  the  veins  on 
the  Mother  Lode. 

A  good  vein  of  ore  in  this  vicinity  may  yield  three 
or  four  thousand  dollars  before  it  pinches  out.  The 
milling  is  done  by  a  custom  mill  at  five  dollars  per 
ton,  owned  by  F.  Mace. 

Though  these  veins  have  a  family  resemblance, 
they  differ  much  in  character  in  the  course  of  a  few 
miles,  sometimes  being  clear,  hard,  and  blue  in  text 
ure  and  color,  and  then  shading  into  syenite  sand 
stone  or  hornblende.  In  some,  the  gold,  though  pay 
ing  well  for  milling,  is  so  fine  as  to  be  almost 
impalpable.  In  this  case,  the  breaking  down  of  a 
vein  by  glacial  or  other  erosion  would  not  make  rich 
placers. 

It  may  be  observed  of  the  country  generally,  that 
quartz  boulders  of  any  size  usually  indicate  the 
proximity  of  a  quartz  vein  of  similar  character,  prov 
ing  that  the  streams  or  rivers  forming  the  beds  of 
gravel,  were  small.  This,  however,  does  not  apply 
to  the  great  east  and  west  river,  which  had  its  chan 
nel  on  the  divide  between  Dry  creek  and  Sutter  creek, 
which  escaped  the  great  glacial  erosion.  A  river 
which  could  sweep  millions  of  tons  of  volcanic  boul 
ders  down  the  slope  of  the  mountains,  could  and  did, 
sweep  along  boulders  of  quartz  three  feet  in  diameter. 
Such  a  boulder  was  found  in  1857,  on  Union  flat, 
above  any  bed  rock.  It  was  of  clear,  blue  quartz, 
without  any  admixture  of  iron,  and  had  several 
hundred  dollars  in  pure  gold  in  a  kind  of  stratum 
on  one  side,  the  other  side  being  barren.  The  rock 
bore  a  great  resemblance  to  that  of  the  Sheep 
Ranch  mine  in  Calaveras  county,  said  to  be  one  of 
the  best  paying  mines  in  the  State. 

PIONEER  AND  GOLDEN  GATE  MINES. 

Between  the  Mace,  or  West  Point  range,  and  Vol 
cano,  are  veins  of  a  very-  distinct  character.  They 


are  narrow  but  well  defined,  going  straight  down, 
neither  widening  or  pinching  out.  Of  this  character 
are  the  veins  named  at  the  head  of  this  paragraph. 
The  veins  do  not  follow  the  trend  of  the  country  rock, 
but  seem  to  be  rather  in  a  transverse  fissure.  They 
are  from  sixteen  inches  to  two  feet  in  width,  paying 
from  twenty  to  forty  dollars  a  ton.  The  mine  owned 
Dy  W-  Q-  Mason,  is  of  this  group.  The  vein  varies 
from  three  to  nine  inches  in  width,  averaging  about 
thirty-five  dollars  per  ton,  though  in  places  the 
rock  is  quite  rich,  paying  several  dollars  to  the 
pound.  This  range  of  mines  has  not  been  sufficiently 
explored  to  determine  the  Value  of  them. 

QUARTZ    VEINS    WEST    OP   THE    MOTHER   LODE. 

These  are  numerous,  and  some  of  them  quite 
large,  being  in  some  instances  thirty  or  forty  feet 
thick,  as  at  Dr.  Randall's  ranch  near  lone,  and  at 
Mrs.  JSTichol's  ranch,  in  Jackson  valley.  The  lower 
range  is  quite  as  extensive  as  the  Mother  Lode,  and 
in  the  rich  gulches  and  placers  adjoining,  bears  evi 
dence  of  having  considerable  gold.  In  the  vicinity 
of  French  Camp,  some  of  the  small  veins  are  said 
to  have  gold  enough  to  pay  for  crushing,  but  as  they 
do  not  hold  their  size,  but  ramify  into  numerous 
branches,  they  are  not  likely  to  be  extensively 
worked.  The  Kirkendall  range  near  Irish  hill,  was 
thought  to  be  rich,  but  work  on  it  is  generally  sus 
pended. 

In  the  vicinity  of  Stony  creek  the  quartz  seems 
to  be  auriferous,  but  here,  as  at  French  Camp,  the 
veins  are  neither  permanent  nor  well  defined.  It 
would  seem  that  in  all  this  western  range  of  quartz 
veins,  copper,  not  gold  seems  to  be  the  predominat 
ing  mineral. 

SOAP-STONE,    OR    STEATITE    GOLD    MINES. 

These  mines  are  some  miles  east  of  the  lower 
range  of  quartz  veins,  and  seem  to  be  connected 
rather  with  the  serpentine  or  green  ledge  formation. 
There  is  considerable  doubt  in  the  minds  of  many 
who  have  not  examined  the  locality,  as  to  the  pres 
ence  of  gold  in  steatite;  but  the  fact  that  all  the 
gulches  running  from  the  locality  were  rich,  ought 
to  set  all  doubts  to  rest.  Attention  was  called  to 
these  places  twenty  years  since,  by  specimens  of 
the  steatite  with  gold,  like  bronze,  well-distributed 
through  it.  There  was  some  coarse  gold  found  occa 
sionally.  Major  Barting,  who  did  the  most  to  test 
these  veins,  found  a  piece  in  this  vein  thirty  feet 
from  the  surface,  which  weighed  some  sixty  grains 
or  more. 

It  is  claimed  that  the  rock  contains  twenty  or 
thirty  dollars  to  the  ton;  but  all  attempts  to  save  it 
have  been  failures,  the  gold  being  so  fine  as  to  float 
off  on  the  top  of  the  water. 

QUARTZ    MINING   IN   THE   FUTURE. 

Much  money  has  been  expended  in  quartz  that 
has  not  been  returned.  A  few  have  become  wealthy, 
others  have  made  a  living,  and  many  have  worn 


164 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


themselves  out  in  the  unsuccessful  search  for  gold. 
The  fact  that  gold,  which  made  the  placers,  was 
originally  derived  from  quartz,  and  that  many  of  the 
veins  are  still  rich,  will  induce  the  examination  of  the 
last  one  where  there  is  any  probability,  or  even  possi 
bility,  of  finding  it.  GOLD  !  what  a  magic  in  the 
word!  What  a  spell  it  will  work.  For  gold,  man  will 
dare  the  depths  of  the  earth,  the  heights  of  the 
mountains,  the  heat  of  the  tropics,  and  the  ice  regions 
of  the  pole,  the  solitude  of  the  plains  and  the  crowds 
in  cities. 

Those  who  preach  moderation  in  seeking  it  are  the 
first  to  sniff  a  strike,  and  the  fiercest  to  strive  for  its 
possession.  Until  human  nature  is  changed,  the  gold 
hunt  will  continue. 

"  '  PUT    MONEY    IN    THY    PURSE.' 

"  Make  it  thy  soul's  delight  to  gather  coin.  Suffer  not 
thy  thoughts  to  stray  from  this  purpose.  Make  cor 
ners  in  bread,  so  that  the  poor  shall  go  hungry. 
What  is  it  to  thee  that  hundreds  suffer?  Make  cor 
ners  in  water,  though  the  great  Father  poured  it  out 
without  stint  for  all  his  children.  Fence  it  up  ; 
gather  it  in'to  reservoirs  and  make  the  thirst  as  well 
the  hunger  of  the  people  fill  thy  purse.  What  were 
hunger  and  thirst  made  for  but  to  help  thee  put 
money  in  thy  purse  ?  Watch  the  progress  of  industry, 
and  buy  up  the  land  that  lies  in  its  course.  Hold 
it  for  high  prices  ;  hold  it  until  the  homeless  and 
landless  must  have  it  at  any  price.  What  is  it  to 
thee  that  industries  are  paralyzed?  Put  money  in 
thy  purse. 

"  Thy  brother  may  be  fainting  by  the  wayside, 
crushed  by  misfortune  and  sickness.  Heed  not  his 
cry  of  agony.  Shut  all  avenues  of  the  heart  to  the 
cries  of  suffering  humanity.  What  is  the  world  to 
thee?  Put  money  in  thy  purse. 

"  The  world  is  full  of  beauty.  Every  little  flower 
that  opens  its  petals  to  drink  in  the  sunshine,  is  full 
of  marvelous,  self-acting  machinery.  Heed  it  not. 
Turn  not  aside  from  thy  great  work.  The  rocks  of 
the  earth,  all  the  elements,  tell  a  wondrous  story  of 
the  creation,  extending  through  myriads  of  ages,  of 
changes  from  chaos  to  order;  from  darkness  to  light 
and  life;  of  alternating  ages  of  torrid  heat  and  icy 
solitude.  The  stars  spangling  the  infinite  blue  deep, 
tell  a  marvelous  tale  of  the  extent  of  God's  works, 
and  suggest  the  possibility  of  a  future  greatness  of 
the  soul ;  of  a  wandering  at  will  through  endless 
beauty — wondering,  admiring,  and  learning.  Leave 
such  things  to  fools;  they  are  nothing  to  thee.  Put 
money  in  thy  purse. 

"  Work  for  money  with  all  thy  might,  mind,  and 
soul,  and  it  shall  flow  to  thee,  as  the  water  floweth 
to  the  sea,  in  streams  ever  widening  and  deepening, 
gathering  strength  as  it  comes.  Thou  shalt  own 
broad  acres  in  the  hearts  of  cities,  and  principalities 
in  the  country.  Thy  flocks  shall  cover  a  thousand 
hills,  and  thy  bank  accounts  increase  by  day  and  by 
night.  Though  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth  thy  fea 
tures  become  the  incarnation  of  all  that  is  vile,  a 
record  of  years  of  sin,  at  thy  approach  with  the 
golden  key  the  doors  of  palatial  residences  will  fly 
open;  obsequious  servants  will  conduct  thee  to  the 
innermost  shrine;  melodious  voices  will  sing  for  thee 
the  sweetest  songs;  gray-haired  wisdom  will  lend 
thee  its  aid,  and  youth  and  beauty  will  come  to  thy 
arms.  Thou  mayest  ride  rough-shod  over  the  people, 
for  hast  thou  not  the  wherewith? 


<k  But  know,  O  mortal!  that  thy  millions  cannot 
purchase  one  atom  of  love  or  respect;  that  the  poor 
est  sewing  girl  in  the  city,  or  the  dirtiest  dustman, 
is  richer  than  thou  art,  for  some  one  may  have  for 
them  a  tender  thought;  but  thou  shalt  be  abhorred 
of  all.  When  sorrow  cometh  to  thee,  no  heart  will 
beat  in  sympathy,  no  tears  will  mingle  with  thine. 
Every  man's  hand  will  be  against  thee,  as  thine  has 
been  against  mankind.  Every  dollar  of  thy  millions 
will  be  a  demon  to  gnaw  thy  withered,  nhrunken 
soul.  Thy  heart  shall  be  like  a  desert  land,  without 
green  thing,  fountain,  or  shade.  The  harpies  of  the 
law  shall  quarrel  over  thy  ill-gotten  wealth,  as  the 
wild  dogs  and  wolves  over  the  fallen  bison  of  the 
plains, "and  thou  shalt  have  lived  in  vain,  for  what 
doth  thy  wealth  profit?" 

Gold  mining  and  the  pursuit  of  wealth  will  go  on 
nevertheless,  and  may  be  regulated,  but  not  pro 
hibited. 

SCHOOL    CABINETS. 

Cabinets  of  elegant  curiosities  abound  everywhere, 
but,  notwithstanding,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  con 
fusion  regarding  the  names  of  the  commonest  rocks. 
The  metamorphic  slates,  constituting  the  wall  rocks 
of  the  quartz  veins,  are  generally  called  granite, 
than  which  nothing  is  more  different.  A  collection 
of  a  hundred  common  rocks,  properly  labelled  and 
cased,  at  the  school-houses,  would  cost  but  little  and 
would  soon  have  a  perceptible  effect  in  remedying 
the  confusion. 

COPPER    MINING. 

Copper,  in  quantity,  was  first  discovered  in  Cala- 
veras  county,  at  the  place  afterwards  called  Copper- 
opolis,  by  W.  K.  Reed,  July  4,  1861.  The  outcrop, 
along  where  the  Union  and  Keystone  mines  were 
located,  was  very  marked,  and  large  quantities  of 
oxidized  ores  were  taken  out  near  the  surface,  as  well 
as  fine  specimens  of  native  copper,  some  of  which 
were  arborescent  or  crystallized  in  form.  There  were 
also  large  quantities  of  impure  oxide  of  copper  (cop 
per  smut)  mixed  more  or  less  with  red  oxide.  These 
ores  were  all  shipped  to  Swansea,  England,  for  reduc 
tion,  and  the  profits  were  such  that  fortunes  of  half 
a  million  were  made  in  a  little  time.  It  is  said  that 
the  Union  mine  opened  the  largest  body  of  ore  ever 
discovered  in  the  world,  the  shipments  from  it  being 
made  on  an  immense  scale.  The  run  of  ore  was 
three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  and  from  four  to 
nine  thick  at  the  upper  level;  twenty-one  feet  at 
the  depth  of  two  hundred,  and  thirty-one  feet  at  the 
depth  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  all  of  No.  1  and 
No.  2  ores.  Other  mines  in  the  vicinity  were  also 
rich.  The  shipments  from  Stockton  of  the  Copper- 
opolis  ores,  netted  in  1863  six  hundred  thousand 
dollars;  in  1864  over  one  million  dollars.  For  the 
first  year  or  two  little  attention  was  paid  to  cop 
per  in  other  places,  but  the  rapid  development  of  the 
mines,  and  shipment  of  ores  with  profitable  returns, 
soon  set  hundreds  to  tracing  out  the  copper  forma 
tion.  The  gossan  or  calico  rock,  so  named  from  the 
spotted  appearance  caused  by  patches  of  iron  rust, 
was  found  in  a  thousand  places,  and  on  uncovering 


.,.-.»•—» 


\\^- 


V-&*" 


RESIDENCE:  AND  LIVERY  STABLE  OF  PETER  PAGAN, 
SUTTER  CREEK,  AMAOOR  C?  CAL. 


LITM,  BftlTTOH  trlltr. 


QUARTZ  MINING  EAST  OF  THE  MOTHER  LODE. 


165 


the  rock,  mundic  or  sulphuret  of  iron  was  generally 
found  a  few  feet  from  the  surface  with  a  little  copper 
also.  Considerable  veins  were  found  at  Lancha 
Plana  and  Campo  Seco,  especially  at  the  latter  place. 
Several  companies  were  organized  and  the  shipping 
of  ore  commenced.  In  1862  Dr.  Newton,  near  Ione> 
commenced  sinking  for  copper  on  general  principles 
rather  than  any  practical  knowledge  of  the  ores  or 
croppings;  but  the  following  Summer,  1863,  he  struck 
a  vein  of  shipping  ore,  and  the  excitement  in  Amador 
county  commenced.  It  was  found  that  the  calico, 
or  gossan  rock,  was  common  over  a  tract  of  country 
eight  or  ten  miles  wide,  east  and  west,  and  extend 
ing  from  the  Mokelumne  to  the  Cosumnes  rivers. 

GENERAL    CRAZE. 

Within  four  months,  or  by  the  first  of  October,  at 
least  one  thousand  men  were  at  work  sinking  on 
every  discoloration  of  rock  that  could  be  found.  At 
first  some  attention  was  paid  to  the  range,  but  soon 
the  veins  were  found  everywhere,  though  not  in 
sufficient  quantity  to  be  of  any  commercial  value. 
A  vein  of  four  inches  of  black  oxide  of  copper  was 
discovered  on  the  top  of  Bald  hill,  near  Buena  Vista, 
and  shares  were  soon  selling  at  the  rate  of  two  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars  for  the  prospect.  This  claim 
or  mine  was  known  by  the  name  of  Bull  Eun.  The 
Star  of  the  West,  not  far  away,  also  went  up  to  a 
fabulous  price.  Quite  a  town,  Copper  Centre,  sprang 
up  in  the  vicinity  and  many  more  sites  were  staked 
out.  The  lone  City  company  struck  a  vein  of  a  few 
inches  in  thickness  near  Stony  creek,  and  shares 
were  immediately  held  at  two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars  per  hundred  feet.  Shares  in  an  adjoining 
claim  without  the  color  of  copper  were  worth  two 
hundred  dollars.  Copper  could  be  melted  out  of  the 
ores  of  many  of  the  veins  with  a  common  black 
smith's  forge.  This  was  the  case  with  a  vein  an  inch 
or  two  in  thickness  near  Sutter  creek  (name  of  the 
mine  forgotten),  and  forthwith  each  hundred  of  the 
two  thousand  feet  was  worth  one  thousand  dollars. 
Many  of  the  companies  incorporated  with  a  capital 
stock  of  one  hundred  thousand  to  one  million  dollars, 
and  opened  offices,  hired  secretaries  at  salaries  from 
fifty  to  one  bundred  dollars  per  month,  issued  hand 
somely  printed  certificates  of  stock,  and  did 
everything  that  Washoe  companies  did.  Large 
handsome  signs  such  as,  Office  lone  City  Copper  Min 
ing  Company;  Office  Chaparral  Copper  Mining 
Company,  indicated  the  "  Copper  on  the  brain " 
which  was  afflicting  almost  every  one. 

COUNTRY    FORMED    INTO    DISTRICTS. 

The  country  was  all  districted  off,  recorders 
elected,  and  laws  passed,  which  were  recognized  in 
the  courts  as  valid  and  binding.  The  fees  for 
recording  a  location  were  usually  one  dollar,  with 
an  additional  twenty-five  cents  for  each  name 
attached  to  the  notice.  Some  of  the  recorders  would 
make  one  hundred  dollars  a  month  at  this  alone. 
Placer  mining  was  nearly  suspended  in  the  hunt  for 


copper.  Not  less  than  three  hundred  companies 
were  doing  constant  work  between  the  northern 
and  southern  boundaries  of  the  county,  besides 
others  who  were  doing  enough  to  hold  the  ground. 
Tunnels  hundreds  of  feet  long  were  run  in  the  hard 
metamorphic  slates,  just  to  strike  the  supposed  range. 
The  serpentine  range  had  a  green  color,  and  was 
thought  by  many  to  be  copper  ore.  "  Uncle  Thomas 
Rickey  "  formed  a  company  of  two  hundred  or  more, 
to  run  a  tunnel  into  this,  near  Poe's  ranch.  "  It  would 
only  cost  a  dollar  to  get  in,  and  if  they  struck  any 
thing  there  would  be  enough  for  all."  This  tunnel 
was  run  something  over  two  hundred  feet.  Fifty 
companies  were  sinking  near  Horse  creek,  one  hun 
dred  near  Forest  home,  fifty  or  more  in  the  vicinity 
of  lone,  as  many  more  near  Jackson  and  Stony 
creeks;  in  fact,  it  was  hard  to  find  a  hill  which  was 
not  claimed,  with  a  little  work  done  to  hold  the 
ground.  Some  of  the  notices  were  amusing  enough. 

FUNNY   NOTICES. 

Hon.  W.  A.  Ludlow,  now  of  Oakland,  is  authority 
for  the  following: — 

"  tack  Notes  thee  unter  singd  clant  two  Huntent 
foot  Sought  on  thes  Loat  from  thee  mans  Neten 
bushes 

Febuary  12  1863 

Clamte  sought  ter  Pint  three" 

"  Nota  Bean  Is  here  By  given  notes  ter  unter 
signed  clame  too  cooben  clames  of  too  Hunter  feet 
square  sought  Nort  too  200  Hunter  feet 

Thounship 

No  5 
AmTore  country  feb  12  63  " 

"  Take  Notes  the  untersiGent  chlames  North  400 
foot  to  a  mains  neeten  Bush  for  Preubens  of  Mining 
Coper 

Febuary  12  one  thousand  800  63  " 

Lest  people  should  think  this  style  was  owing  to 
the  absence  of  the  school-master,  the  following  notice 
for  the  sale  of  property  in  Berkeley,  in  the  shadow 
of  the  University,  is  appended: — 


'FERR  SALL  TUR  MES  Ezi." 


Selling  claims  or" shares  was  a  profitable  business, 
and  stock  gambling  came  near  being  established. 
Almost  every  person  had  his  pockets  full  of  rocks, 
and  wanted  to  sell  shares. 

The  finest  and  best  arranged  collection  of  ores  and 
croppings  was  collected  by  Judge  Carter,  of  lone. 
Some  twenty  or  thirty  of  the  leading  mines  were 
fully  represented,  cropping  and  ores  being  arranged 
in  the  natural  order  from  the  top  down.  It  should 
have  been  preserved  for  the  use  of  schools. 
NEW  TOWNS. 

Forest  Home,  Mineral  City,  and  several  other 
towns  sprang  up  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county, 
where  the  excitement  was  greater,  if  possible,  than 
in  any  other  part.  The  One  Hundred  and  One,  or 


166 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Cosumnes  Company,  shipped  considerable  ore,  as  did 
several  other  companies.  The  McNealy  Company 
(Arroyo  Seco  Copper  Company),  near  Muletown,  also 
shipped  several  hundred  tons  of  ore.  C.  T.  Meader, 
of  Stockton,  became  the  copper  king  of  the  State, 
buying  into  many  promising  locations,  the  Newton 
mine  among  others.  This  was  extensively  oper 
ated,  and  numbers  of  teams  loaded  every  day  for  the 
water-front. 

RESULT  OP  THE  GENERAL  SEARCH. 

A  thousand  shafts  were  sunk,  many  of  them  strik 
ing  copper  in  small  quantities.  The  serpentine  range, 
spoken  of  in  the  chapter  on  geology  as  an  axis  of 
elevation,  seemed  to  be  the  center  of  the  copper 
belt.  The  deposits  on  the  eastern  side  were  gener 
ally  in  bunches  of  a  few  tons,  capped  with  iron  ore. 
At  one  point,  between  Stony  and  Jackson  creeks 
twenty-three  of  these  chimneys  could  be  seen  within 
a  space  of  half  a  mile  square.  Around  the  Mountain 
Spring  House  the  "  mineral  caps"  were  equally  notice 
able  before  they  were  removed  for  grading  the  turn- 
piked  road.  This  section  of  the  country  is  well 
worth  the  attention  of  mineralogists  for  its  indica 
tions  of  other  minerals  than  copper.  Some  of  the 
shafts  near  the  serpentine  struck  asbestos  in  consider 
able  quantities,  which  is  likely  to  be  valuable. 

CHROME   IRON 

Was  also  found  in  quantity  in  several  places,  one 
vein,  now  claimed  by  the  Westfall  brothers,  being 
nearly  three  feet  thick.  Twenty  years  since,  this  ore 
was  worth  sixty  dollars  per  ton,  but  since  the  dis 
covery  of  large  quantities  of  it  in  Sonoma  and  other 
places,  it  is  worth  only  the  cost  of  mining  it. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1863,  some  five  or  six  companies 
were  shipping  ore,  and  a  hundred  more  were  expect 
ing  to  do  so  soon,  but  the  whole  thing  collapsed  in  a 
few  months,  leaving  the  million  of  dollars  or  more, 
which  had  been  expended  in  the  search,  a  total  loss. 

FAILURE   OF    MEADER. 

The  first  intimation  of  the  coming  panic  was  the 
failure  of  C.  T.  Meader,  the  copper  king.  He  had 
not  only  bought  into  copper  mines,  but  into  quartz 
mines  as  well.  The  Coney  mine  had  passed  into  his 
possession,  and  he  had  engaged  extensively  in  ship 
ping  under  the  name  of  "  Meader,  Loler  &  Co." 

When  his  failure  came,  it  involved  the  mines  in 
which  he  was  engaged  in  litigation,  which  had  the 
effect  of  tying  them  up  for  several  years.  Among 
the  causes  mentioned  was  the  depreciation  of  copper, 
which  went  down,  in  the  course  of  two  years,  from 
twenty-eight  to  fourteen  cents  a  pound.  It  was  said 
at  the  time  that  this  depreciation  was  the  result  of 
a  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  the  Swansea  Companies, 
to  break  down  the  mining  of  copper  in  California; 
but  the  reports  of  the  discoveries,  not  only  in  Ama- 
dor  and  Calaveras,  but  all  over  the  State  as  well, 
would  be  likely  to  affect  the  market.  In  Nevada 
county  the  Well  claim  was  said  to  be  inexhaustible, 
having  a  body  of  ore  two  hundred  feet  in  width. 


In  Arizona  there  were,  as  it  was  said,  miles  of  dykes 
of  ore  standing  in  sight  on  the  top  of  the  ground. 
The  mines  of  Lake  Superior  were  also  pouring  into 
the  trade  a  marvelous  quantity  of  copper,  so  that 
it  was  hardly  necessary  to  suppose  a  conspiracy. 

Four  years  afterwards,  Meader,  in  accounting  for 
his  failure,  said  that  his  copper  stocks  had  depre 
ciated  in  value  two  million  two  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  dollars,  and  that  his  total  indebtedness 
was  one  million  two  hundred  and  ninety  thousand 
dollars.  The  extreme  depreciation  continued  for  sev 
eral  years,  totally  suspending  copper  mining,  many 
of  the  claims  being  abandoned,  and  all  being  allowed 
to  fill  up  with  water.  From  this  latter  circumstance 
came  the  discovery  of  a  cheaper  method  of  reducing 
the  ores. 

At  the  time  work  was  suspended  many  of  the 
tools  were  left  in  the  mines.  When  the  water  was 
pumped  out  three  or  four  years  afterwards,  a 

REMARKABLE    DISCOVERY 

Was  made.  Every  piece  of  iron  or  steel  left  in  the 
ground  had  been  decomposed,  and  around  it  was  an 
oxide  of  copper,  with  a  brown  luster,  which  would 
assay  ninety -five  per  cent,  copper.  Shovels,  hammers, 
drills,  iron  bars,  car  wheels,  and  spikes  used  in  fast 
ening  timber,  were  solid  copper,  bearing  some  resem 
blance  to  the  original  articles.  The  steel  drills  were  ir 
regular  tubes,  the  hollow  part  retaining  the  shape  of 
the  iron.  This  was  a  discovery.  Instead  of  having  to 
ship  the  ores  to  Swansea  at  an  enormous  expense, 
they  could  be  leached;  that  is,  after  the  exposure  of 
the  ores  to  the  air  they  decomposed,  and  became 
converted  into  sulphate  of  copper  (blue  stone  of 
commerce)  which  was  soluble  in  water.  The  water, 
beino1  run  into  large  vats,  was  brought  into  contact 
with  scrap-iron,  which  could  be  bought  for  a  trifle; 
the  iron  had  a  stronger  affinity  for  the  sul 
phur,  and  the  copper  was  precipitated  in  the  form  of 
a  brown  powder,  which  was  nearly  pure  copper. 
By  this  method  very  poor  ores  can  be  worked  with  a 
profit.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that  not  all  the 
copper  ores  can  be  worked  in  this  manner.  The 
number  of  veins  containing  workable  ore,  is,  per 
haps,  hundreds,  possibly  thousands.  Though  no 
colossal  fortunes  will  be  made,  yet  they  are  likely  in 
the  future  to  give  profitable  employment  to  a  great 
number  of  men. 

PRESENT  CONDITION  OF  COPPER  MINING. 

The  Newton  lead,  owned  by  a  Boston  company,  is 
the  only  one  that  is  extensively  worked.  This  was 
the  first  to  make -use  of  the  process  of  leaching  and 
precipitation.  Under  the  able  management  of  Ed 
ward  Johnson,  the  mine  has  not  only  been  put  on  a 
paying  basis,  but  the  way  shown  to  utilize  the 
small  bodies  of  copper  ores  which  abound  on  the 
east  side  of  the  serpentine  ledge,  as  well  as  the 
larger  ones  on  the  west  side.  The  works  now  cover 
several  acres  of  ground.  The  vats,  piles  of  scrap-iron— 
which  now  come  near  to  the  mine  by  rail — the  piles 


JACKSON. 


167 


of  ore,  through  which  the  water  is  slowly  soaking, 
and  the  hoisting  works,  all  serve  to  make  a  business 
appearance. 

The  main  shaft  is  four  hundred  and  thirty  feet 
deep,  from  which  four  levels  have  been  run  each  way 
about  two  hundred  feet,  exposing  large  bodies  of 
double  sulphurets  of  copper  and  iron.  These  levels 
are  all  connected  by  winzes  with  the  air  shaft.  Some 
of  the  higher  grades  of  ore  are  sent  to  Swansea  for 
reduction,  but  the  larger  part  are  reduced  on  the 
ground.  About  forty  men  are  employed  about  the 
works. 

Eeduction  by  leaching  is  also  in  use,  to  some  ex 
tent,  in  the  mines  near  Forest  Home.  Copper  mining 
is  a  promising  element  in  the  prospects  of  the  county. 


CHAPTEE    XXX. 

JACKSON. 

Capture  of  the  County  Seat — Killing  of  Colonel  Collyer — Loss  of 
the  County  Seat — Bull  Fight  and  Election — Mines — First 
School — Improvements  in  1854 — Hanging  Tree — Griswold 
Murder — Great  Freshet  1861 — Great  Fire  1862 — Flood  and 
Loss  of  Life  1878 — Big  Frolic — Celebration  of  Admission  Day 
— Mokelumne  River — Murphy's  Gulch — Hunt's  Gulch — 
Tunnel  Hill — Butte  Basin — Butte  Mountain — Butte  City — 
Marriage  in  High  Life— The  Gate— Ohio  Hill— Slab  City- 
Clinton — Spaulding's  Invention. 

DURING  the  Summer  of  1848  this  was  a  stopping- 
place  for  persons  traveling  between  Dry  town  and 
Mokelumne  river,  though  some  mining  was  done 
with  batayas  by  the  Mexicans,  at  the  spring  near  the 
National  Hotel.  The  number  of  bottles  left  around 
the  spring  by  travelers,  gave  it  the  name  of  Bottil- 
leas,  until  it  was  changed  to  Jackson,  in  honor  of 
Colonel  Jackson,  who  afterwards  settled  there.  It 
does  not  appear  that  any  number  of  men  wintered 
here  in  1848,  though  some  of  Stevenson's  soldiers 
wintered  at  Mokelumne  Hill.  The  first  permanent 
white  resident  of  which  any  account  can  be  found  is 
Louis  Tellier,  who  still  resides  on  the  first  location. 
When  Jim  Martin  and  his  company  of  eight  passed 
through  Jackson,  or  rather  where  it  was  not,  tjiere 
was  a  Mexican  cart  standing  near  the  spring.  Louis 
Tellier's  first  house  was  a  log  cabin  covered  with  raw 
hides;  he  also  had  a  large  army  tent  which  had  been 
used  in  Mexico.  In  early  days  freight  to  Sacramento 
was  as  high  as  one  thousand  dollars  per  ton.  In  1850 
it  was  reduced  to  two  hundred  dollars  per  ton.  To 
Volcano  from  Sacramento  it  was  two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars.  There  were  no  bridges,  and,  even  in 
Summer-time,  both  men  and  animals  were  sometimes 
drowned.  Lumber  was  worth  thi^ee  dollars  per  foot, 
the  floor  of  a  small  room  costing  six  hundred  to  one 
thousand  dollars.  The  roads  were  mere  Indian 
trails,  which  were,  in  many  instances,  too  narrow  to 
let  wagons  through. 

There  were  two  roads  to  Sacramento;  one  by 
way  of  Eancheria  and  Drytown,  the  other  by  wny 
of  Buena  Vista.  Louis  Tellier  caused  the  latter 
trail  to  be  cut  wide  enough  for  a  wagon,  at  his  own 


expense.  The  trail  nearly  followed  the  road  towards 
Lancha  Plana  to  Stony  creek,  thence  to  the  right 
over  the  Blue  ridge.  During  the  Summer,  Mr. 
Hough,  Mrs.  Hough  and  her  sister,  came  to  the 
town,  these  two  being  the  first  white  women  in 
the  town.  Mrs.  Hough  is  now  living  in  Diamond 
Springs,  the  second  is  living  in  Jackson,  the  widow 
of  McDowell,  the  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  Jack 
son.  The  union  of  Miss  Hough  and  McDowell,  was 
the  first  wedding.  Mrs.  Silas  Penry  is  the  daughter 
by  that  marriage.  Charles  Boynton  built  the  "  Astor 
House,"  and  also  a  bowling  saloon.  History  does 
not  give  us  many  particulars  regarding  the  archi 
tectural  merits  of  the  "  Astor  House,"  nor  as  to  the 
architect  who  planned  it.  It  was  equal  to  any  build 
ing  in  the  city,  however,  though  it  was  built  of  logs, 
and  daubed  with  mud.  There  was  a  cabin  near 
where  E.  W.  Palmer's  house  now  stands;  also  one 
on  the  site  of  his  stable,  occupied  by  John  Papac, 
a  Chileno.  Towards  the  Gate  was  a  cabin,  with  the 
sign,  "  brandy  and  sugar,"  hence  called  the  Brandy 
and  Sugar  Hotel,  kept  by  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Kelley.  He  also  sold  bread  and  butter;  a  slice  off 
a  loaf  baked  in  a  Dutch  oven,  was  sold  for  one  dollar; 
if  buttered,  two  dollars.  He  charged  one  dollar 
per  night  for  room  to  spread  the.  blankets  on  the 
ground  floor. 

A  Dr.  Elliot  had  a  tent  near  the  site  of  the  Central 
House  where  he  sold  goods.  During  the  Autumn  an 
emigrant  sold  his  tent  for  six  dollars;  the  rains  com 
ing  on  soon  after,  he  paid  one  dollar  a  night  for  the 
privilege  of  sleeping  under  it.  Evans  came  in  March, 
1850,  with  some  beef,  slaughtered  on  the  Cosumnes, 
packed  on  some  animals.  He  hung  his  meat  on  a 
pole  resting  on  two  forked  posts,  and  soon  sold  out 
and  went  after  more.  His  business  flourishing,  he 
soon  after  opened  a  store  at  Secreto  (near  Clinton) 
another  at  Butte,  and  a  larger  one  at  Jackson,  near 
the  site  of  the  National  Hotel.  His  store  was  of 
logs,  and,  not  being  well  chinked,  he  filled  up  the 
holes  with  hams,  the  shank  bones  sticking  out  all 
around.  He  soon  associated  with  him  D.  C.  White 
(who  afterwards  put  up  the  soda  works),  and  A. 
Askey,  the  latter  having  remained  with  him  since. 

Duncan  &  Gage  (who  afterwards  kept  a  Chinese 
Bazar  at  San  Francisco),  Levinsky,  Sloan,  Stevens, 
Stockier,  Captain  Dunham,  and  others,  came  soon 
after  Evans.  Levinsky  had  a  large  store  for  many 
years,  as  also  did  Sleekier.  Stevens  run  the  Young 
America  saloon;  Sloan  afterwards  lighted  Jackson 
with  Aubin  gas.  Captain  Dunham  kept  a  meat  mar 
ket  near  the  hanging  tree.  There  were  also  the  two 
Doctor  Shields  (called  the  big  doctor  and  the  little 
doctor),  one,  it  is  not  certain  which,  having  a  wife. 

In  August,  1850,  there  were  but  seven  buildings 
in  the  town,  some  of  which  were  empty.  These 
were  Louis  Tellier's,  White  &  Evans',  Henry  and  Fred- 
erich  Eeeves'  (on  the  hill  near  Butterfield's),  one 
where  Kent  now  lives,  occupied  by  Mr.  Hough  and 
family,  one  at  Palmer's  house,  and  also  one  near  his 


168 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


stable  and  the  Brandy  and  Sugar  Hotel.  Dan  Wor- 
ley,  now  living  near  Drytown,  visiting  Jackson  one 
day,  thought  to  get  a  clean  square  meal  cooked  by 
a  woman,  but  except  for  the  name  of  the  thing 
would  as  soon  have  eaten  in  his  own  cabin.  Bill  of 
fare:  Fried  steak,  bread,  and  black  coffee,  $1.00, 
with,  "  If  you  don't  like  it  stay  away." 

FIRST   GREAT   EVENT   IN   JACKSON. 

This  was  no  less  than  the  capture  of  the  county 
seat.  This  brilliant  exploit  seemed  to  have  had  its 
origin  in  the  fertile  brain  of  Charles  Boynton.  When 
Calaveras  county  was  organized,  Double  Springs 
somehow  obtained  the  county  scat.  It  had  but  one 
house,  which  answered  for  Court  House,  saloon, 
store,  and  hotel.  The  place  had  not  grown  as  was 
expected.  The  county  seat,  metaphorically  speak 
ing,  was  reaching  out  its  arms  for  a  more  suitable 
home;  and  Jackson,  with  its  less  than  a  dozen  houses, 
was  willing  to  receive  it,  and  nurse  it  to  greater 
strength.  Elections  and  Acts  of  the  Legislature, 
means  usually  invoked  in  such  matters,  were  set 
aside  as  involving  too  much  time,  altogether  too 
slow  for  the  lively  town  of  Jackson.  One  morning, 
while  Double  Springs  was  resting  quietly  on  its 
dignity  as  a  shire  town,  the  enemy  appeared,  smil 
ing  as  usual.  They  (Charles  Boynton  and  Theo. 
Mudge)  walked  up  to  the  county  seat's  bar,  and 
throwing  down  the  coin,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  country,  invited  all  hands  to  imbibe.  The 
population  of  the  town,  or  at  least  the  larger  part, 
responded  with  alacrity,  the  larger  part  being  Col 
onel  Collyer,  a  rather  pompous,  portly  Virginia  gen 
tleman,  fond  of  telling  good  stories,  and  fonder  still 
of  good  liquor,  never  refusing  the  opportunity  for 
either.  While  one  detachment  of  the  enemy  art 
fully  engaged  the  attention  of  Colonel  Collyer,  who 
was  county  clerk,  and  in  that  capacity  custodian  of 
the  archives,  another  detachment  at  the  other  end 
of  the  room  gathered  the  archives  under  his  arm, 
tumbled  them  into  a  buggy,  and  ran  away  with 
them  to  Jackson.  When  the  Colonel  found  the 
county  seat  had  vanished,  he  raised  his  portly  form 
an  inch  or  two  higher,  swung  his  cane  furiously 
around  his  head,  and  "swore  that  the  army  should 
be  called  out  to  vindicate  the  dignity  of  the  court. 

A  shake  shanty,  at  the  foot  of  Court  street,  had 
been  prepared  for  the  bantling,  and,  on  the  arrival 
of  Boynton  and  Mudge  at  Jackson,  the  archives 
were  desposited  with  the  proper  ceremonies,  the 
liquors  being  remarkably  fine;  and  Jackson  became 
the  center  of  government  for  the  great  territory  of 
Calaveras,  which  extended  from  Sacramento  .to  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  Judge  Smith,  the  County  Judge, 
seemed  to  be  on  hand,  ready  to  administer  justice; 
in  fact,  he  was  suspected  of  having  connived  at  the 
abduction,  which  act,  it  is  said,  was  in  part  the 
cause  of  the  tragedy  occurring  soon  after.  The 
County  Clerk  was  induced  to  take  his  place,  and 
issue  the  proper  papers,  dated  at  Jackson,  for  the 
convening  of  a  court. 


TRAGEDY — KILLING  OF  COLONEL    COLLYER. 

At  the  election  for  county  officers,  held  soon  aftei 
the  removal  of  the  county  seat,-  Joe  Douglass,  can 
didate  for  the  clerkship  against  Colonel  Collyer 
received  the  larger  number  of  votes.  The  Colone 
locked  up  the  returns  in  his  desk,  in  order  to  hold 
the  office  until  his  successor  was  qualified,  which 
could  not  well  be  done  without  the  counting  of  the 
votes,  with  his  official  signature  to  the  result.  Judge 
Smith  broke  open  the  desk  in  the  absence  of  the  Col 
onel,  counted  the  returns,  and  issued  the  certificates 
of  election  to  the  successful  candidates,  Joe  Doug 
lass  among  the  rest.  This  put  a  new  face  on  the 
aifair.  The  feud,  occasioned  by  the  removal  of  the 
county  records,  now  grew  into  an  open  war. 
Threats  to  shoot  Judge  Smith  on  sight  induced  him 
to  arm  himself,  and  when  they  met,  near  the  foot 
of  the  present  Court  street,  Smith  commenced  firing, 
hitting  Collyer,  who  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
armed,  two  or  three  times.  The  shots  were  fatal, 
and  Collyer  fell  at  the  foot  of  a  large  oak  tree  grow 
ing  there,  and  shortly  after  expired.  Smith  was  not 
tried  for  the  homicide,  but  public  indignation  was  so 
strong  that  he  resigned.  It  is  said,  however,  that  as 
Smith  was  a  Northern  man  and  Collyer  a  Southern 
man,  the  people  took  sides  accordingly  in  approving 
or  condemning,  and  thus  foreshadowed  the  great 
contest  of  ten  years  later. 

The  few  residents  of  Jackson  got  up  a  celebration 
of  the  Fourth.  McDonnell  was  the  orator,  and  com 
pared  the  Constitution  to  a  "  crystal  palace  with  its 
pedestal  towering  to  the  skies." 

EIGHTEEN    HUNDRED   AND   FIFTY. 

In  the  Fall  a  great  immigration  came  in,  and  by 
the  1st  of  December,  Jackson  had  in  the  neighborhood 
of  a  hundred  houses.  Harnett,  who  afterwards 
lived  in  lone  valley,  built  and  kept  a  restaurant  near 
the  Astor  House.  Henry  Mann  and  John  Burke 
also  had  a  restaurant,  near  the  tree  afterwards 
famous  as  the  "hanging-tree."  It  was  in  this  house 
that  the  Indian,  Coyote  Joe,  was  tried  for  killing  the 
blacksmith  near  the  Gate.  The  wife  of  Helmer  Tur 
ner,  present  Deputy  County  Clerk,  is  a  daughter  of 
Henry  Mann;  a  son  is  junior  partner  of  the  firm, 
Hutchirison,  Mann  &  Co.,  engaged  in  insurance  in 
San  Francisco.  Mr.  Mann  lost  his  life  in  a  singular 
manner.  A  tame  bear  was  kept  tied  to  the  famous 
tree  near  Mann's  restaurant.  One  day  he  had  been 
moved  to  a  lot  where  some  shoats  were  kept,  which 
his  bearship  commenced  killing.  Mr.  Mann,  in  try 
ing  to  return  the  animal  to  the  tree,  Angered  the 
bear,  which  gave  him  a  hug  that  proved  fatal  in  two 
or  three  days.  Mrs.  Mann  afterwards  married  W. 
L.  McKimm,  the  wedding  taking  place  on  the  top  of 
Butte  mountain. 

Streeter  and  family,  who  afterwards  lived  on  Dry 
creek,  resided  here  during  the  Winter  of  1850-51. 
Sheldon  Streeter  was  the  first  white  child  born  in 
Jackson. 


RESIDENCE  AND  RANCH  OF  320ACRES   JEFFERSON  BAIRD. 
3  MILES  N.E.  FROM  PLYMOUTH, AMADOR  C.9  GAL. 


RESIDENCE  AND  LUMBERYARD  OF  E.S. POTTER. 
PLYMOUTH,  AMADOR  C°  CAL. 


OF THE 

TJNIVERSITT) 


JACKSON. 


169 


Medical  attendance  was  expensive  in  those  days, 
physicians  charging  enormous  fees.  The  following 
fee  bill  was  posted  up  in  a  doctor's  office: — 

For  one  visit  with  medicine $  16  00 

Reducing  a  fractured  limb $50  00  to  100  00 

Parturition    100  00 

The  following  story  on  medical  charges  is  on  the 
said  so  of  Tom  Springer  of  the  Ledger: — 

"  Doctor  Marsh,  who  was  murdered  in  Contra  Costa 
county  about  1856,  was  formerly  owner  of  a  ranch 
in  this  county.  Being  called  upon  in  a  professional 
capacity  to  visit  a  sick  child,  he  got  the  mother  to 
wash  a  shirt  for  him. 

"  On  leaving  he  made  out  a  bill  for  services  amount 
ing  to  fifty  cows — the  exact  number  of  the  woman's 
herd  of  cattle.  She  acknowledged  the  debt,  but  at 
the  same  time  made  out  a  bill  to  the  same  amount 
for  washing  his  shirt.  The  doctor  went  off  grum 
bling  at  the  high  rate  for  washing  in  California." 

SECOND    REMOVAL    OF   THE   COUNTY   SEAT. 

Mokelumne  Hill  having  outgrown  Jackson,  was 
hankering  for  the  distribution  of  the  public  moneys 
among  her  own  people.  According  to  the  law  passed 
by  the  Legislature  in  1849-50,  the  county  seat  might 
be  moved  every  year  if  a  majority  petitioned  for  an 
election  and  two-thirds  voted  for  the  change.  It 
was  little  trouble  to  get  names  on  a  petition  of  any 
kind,  and,  as  events  subsequently  proved,  not  very 
much  trouble  to  get  votes  in  those  days.  An  election 
being  ordered,  Jackson  would  make  an  effort  to  keep 
it.  Though  Mokelumne  Hill  had  the  votes,  Jackson 
had  the  talent  and  daring,  which,  once  before,  had 
captured  the  county  seat. 

It  was  determined  to  gather  a  great  multitude  by 
means  of  a  free  bull-fight,  hoping  to  out-vote  Mokel 
umne  Hill.  Accordingly  a  corral  was  prepared,  bulls 
engaged,  and  great  inducements  offered,  or,  as  the 
play  bills  said,  unparalleled  attraction. 

The  bulls,  some  seven  or  eight  in  number,  were 
brought  in  some  day  or  two  before,  and  fierce  looking 
fellows  they  were,  with  their  long  slender  horns  and 
sleek  hides,  and  the  excitement  was  immense.  It 
looked  as  if  Jackson  had  got  the  bulge  on  the  Mokel 
umne  "  Hellyons."  Lest  the  cattle  might  be  sur 
reptitiously  turned  loose,  a  guard  of  three  or  four 
men  with  rifles,  was  stationed  at  the  gate  to  insure 
the  safe  keeping  of  the  animals.  But  the  Mok- 
Hillians  were  not  asleep.  They  began  to  gather  in 
horses;  they  were  not  going  to  be  beaten  with  a  bull 
fight.  They  announced  that  the  bull-fight  was  not 
coming  off.  A  delegation  of  trusty  men  was  sent  to 
Jackson  to  watch  the  enemy.  During  the  night  they 
plied  the  guards  so  well  with  whisky  that  they  slept 
at  their  posts,  during  which  time  the  Mok-Hill- 
ians  quietly  undid  the  fastenings  without  disturbing 
the  sentinels.  Getting  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
corral  they  raised  a  great  hullabalo,  hearing  which 
the  guards  sprang  to  their  feet  only  to  be  tossed  and 
trampled  by  the  infuriated  beasts,  which  charged  at 
a  run  through  the  open  gate  and  were  gone  in  a 

moment. 
22 


The  Spanish  bulls  having  gone,  an  attempt  was 
made  to  get  up  an  entertainment  with  American  cat 
tle,  but  they  would  not  entertain  worth  a  cent,  and 
the  crowd  programme  was  a  failure.  It  was  now 
learned  what  the  horses  at  Mokelumne  Hill  were  for. 
Bands  of  men  were  riding  furiously  all  over  the  coun 
try  voting  at  every  precinct,  but  the  horses  of 
Jackson  were  few,  and  when  the  sun  went  down 
Jackson  was  beaten,  because  the  other  side  had  the 
most  horses.  An  enormous  vote  was  cast,  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  population. 

MINES. 

The  gulches  around  Jackson  were  generally  good, 
though  no  such  strikes  were  made  as  in  Mokelumne 
river.  The  north  fork  of  Jackson  creek  was  good 
to  its  head;  the  south  and  middle  forks  were  also 
good.  The  best  spots  were  near  the  junction  of  the 
creeks,  not  far  from  the  National  House.  A  few  men 
made  as  high  as  five  hundred  dollars  per  day  at 
times.  Thomas  Jones  had  one  of  the  best  claims. 
Nuggets  worth  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  were 
taken  out  near  Dick  Palmer's  house.  Hough  also 
had  a  good  claim  near  the  same  place.  One  day 
some  immigrants  inquired  where  they  could  find 
diggings,  and  a  place  was  pointed  out.  In  a  few 
days  they  took  out  fourteen  pounds  each,  and  went 
home.  The  flats  in  the  vicinity  of  Tunnel  hill 
were  also  good.  Jackson  owed  its  prosperity  more  to 
being  a  convenient  center  than  to  any  mines  about 
the  town.  The  different  forks  of  the  creeks  came 
together  at  Jackson.  The  roads  to  Volcano,  Mokel 
umne  Hill,  and  the  southern  mines,  passed  through 
here,  and  all  helped  to  make  it  a  center  for  a  large 
extent  of  country. 

FIRST    PREACHING. 

The  meeting  was  held  in  Mann's  saloon  in  1850. 
The  preacher  (Southern  Methodist),  took  a  drink 
before  commencing  service.  His  preaching  was 
profitable  to  himself  at  least,  his  receipts  at  the 
close  of  the  sermon  being  over  a  hundred  dollars, 
of  which  sum  Harnet  gave  twenty  dollars,  and 
Laura  Stubbs,  afterwards  Harnet's  wife,  giving  ten 
dollars.  This  Avas  about  all  the  preaching  that  Win 
ter.  Davidson  and  his  three  partners  (of  what  was 
called  the  Minister  Quartz  Company,  working  at 
Amador),  preached  occasional!}7  the  following  Sum 
mer.  I.  B.  Fish  was  the  first  established  preacher. 
He  belonged  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
He  was  a  fearless  man,  of  good  mind  and 
great  force  of  character,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
denounce  the  popular  vices  of  the  age.  At  lone, 
especially,  he  won  the  enmity  of  saloon-keepers  and 
gamblers.  The  first  church  was  built  in  1853  by 
subscriptions,  costing  two  thousand  dollars. 

THE   FIRST   SCHOOL 

Was  taught  by  Mrs.  Trowbridge,  using  the  Methodist 
church  for  a  school-house.  She  was  one  of  the  few 
pioneer  women  who  felt  the  responsibility  of  living 
where  female  influence  was  so  great,  and  will  be 


170 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


remembered  as  using  it  for  the  advancement  of  so 
ciety.  Several  children,  around  Jackson  at  the 
time,  were  going  to  ruin  for  the  want  of  a  mother's 
care.  Mrs.  Trowbridge  obtained  clothes  for  them, 
induced  them  to  go  to  school  and  otherwise  cared 
for  them.  Geo.  0.  Ash,  now  a  leading  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  this  State,  owes 
his  early  training  and  subsequent  success  to  Mrs. 
Trowbridge's  care  when  he  was  a  motherless  waif. 

IN  1854 

The  advent  of  the  county  seat  gave  Jackson  a 
great  lift.  Several  brick  buildings  were  put  up 
about  this  time,  among  which  was  the  building  at 
the  bridge  used  as  a  Court  House  after  the  big  fire, 
the  house  used  by  Ingalls  as  a  drug  store  at 
the  corner  of  Main  and  Water  streets,  and  some 
others  not  recollected. 

With  the  increase  of  population  came  also  all 
kinds  of  mercantile  institutions,  where  beauty  and 
frailty  had  a  market  value.  The  sounds  of  music, 
the  clinking  of  glasses,  the  chink  of  money  as  the 
gambler  paid  out  his  losses  or  raked  in  his  winnings, 
were  in  time  and  tune  with  the  other  towns  of  Cal 
ifornia,  neither  better  nor  worse.  The  town  was  or 
ganized,  and  a  Board  of  Trustees  and  Mayor  elected. 
When  the  first  term  of  court  under  the  new  organ 
ization  was  in  session,  the  Grand  Jury  recommended 
that  some  attempt  be  made  to  suppress  the  disor 
derly  houses — meaning  the  houses  of  ill-fame.  No 
attention  was  paid  to  it,  but  at  the  next  session  the 
Grand  Jury  acted  more  vigorously.  Several  men 
were  indicted  for  keeping  disorderly  houses.  The 
Grand  Jury,  visiting  some  of  the  houses,  were 
shown  licenses  fordoing  business,  which  the  "parties 
construed  into  doing  their  kind  of  business;  so  they,  the 
Grand  Jury,  indicted  the  town  authorities  for  issuing 
the  licenses,  though  the  charge  was  "  for  obtaining 
money  under  false  pretenses."  A.  C.  Brown,  acting 
as  attorney  for  himself  and  other  members  of  the 
Board,  acknowledged  the  service  of  the  papers,  and 
gave  security  for  appearance. 

The  affair  caused  quite  an  excitement,  but  ended 
in  nothing,  as  District  Attorney  Axtell  appeared  in 
court  the  next  morning  and  entered  a  noils  prosequi 
in  the  cases,  and  Judge  Gordon  dismissed  them. 

The  indictments  against  the  parties  keeping  the 
disorderly  houses  were  continued  until  the  next 
term,  and  then  dismissed  for  want  of  evidence.  Al 
though  these  matters  did  not  result  in  suppressing 
these  institutions,  they  showed  that  public  o-pinion 
was  getting  intolerant  of  the  display  of  such  places, 
and  from  this  time  they  rather  evaded  than  courted 
publicity. 

GAS  WORKS. 

About  this  time,  Sloan  and  some  others  established 
gas  works.  Pipes  were  laid  along  the  streets  and 
in  all  the  public  places.  The  works  were  on  the 
ground  occupied  by  the  rear  of  R.  W.  Palmer's  staMe. 
There  was  a  bench  of  three  retorts,  and  a  tank  or 


gasometer  holding  perhaps  five  thousand  feet.  Pitch 
wood  was  used  for  making  the  gas  which  was  called 
Aubin  gas.  Great  hopes  were  entertained  of  the 
project,  but  the  quality  of  the  gas,  owing  to  the 
defective  machinery  for  purifying  it,  was  uncertain. 
Sometimes  the  light  from  it  was  brilliant,  then  going 
entirely  out;  and  the  experiment  was  abandoned. 
The  pipes  were  afterwards  utilized  as  water-pipes. 

THE  GREAT    FRESHET. 

Eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-one  found  Broadway 
built  quite  across  the  creek,  the  houses  resting  on 
posts,  which  were  set  in  the  ground  but  a  little  ways. 
It  was  nine  years  since  the  flood  of  fifty-two  and 
three,  and  the  people  either  had  forgotten,  or  would 
not  believe  that  the  forks  of  Jackson  creek  would 
sometimes  float  a  steamboat,  and  so  they  rested  in 
security.  The  American  Hotel,  Young  America 
Saloon,  and  other  good  houses,  were  built  over  the 
channel  on  Broadway.  On  the  continuation  of 
Main  street,  beyond  the  Louisiana  Hotel  (now 
National  Hotel),  was  a  row  of  barber-shops  and 
saloons.  The  rains  commenced  about  the  first  of 
December,  and  continued  without  much  inter 
mission  for  some  weeks,  until  the  ground  was  so 
full  it  could  hold  no  more,  each  shower  sending  the 
streams,  already  full,  over  the  banks.  When  the 
main  rise  occurred,  bringing  down  trees,  timber, 
fences,  and  mining  machinery,  the  channel  soon 
choked.  The  flood  now  turned  into  Water  street, 
running  along  in  front  of  the  Louisiana  Hotel, 
carrying  off  the  wagon-shop  to  the  west  of  the  hotel, 
with  its  contents,  and  endangering  the  safety  of  all 
the  buildings  along  the  street.  At  this  point  the  build 
ings  began  to  give  way.  The  American  Hotel 
actually  floated  up  stream  a  little,  which  caused  the 
remark  that  it  always  was  a  contrary  concern  and 
would  not  go  like  other  buildings,  referring  to  its 
having  been  an  unprofitable  investment.  Slowly  the 
mass  of  buildings,  with  the  bridge,  gave  way  and 
started,  grinding  along  and  tearing  away  the  out 
buildings  which  had  been  built  from  both  sides  into 
the  creek.  The  row  of  barber-shops  and  saloons  on 
the  next  crossing  hardly  checked  the  movement,  and 
the  mass  went  grinding  and  crashing  into  the  canon 
below,  and  the  channel  was  cleared  and  the  danger 
passed.  Some  twenty  buildings  went  off  in  this 
burst,  involving  a  loss  of  perhaps  fifty  thousand 
dollars.  The  quantity  of  lumber  of  all  kinds  that 
went  down  the  creek  through  Jackson  was  enor 
mous.  It  was  fished  out  at  all  points.  Several 
thousand  feet  could  bo  gathered  in  a  few  hours,  so 
much  broken,  however,  as  to  be  useless  except  for 
wood.  Much  of  it  went  into  the  bay  and  thence  to 
sea. 

INCIDENTS   OF   THE    FRESHET. 

The  buildings  taken  away  from  the  foot  of  Broad 
way  and   Main   streets,  with   their   contents,  went 
tearing  and  crashing  down  the  canon,  and  for  some 
j   weeks,   broken    doors,    windows,   counters,    and   all 


JACKSON. 


171 


kinds  of  goods,  were  thrown  ashore  or  fished  out  of 
the  creek  below.  One  day,  Dr.  Crawford  and  Sam 
Folger,  the  latter  now  in  business  in  Jackson,  were 
engaged  with  others  in  wrecking  in  Jackson  valley. 
Now  a  door,  which  they  recognized  as  coming  from 
the  Young  America  saloon,  would  come  to  land; 
then  a  window  from  the  American  Hotel;  then  a 
part  of  the  outhouse  of  the  Louisiana,  the  parties 
extracting  a  good  deal  of  fun  out  of  the  work.  A 
bottle  of  some  kind  of  liquor,  miraculously  preserved 
from  breaking,  during  its  journey  through  the 
Devil's  Mill,  as  the  canon  was  called,  came  rolling 
and  bobbing  along,  and  was  fished  out.  Now  the 
Young  America  had  the  reputation  of  keeping  the 
best  liquors  in  the  county.  If  it  should  be  some  of 
Bristow's  whisky,  as  Mrs.  Toodles  says,  "it  would 
come  so  handy;"  but  there  were  barbers'  and  doctors' 
shops  carried  away  also,  and  it  might  be  hair  oil,  or 
hair  dye,  or  some  other  horrible  stuff,  and  it  naturally 
fell  to  the  Doctor  to  try  it.  He  smelled  and  tasted, 
and  smelled  and  tasted  again,  and  ominously  shook 
his  head.  "Better  not  touch  it,  Folger,  it  may  be 
poison.  Let  me  try  it  again;"  taking  a  liberal  sam 
ple,  again  shaking  his  head,  but  the  indescribable 
look  of  satisfaction  over-spreading  his  countenance, 
induced  Folger  to  test  it  also.  It  was  some  of  Bris 
tow's  best,  and  a  very  acceptable  find  to  the  wet 
fishermen. 

THE   HANGING-TREE. 

This  tree  which  has  become  noted  wherever  the 
name  of  California  is  known,  formerly  stood  near 
Louis  Tellier's  saloon,  and  was  a  live-oak,  with  sev 
eral  branching  trunks.  It  was  never  very  beautiful, 
but  was  a  source  of  so  much  pride  to  the  citizens, 
on  account  of  its  history,  that  its  likeness  was 
engraved  on  the  county  seal,  so  that  its  appearance 
is  not  likely  to  be  forgotten. 

Its  use  at  first  as  a  hanging-tree,  was  quite  acci 
dental;  but  in  the  course  of  time  the  tree  was  a 
terrible  hint  for  the  quick  solution  of  a  criminal 
case,  and  when  the  tree  was  injured  by  the  great 
fire  of  August,  1862,  so  as  to  necessitate  the  cutting 
of  it  down,  the  feeling  regarding  its  fate  was  not 
altogether  sorrowful. 

The  first  case  was  "Coyote  Joe,"  an  Indian, 
charged  with  killing  a  blacksmith  at  the  Gate,  for 
the  purpose  of  getting  his  money.  He  was  tried 
by  a  jury  of  miners,  Dr.  Pitt  acting  as  foreman,  and 
found  guilty,  as  some  of  the  specimens  the  black 
smith  was  known  to  have,  were  found  on  the  Indian's 
person.  The  trial  was  in  a  restaurant,  not  far  from 
the  tree,  and  he  was  soon  hanging. 

The  second  case  was  that  of  a  Chileno,  who  stabbed 
a  woman  who  was  his  cousin;  he  was  tried  by  a  jury 
of  citizens,  found  guilty,  and  shortly  hung. 

In  1851,  two  Frenchmen  were  murdered  in  Squaw 
gulch  near  the  Gate.  One  was  stabbed  with  a  long 
bowie-knife  thirteen  times,  dying  immediately;  the 
other,  though  cut  five  or  six  times,  lived  for  several 
days.  Suspicions  were  fixed  upon  a  youug  Mexican, 


who  was  afterwards  arrested  by  AVaterman  H.  Nel 
son,  Sheriff  of  Calavoras  county  (this  being  before 
the  organization  of  Araador)  at  Sacramento,  and 
brought  to  Jackson  handcuffed  to  another  young 
Mexican  who  had  been  arrested  for  horse-stealing. 
The  examination  was  before  Bruce  Husband,  Justice 
of  the  Peace.  The  testimony  was  so  positive  that 
there  was  no  doubt  of  the  guilt  of  the  accused,  and 
as  the  atrocious  details  of  the  murder  came  out  the 
French  portion  .of  the  population  became  excited 
beyond  all  control,  and  they  determined  to  hang  the 
Mexican  at  all  hazards,  and  so  told  the  Sheriff,  who 
determined  that  the  prisoner  should  be  taken  to 
Mokelumnc  Hill  for  trial.  The  French  armed  them 
selves  with  shot-guns,  and  the  Americans  with  pistols, 
the  latter  with  the  intention  of  defending  Nelson  if 
ho  was  assaulted.  The  murderer  was  still  hand 
cuffed  to  the  other  Mexican  who  was  arrested  for 
horse-stealing.  How  to  get  them  apart  was  the 
question,  and  at  one  time  it  seemed  as  if  both  would 
be  hanged  together,  but  Martell,  the  blacksmith, 
finally  cut  the  chain  in  two,  releasing  the  horse-thief. 
Now  commenced  the  exciting  part  of  the  affair.  The 
Frenchmen  had  assured  Nelson  that  they  would  not 
hurt  him.  The  Americans  looked  on,  admiring  the 
pluck  of  the  officer,  caring  little  what  became  of  the 
"  greaser."  It  was  remarked  that  if  one  shot-gun 
went  off  there  would  be  fifty  dead  men  in  five  min 
utes.  Twice  the  rope  was  placed  around  the  fellow's 
neck,  and  twice  it  was  cut  by  the  Sheriff.  Sompayrac, 
a  French  merchant,  was  asked  to  say  something  to 
allay  the  excitement,  but  he  only  shouted,  "  Hang 
him!  hang  him!"  Nelson  was  finally  overpowered 
and  the  Mexican  was  hanged.  It  may  be  a  matter 
of  doubt  whether  Nelson's  apparent  struggle  to 
maintain  the  dignity  of  the  law  was  not  half,  at 
least,  in  the  interest  of  the  mob,  as  no  arms  were 
used  or  exhibited  by  him. 

The  other  prisoner  got  out  of  the  crowd  and  went 
to  the  Union  Hotel.  The  proprietor,  Colonel  Allen, 
remarked  that  the  crowd  would  hang  him  also, 
"  Did  you  steal  a  horse  ?"  asked  Allen  of  him.  "Yes, 
I  took  a  horse  and  rode  him."  (Allen.)  "  You  sabe 
este  camino?"  pointing  to  a  trail  that  led  down  the 
creek.  "Si  Sefior."  (Allen.)  "  Vamos"  giving  the 
Mexican  a  shove.  He  left,  making  excellent  time  as 
long  as  he  was  in  sight,  and  thus  escaped,  for  that 
day  at  least,  a  hanging. 

Some  accounts  state  that  the  two  Mexicans  were 
banged,  but  the  above  statement  seems  to  be  the  most 
authentic. 

In  1853,  a  party  of  Mexicans,  said  to  have  been 
Joaquin's  band,  robbed  some  Chinamen,  killing  two  of 
them  and  tying  the  others  on  the  creek  below  the 
town.  Joe  Lake,  a  butcher,  in  his  rounds  to  sell  his 
meat,  rode  up  to  the  camp  at  the  time  the  robbery 
was  going  on,  and  was  killed  by  the  Mexicans.  One 
Chinaman  escaping,  came  to  the  town  and  gave  infor 
mation  of  the  tragedy.  A  party  was  made  up  and 
the  Mexicans  were  pursued  and  overtaken;  in  the 


172 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


running  fight  which  ensued  one  was  severely 
wounded  and  was  afterwards  arrested  in  Lancha 
Plana,  taken  to  Jackson  and  hanged. 

In  1854,  in  March  or  April,  a  Chileno  living  in 
Jackson,  attempted  to  rob  a  China  camp  on  Cook's 
gulch,  west  of  Jackson.  The  Chinamen  got  the  bet 
ter  of  him,  tied-him  and  brought  him  to  town,  where 
he  paid  the  penalty  of  his  crime  by  hanging. 

March  23.  1854,  a  Swede,  name  unknown,  was 
hung  at  Jackson,  for  the  stealing. of  a  horse  from 
Evans  and  Askey.  As  there  has  been  much  talk 
of  this  matter,  a  short  account  of  the  stealing  of  the 
horse  and  its  subsequent  recovery,  and  the  capture 
of  the  man,  may  not  be  out  of  place:  The  horse,  a 
valuable  and  noticeable  one,  was  taken  from  the 
stable  on  the  night  of  the  17th.  Suspicion  immedi 
ately  fixed  itself  on  the  person  afterwards  arrested, 
who  had  been  camping  in  the  vicinity,  with  no 
ostensible  occupation.  The  camp  was  visited,  but 
the  man  was  gone.  A  blanket  stolen  at  the  same 
time,  was  found  there,  however,  which  served  to 
confirm  the  suspicion  with  regard  to  the  author  of 
the  theft.  He  was  traced  out  of  town  towards  the 
south;  thence  he  turned  north,  making  a  wide  cir 
cuit,  and  got  on  the  Drytown  road.  At  the  Cos- 
umnes  ferry,  the  man  and  horse  crossed  early  in 
the  morning,  both  man  and  horse  being  identified, 
as  they  were  subsequently  at  Mud  Springs  (El 
Dorado).  Here  they  lost  the  trail  for  one  day,  but 
recovered  it  again  on  the  Auburn  road,  both  horse 
and  man  being  in  company.  Here  he  offered  to  sell 
the  horse,  saying  that  he  had  sold  the  mate  for 
three  hundred  dollars.  He  was  eventually  captured 
near  Bridgeport,  in  Nevada  county.  The  chain  of 
evidence  establishing  his  possession  of  the  horse 
from  the  time  of  the  stealing  to  his  capture,  seemed 
perfect.  From  these  circumstances,  no  value  what 
ever  was  attached  to  the  bill  of  sale  which  he  pro 
duced,  which  read  as  follows, — 

"Sac.  City,  March  16,  154. 

"Mr.  C.  Bennet  Bot  of  C.  Cuper,  for   one   gray 
horse,  Three  Hundred  &  Forty  Dollars.     Title  guar 
anteed. 
"\V.  Holman,  Auctioneer.  C.  CUPER." 

Nor  of  the  story  which  he  told  of  having  purchased 
the  horse  from  a  traveler  on  the  road,  with  the 
transfer  of  the  bill  of  sale. 

On  the  way  back,  hundreds  recognized  both  man 
and  horse,  so  there  seems  no  possible  doubt  of  the 
guilt  of  the  man,  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the 
hanging.  He  had  a  trial  of  only  a  few  minutes,  on 
the  steps  of  the  Louisiana  House,  at  sunrise,  soon 
after  coming  to  the  town.  A  rope  was  put  around 
his  neck,  and  he  was  hurried  to  the  tree,  only  a  few 
people  being  present.  He  tried  to  explain  away  the 
charge  against  him,  saying  that  he  bought  the  horse 
of  a  traveler,  who  transferred  the  bill  of  sale  with 
the  horse.  He  could  not  speak  English,  and  Levin- 
sky,  whose  store  was  near,  interpreted  for  him. 
His  body  hung  until  noon  before  it  was  cut  down. 


There  was  a  valuable  ring  on  one  of  his  fingers.  A 
man,  now  living  in  Jackson,  whose  name  does  not 
deserve  mention  in  this  book,  not  being  able  to  pull 
the  ring  off  the  swollen  finger,  cut  it  off;  some  say 
on  a  butcher's  block,  which  was  near  by.  It  is  also 
current  that  the  several  claimants  to  the  ring  played 
a  game  of  cards,  to  see  who  should  have  it. 

Public  opinion  was  very  much  against  the  lyrichers 
in  this  affair,  and  the  next  Grand  Jury  found  bills  for 
a  high  crime  against  several  prominent  citizens,  who 
took  an  active  part  in  the  matter,  and  they  found  it 
convenient  to  be  absent  from  the  town,  at  several 
subsequent  courts,  to  give  color  to  the  legal  fiction 
that  the  parties  named  in  the  indictments  could  not 
be  found. 

In  1855,  two  Mexicans  tried  to  rob  a  China  camp, 
about  four  miles  below  Jackson.  They  met  with 
unexpected  resistance;  one  being  stunned  with  a 
blow  from  a  hatchet,  the  other  making  his  escape. 
The  Chinamen  wound  their  prisoner  with  ropes  from 
head  to  foot,  so  tightly  that  he  could  not  bend,  and 
then  guyed  him  up  liked  a  smoke-stack  to  a  steam 
saw-mill,  and  sent  to  town  for  help  to  arrest  him. 
When  the  whites  got  there  they  found  him  standing 
in  the  middle  of  the  camp  with  ropes  reaching  out 
from  him,  all  around,  holding  him  to  his  place.  He 
was  brought  to  town  and  hung. 

August  10, 1855,  Manuel  Garcia,  one  of  the  Eanch- 
eria  banditti,  was  wounded  in  the  running  fight  on 
the  Calaveras  river,  taken  and  carried  to  Campo 
Seco,  from  which  place  he  was  taken  to  Jackson  by 
Perry  and  Eichelberger.  He  was  immediately  hung 
by  the  people. 

Soon  after  this,  or  about  the  15th  of  August,  two 
Mexicans  were  hung  for  complicity  in  the  Eanchcria 
murders.  Manuel  Escobar,  of  the  same  party  was 
the  tenth  and  last.  The  tree  was  injured  in  the 
great  fire  of  1862,  and  was  cut  down. 

QRISWOLD    MURDER. 

On  November  7, 1857,  Martin  Van  Buren  Griswold 
was  murdered  under  circumstances  that  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  people,  not  only  of  the  county, 
but  also  throughout  the  State.  Griswold  was  a 
daring,  self-possessed,  and  powerful  man,  who 
crossed  the  plains  to  Oregon  in  1848.  On  his  arrival 
in  Oregon  he  learned  of  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
California,  and,  with  his  usual  decision  of  character, 
he  immediately  turned  toward  that  place.  He 
arrived  in  San  Francisco  in  April,  '49,  and  went  to 
Placerville,  where  he  mined  with  rather  indifferent 
success,  but  afterward  struck  it  rich  at  Oregon  Bar, 
"making  his  pile."  After  traveling  about  California 
awhile,  he  started  for  New  York  by  way  of  the 
city  of  Mexico.  While  there  he  got  out  of  coin  and 
went  to  the  mint  to  get  his  dust  exchanged  for  gold, 
which  they  agreed  to  do,  but  afterward  insisted  upon 
his  taking  silver.  He  brought  the  mint  officers  to 
a  sense  of  right  by  drawing  his  revolver  upon  them, 
and  departed  with  the  gold  coin.  He  reached  New 


JACKSON. 


173 


York  without  farther  mishap,  New  Year's  day,  1850. 
After  spending  a  few  weeks  with  his  family,  he 
started  again  for  the  Golden  State,  this  time  by  way 
of  Milwaukee  and  the  great  North-West,  the  then 
terra,  incognita,  but  now  the  great  wheat-field  of 
the  world.  Passing  down  the  RedBiver  of  the  North 
to  the  Selkirk  settlements,  he  swung  away  toward 
the  McKenzie  and  Copper  Mine  rivers  to  the  out 
posts  of  the  fur  companies,  and  from  thence  made 
his  way  to  Oregon,  which  place  he  reached  Christ 
mas  day,  1850,  having  been  nearly  a  year  in  making 
the  trip,  passing  through  the  territory  of  twenty 
different  tribes  of  Indians  without  a  mishap.  For 
some  years  he  oscillated  between  San  Diego  and 
Siskiyou,  San  Francisco  and  the  Sandwich  Islands; 
was  a  prisoner  among  the  Klamath  Indians,  from 
whom  he  escaped  after  two  years  of  imprisonment, 
during  which  time  he  experienced  many  desperate 
adventures.  He  finally  settled  down  with  Horace 
Kilham,  an  extensive  mine  and  ditch  owner  near 
Jackson.  Large  quantities  of  gold-dust  were  bought 
and  sold  at  this  place,  the  safe  having  at  times 
fifty  thousand  dollars  or  more  in  it,  a  great  tempta 
tion  to  Chinamen  (several  of  wJiom  worked  about 
the  place)  who  were  in  the  habit  of  working  for  a 
mere  pittance.  One  day  he  was  missing;  on  examina 
tion  the  gold  in  the  safe  was  also  gone.  For  a 
moment  suspicion  fell  on  Griswold,  but  his  friends 
scouted  the  idea  of  Griswold  playing  the  scoundrel. 
Foul  play  was  certain.  With  a  man  of  his  active 
temperament  it  was  difficult  to  tell  where  he  might 
not  have  been  waylaid. 

Hundreds  of  men  from  the  adjoining  mines  were 
soon  there;  every  possible  contingency  was  can 
vassed.  It  was  discovered  that  the  China  cook  was 
also  gone,  and  had  been  seen  some  miles  away  in 
company  with  other  Chinamen.  A  thorough  search 
of  the  premises  was  now  made,  but  not  until  the 
next  day  was  any  clue  to  the  mystery  found,  when 
the  body  of  Griswold  was  found  under  the  China 
man's  bed.  Death  was  produced  by  two  fractures  of 
the  skull,  apparently  by  a  blow  from  the  rear,  by 
a  blunt  instrument,  though  it  was  apparent  that 
after  the  infliction  of  these  wounds  he  had  been 
struck  in  the  front  by  some  sharp  instrument,  again 
breaking  the  skull.  To  make  assurance  doubly 
sure,  the  murderers  had  drawn  a  chord  tightly 
around  the  neck;  but  this  was  needless,  the  work 
was  thoroughly  done.  In  the  room  was  found  a  heavy 
club,  also  a  slung-shot,  which  had  been  seen  in  the 
possession  of  the  Chinaman  some  weeks  before  the 
murder.  Large  rewards  were  offered  for  the  appre 
hension  of  the  China  cook  and  his  friends,  who  had 
been  seen  with  him,  the  Chinese  residents  of  Jack 
son  contributing  largely.  The  whole  State  was  on 
the  watch.  The  parties  were  arrested  in  Marysville 
through  the  assistance  of  the  Chinese  residents, 
there.  The  key  of  the  safe,  some  jewelry,  and  other 
articles  known  to  have  been  in  the  safe,  were  found 
on  their  persons.  They  received  a  fair  trial,  had  the 


benefit  of  able  counsel,  and  were  found  guilty.  Three 
were  sentenced  to  be  hung,  and  were  executed  on 
the  sixteenth  day  of  April,  1858.  The  fourth  one 
indicted  was  given  the  benefit  of  a  doubt,  and  his 
trial  postponed;  but  he  anticipated  justice  by  com 
mitting  suicide  in  his  cell.  Fou  Seen,  the  cook  who 
is  supposed  to  have  planned  the  murder,  and  called 
in  the  other  parties  to  assist  in  the  matter,  was  none 
of  the  simple  "  Heathen  Chinee,"  but  had  been  an 
extensive  traveler,  and  was,  in  China,  a  desperado. 

GREAT   FIRE   AUGUST  23,  1862. 

So  far  fires  at  Jackson  had  been  comparatively 
insignificant.  Drytown  had  been  swept  as  if  by  a 
whirlwind.  The  citizens  of  Jackson  had  looked 
across  the  river  and  seen  Mekelumno  Hill,  their  an 
cient  rival,  blackened  with  the  charred  remains  of 
their  town.  Jackson  had,  to  some  extent,  provided 
for  a  fire,  having  two  fire-engines  and  a  hook-and- 
ladder  company.  Shortly  after  one  o'clock  the 
alarm  of  fire  was  raised,  and  smoke  was  seen  issuing 
from  an  out-building  in  the  rear  of  the  assay  office. 
The  firemen  were  quickly  at  their  posts,  and  for  a 
few  minutes  it  seemed  that  the  firemen  had  the  better 
of  it.  There  are  different  accounts  as  to  the  cause 
of  the  failure  to  control  it;  some  say  that  the  water 
in  the  tank  or  cistern  failed;  others  that  the  assist 
ant  engineer  ordered  another  stream  from  the  main 
engine  to  bo  turned  on  without  increasing  the  supply 
hose,  which  so  weakened  the  force  of  the  streams 
that  they  would  not  reach  the  fire.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  fault,  the  fire  spread,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  was  beyond  all  control.  The  houses,  mostly 
of  pine,  shriveling  in  the  hot  sun,  caught  like  powder 
and  flashed  the  fire  from  one  to  another,  until  the 
only  question  was  to  save  life — property  was  not  to 
be  thought  of.  The  Court  House  being  some  dis 
tance  from  the  fire,  permitted  the  saving  of  the 
records;  but  the  house  itself  went  like  a  pile  of  brush. 
In  some  instances  people  had  to  make  their  escape 
from  beseiged  houses  with  wet  blankets  over  their 
heads.  Iron  bars,  one  inch  by  three,  used  for  the 
support  of  balconies,  though  on  the  outside  of  the 
buildings,  were  seen  to  melt  and  fall  from  their  own* 

O      ' 

weight.  A  phenomenon  occurred  here  that  is  much 
disputed:  the  smoke,  rolling  along  the  ground  in  the 
narrow  alleys,  would  become  so  intensely  heated 
by  the  flames  above  as  to  take  fire  and  explode  like 
powder.  The  Union  Hotel  was  built  around  three 
sides  of  a  quadrangle,  which  was  filled  with  bedding 
that  the  occupants  hud  thrown  out  of  the  windows 
in  hopes  of  saving  it,  but  the  flames  lapped  over  the 
place,  and  in  an  instant  the  whole  mass  added  new 
strength  to  the  hungry  element.  Colonel  Allen,  the 
proprietor,  left  with  his  music-box  under  his  arm, 
that  being  the  only  thing  saved.  Stoves,  hardware, 
church-bells,  and  glass,  were  melted  into  one  con 
glomeration.  The  fire  swept  everything  on  the  road 
towards  Sacramento,  till  it  reached  the  wagon-shop 
near  Trenchel's  brewery,  where  it  was  stayed  with 


\ 


174 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


the  aid  of  a  hose  used  in  that  establishment.  On 
the  south  side  it  was  met  by  the  fire  department 
from  Mokelumne  Hill.  At  night  the  town  was  a 
smoking  ruin,  the  tall,  ghostly  chimneys  keeping 
watch  over  the  seething  embers,  while  the  inhab 
itants  were  camped  on  the  surrounding  hills,  house 
less  and  supperless.  Children,  for  the  first  time  in 
their  lives,  went  supperless  to  bed,  and  that  bed  the 
earth,  and  the  sky  for  the  coverlet.  There  was  no 
despair,  however;  no  wringing  of  hands  and  shedding 
of  tears.  Before  darkness  came,  lumber  was  en 
gaged  to  rebuild  some  of  the  houses,  and  in  the 
morning  was  actually  awaiting  the  cooling  of  the 
hot  ashes  and  cinders.  Provisions  came  pouring  in  from 
the  surrounding  towns,  and  there  was  no  suffering. 
As  the  people  sat  around  the  smouldering  rains  of 
the  town,  many  incidents  were  related,  which,  if 
recorded,  would  be  interesting  reading  now.  Hair 
breadth  escapes  of  children  and  women  snatched  from 
burning  buildings  which  fell  a  moment  after,  were 
common  enough.  In  some  instances,  women  seemed 
to  have  been  helpless  from-  fright;  in  others,  the 
love  for  home  seemed  to  be  stronger  than  the  love 
for  life,  and  they  had  to  be  carried  out  by  force. 

The  fire  department  came  in  for  its  share  of  the 
heroic.  Some  cynical  man  had  predicted  that  in 
case  of  a  general  fire,  the  boys  would  lose  their  engine. 
When  the  engines  failed,  and  the  flames  were  flash 
ing  from  street  to  street,  most  of  the  men  ran  to 
save  their  families,  leaving  but  a  few  to  see  to  the 
machine,  and  for  a  time  it  looked  as  if  the  prediction 
was  to  be  verified.  Two  or  three  men,  however, 
commenced  tugging  at  it,  when  the  cloud  of  smoke 
which  enveloped  them,  flashed  like  an  explosion  of 
gas,  compelling  the  men  to  get  under  the  truck  for 
protection;  in  a  moment  the  smoke  and  flame 
cleared  away,  and  the  boys  rolled  it  out. 

After  the  fire  was  over  many  a  deed  of  heroism 
and  devotion  came  to  light;  for  misfortunes  have 
the  good  effect  to  bring  to  light  the  jewels  of  charac 
ter  that  otherwise  mi^ht  have  never  shone  through 

o  o 

the  incrustations  of  selfishness.  The  savings  of 
years  of  industry  were  gone,  but  the  indomitable 
energy  and  perseverance  that  had  built  up  the  town 
were  not  destroyed,  and  the  people  went  to  work. 
A  hundred  new  buildings  were  erected  before  the 
rainy  season  set  in,  and  in  one  year  all  marks  of  the 
fire  were  effaced. 

It  has  been  impossible  to  collect  anything  like  a 
full  list  of  the  losses;  a  few  may  be  mentioned: — 

Levinsky,  $20,000;  H.  W.  Allen,  $15,000;  W.  L. 
McKimm,  $7,000;  J.  Samuels,  $15,000;  Tellier,  $1,000; 
Harris,  $3,000;  Evans  &  Askey  $5,000;  A.  C.  Brown, 
$40,000;  Steckler  &  Co.,  $10,000;  M.  Bruml,  $5,000; 
H.  Kress,  $3,500;  Moses  Medina,  $7,000. 

The  following,  from  the  California  Spirit  of  the 
Times,  edited  by  Marcus  D.  Boruck,  will  give  a  lively 
idea  of  the  fire: — 


"  LETTER  FROM  MOKELUMNE  HILL. 

"MOKELUMNE  HILL,  August  25,  1862. 

"You  are  pi-obably  aware,  by  this  time,  of  the 
total  destruction  of  the  beautiful  and  flourishing 
city  of  Jackson,  Amador  county.  On  Friday  last  I 
passe'd  through  it  at  four  o'clock,  and  everything 
betokened  peace  and  security;  but  it  is  now  no  more, 
the  lines  of  the  city  being  scarcely  perceptible.  1 
visited  the  place  yesterday  morning,  and  a  more  des 
olate  and  melancholy  looking  place  I  never  saw; 
and  seeing  it  a  short  time  before  in  all  its  beauty,  I 
could  more  keenly  appreciate  the  destruction  which 
surrounded  me  on  all  sides.  But  the  people,  with 
that  wonderful  elasticity  which  so  far  forcibly  char 
acterizes  all  Californians,  were  smiling  and  passin"- 
jokes  on  each  other  with  scarcely  a  thought  of  what 
had  passed.  With  the  exception  of  three  or  four 
brick  buildings  on  Main  street,  and  a  few  private 
residences  to  the  right  as  you  enter  the  town  from 
this  place,  the  city  has  been  totally  destroyed.  All 
the  principal  buildings,  including  the  Court  House, 
theater,  Amador  Ledyer,  and  Amador  Dispatch  print 
ing  offices,  the  post-office,  Colonel  Allen's  Union 
Hotel,  and  the  Louisiana  Hotel  of  Evans  &  Askey 
being  in  the  wreck  and  ruin. 

"The  smoke  of  the  fire  was  seen  at  this  place  at 
fifteen  minutes  of  two  o'clock  (five  minutes  after  it 
broke  out)  and  there  could  not  have  been  less  than  a 
dozen  opinions  as  to  its  locality;  every  other  place 
but  the  right  one  having  entered  into  its  discussion. 
At  last,  Mr.  Moses,  the  telegraph  operator,  said  he 
could  not  get  the  operator  at  Jackson,  as  the  circuit 
was  broken;  and  then  all  became  satisfied  that  it 
was  Jackson.  The  tire,  in  the  meantime,  had  mate 
rially  decreased;  but  all  of  a  sudden  the  flame  and 
smoke  could  be  seen  ascending  from  the  hill-tops, 
and  the  conflagration  increased  with  alarming  rapid- 
it3r.  A  large  number  of  people  from  this  place 
started  for  the  scene  (many  of  them  on  foot),  a  dis 
tance  of  six  miles,  over  the  roughest  kind  of  a  mount 
ain  road,  and  the  thermometer ,  as  high  as  you 

please.  They  arrived  at  the  scene,  however,  in  time 
to  save  the  houses  of  Mr.  Coney  and  Mr.  Axtcll, 
situated  on  either  side  of  the  road  this  side  of  the 
gulch,  and  thus  prevented  the  further  spread  of  the 
fire  in  that  direction;  all  they  could  do  in  the  town 
itself,  was  to  save  the  Masonic  building.  The  fire 
broke  out  at  twenty  minutes  of  two  o'clock,  and  at 
five  o'clock  the  destruction  of  the  town  was  com 
plete.  When  the  alarm  was  first  sounded,  there 
was  not  the  remotest  idea  entertained  that  the  place 
was  doomed,  the  city  being  provided  with  an  effec 
tive  fire  department,  and  full  cisterns  of  water.  The 
fire  broke  out  on  the  right  hand  side  of  Main  street, 
as  you  leave  the  town  fur  Sacramento,  a  few  doors 
from  Court  street,  an  avenue  which  led  direct  to  the 
Court  House,  and  in  the  rear  of  the  Ledi/er  office. 
When  the  fire  was  first  discovered,  it  was  about  as 
big  as  a  man's  hat.  The  apparatus  was  promptly 
brought  out,  and  taken  to  the  cistern  on  High 
street,  a  few  doors  from  the  Court  House;  the  fire 
men,  under  the  direction  of  Chief  Engineer  Wells, 
working  admirably.  There  was  a  fatal  mistake  in 
getting  to  work,  which  consisted  in  not  placing  one 
of  the  engines  on  Main  street,  where  there  was  an 
abundance  of  water  (the  cisterns  being  full  to  the 
brim  when  I  saw  them  yesterday  morning),  thus 
preventing  the  fire  from  bursting  through  on  to  the 
front,  it  having  commenced  in  the  rear  from  hot 
ashes  having  been  thrown  into  a  barrel  which  stood 
against  a  frame  building.  Both  engines  being  at 


JACKSON. 


175 


the  same  cistern,  and  that  a  small  one,  it  soon 
became  exhausted,  and  in  a  short  time  the  firemen 
were  horror-stricken  to  find  they  were  drawing 
nothing  but  air.  It  was  at  this  point  that  the  peo 
ple  of  this  place  saw  the  fire  decrease,  and  then  as 
suddenly  increase,  for  at  one  time  the  firemen  had 
the  fire  entirely  under  their  control,  when  the  Chief 
Engineer  was  compelled  to  give  the  order  to  change 
position;  and,  in  carrying  it  out,  before  it  could  be 
accomplished,  the  fire  gained  such  headway  on  them 
that  they  could  not  master  it,  and  spread  three  dif 
ferent  ways,  barely  giving  them  time  to  save  their 
apparatus,  with  a  loss  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
of  Button's  patent  coupling  hose.  It  was  then  that 
no  further  reliance  could  be  placed  in  the  fire  depart 
ment,  and  the  apparatus  was  abandoned,  except  by 
a  few  who  removed  it  to  a  place  of  safety.  The  fire 
now  spread  with  fearful  strides,  which,  combined 
with  the  intense  heat  of  the  weather,  added  to  the 
terror  of  the  scene.  The  safety  of  women  and  chil 
dren  was  looked  to,  and  an  effort  made  to  save 
property,  but  it  was  useless.  The  fire  swallowed 
up  everything  in  its  capacious  maw,  and  when  the 
sun  went  down  on  the  disaster,  the  town,  including 
all  the  provision  in  it,  was  turned  to  ashes. 

"As  I  have  before  stated,  the  fire  broke  out  at  a 
quarter  before  two  o'clock,  and  ended  its  course  at 
five.  At  that  hour  definite  information  was  received 
at  this  place  of  the  great  disaster.  In  fifteen  minutes 
a  meeting  was  held  in  front  of  H.  Atwood's  Union 
Hotel,  presided  over  by  Jeff.  Gatewood,  Esq.  The 
circumstances  were  narrated,  and  a  committee  con 
sisting  of  Dr.  Hoerchner,  W.  S.  Moses,  and  Dr.  Sober 
appointed  to  collect  subscriptions.  At  six  o'clock  a 
four-horse  team,  belonging  to  Mr.  Taft,  started 
laden  with  provisions  and  blankets,  under  charge  of 
Mr.  Chas.  Spiers,  which  reached  Jackson  about 
half-past  eight  o'clock,  much  to  the  joy  of  the  inhab 
itants  of  the  desolate  place.  At  eight  o'clock  an 
adjourned  meeting  was  held  at  the  Court  House, 
where  reports  were  made  that  at  least  fifteen  hun 
dred  dollars  in  provisions  and  money  had  been 
collected,  and  seven  or  eight  teams  forwarded  to, 
Jackson  with  provisions.  Judge  Badgcly  spoke  at 
this  meeting,  and  gave  a  detailed  account  of  all  the 
circumstances,  he  having  gone  through  the  fire.  I 
never  saw  such  good  feeling  manifested  by  any  peo 
ple  as  those  of  this  place,  and  more  promptitude 
shown  in  acting  in  such  a  matter;  without  their  aid, 
the  people  of  Jackson  would  have  been  in  a  terrible 
condition.  They  acted  in  a  manner  which  will 
always  cause  Mokelumne  Hill  to  be  remembered 
wilh  pride  and  pleasure. 

"On  this  morning  sixty  dollars'  worth  of  fresh  bread, 
innumerable  provisions  and  blankets  were  sent. 
When  1  arrived  at  Jackson  this  morning,  thirteen 
hours  after  the  fire,  there  were  at  least  a  dozen 
loads  of  joist,  lumber,  and  planking,  in  different 
localities,  waiting  for  the  burning  embers  to  cool, 
preparatory  to  rebuilding.  The  town  will  be  rebuilt 
long  before  the  rainy  season,  although  the  losses  arc 
severe,  at  least  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dol 
lars,  upon  which  there  is  said  to  be  an  insurance  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  which  I  hope 
is  the  fact.  The  fire-proof  buildings  were  about  as 
much  fire-proof  as  a  sheet  of  paper.  The  Chief  Engi 
neer  ordered  the  walls  of  Sleekier  &  Newbauer's 
building,  at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Court  streets, 
to  be  pulled  down,  and  also  that  of  Levinsky  Broth 
ers,  on  Main  street,  on  account  of  their  totU-ring 
condition.  I  should  judge  that  in  the  construction 
of  the  former,  at  least  two  barrels  of  cement  were 


used,  and,  in  the  latter,  not  less  than  a  barrel  and  a 
half — perfect  counterfeits  on  the  name  of  fire-proof. 

"The  Amador  Ledger  will  be  issued  from  the  Chroni 
cle  building  this  week.  I  have  not  learned  what  dis 
position  the  Amador  Dispatch  people  have  made  in 
regard  to  a  re-issue.  Springer  saved  his  two  inside 
forms,  but  not  a  letter  of  type  besides.  In  regard  to 
the  fire  department  of  Jackson  (every  member  of 
which  is  a  sufferer  by  the  fire),  too  much  praise  cannot 
be  awarded  for  their  efforts.  They  were  unfortunate, 
it  is  true,  in  their  choice  of  position,  and,  like 
McLellan,  were  forced  to  change  their  base  of  opera 
tions,  and  in  doing  so  the  enemy  attacked  their  right, 
left,  and  center;  but  notwithstanding  all  that,  they 
made  a  gallant  fight.  Disastrous  fires  have  befallen 
other  departments  much  more  experienced  than  they. 
In  rebuilding  the  town,  I  would  suggest  to  the  depart 
ment  of  Jackson  to  locate  one  of  their  engines  in 
the  neighborhood  of  where  the  Louisiana  and  Union 
Hotels  stood,  near  where  the  new  hall  was  to  have 
been  built,  and  the  truck,  on  Court  street,  above 
where  it  stood  before. 

"It  will  never  do  in  the  world  to  mass  the  appa 
ratus  as  was  the  intention  before  the  fire;  and  above 
all,  more  cisterns  and  larger  ones;  they  are  the  real 
dependence  for  a  prompt  supply  of  water  in  the 
event  of  a  fire.  To  say  that  we  sympathize  with 
Jackson  in  this  great  disaster  is  unnecessary.  The 
Spirit  gives  prompt  assurance  of  that.  To  condole 
with  Cahfornians  is  not  to  be  thought  of,  but  that 
there  may  never  be  a  repetition  of  the  event  of  Sat 
urday  last  is  our  fervent  wish.  B." 

JACKSON  FLOOD,  FEBRUARY  17,  1878. 

A  remarkable  flood  occurred  in  Jackson  and 
vicinity,  on  the  17th  of  February,  1878.  For  some 
weeks  the  streams  had  been  bank  full;  but,  as  sailors 
say,  everything  was  made  snug  and  tight,  and  no 
one  anticipated  any  particular  trouble,  and  were 
unprepared  for  a  flood  which  had  no  precedent  in 
the  history  of  the  State.  Since  the  denudation  of 
the  hills  of  their  wood,  the  country  has  become  sub 
ject  to  extraordinary  showers,  the  rain  coming  down 
in  torrents,  or,  as  the  people  usually  call  them,  cloud 
bursts,  which  seem  to  be  a  condensing  point,  or 
meeting,  of  two  opposing  currents  of  wind  which 
remain  stationary  for  some  considerable  time  over 
a  tract  of  country.  The  strip  of  land  ten  or  twelve 
miles  wide  near  the  foot-hills,  seems  to  be  particu 
larly  subject  to  these  rains.  Several  of  these  showers 
have  passed  over  the  bare  hills  in  the  vicinity  of 
Lancha  Plana,  and  more  particularly  along  the  ridge 
west  of  Jackson  and  Sutter  creek.  Fifteen,  or  even 
ten  minutes'  rain,  was  enough  to  raise  a  stream 
three  feet  deep,  in  a  gully  two  or  three  hundred 
yards  long;  and  streams  that  have  a  mile  or  two  in 
length,  come  roaring  along  with  a  breast  or  wall 
of  water,  generally  held  back  to  some  extent,  by 
trash  or  timber,  of  five  or  six  feet,  running  a  stream 
deep  enough  for  a  steamboat  to  float,  where  ten 
minutes  before  there  was  scarcely  a  drink  for  an  ox. 
Usualty,  these  showers  extend  over  but  a  small 
space;  otherwise,  general  destruction  would  occur. 
Those  who  were  watching  the  weather  on  that  Sun 
day  morning,  noticed  a  dense  bank  of  clouds  to  the 
south-east,  with  a  line  something  like  the  colors 


176 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


seen  in  tempering  steel,  dividing  this  bank  from  a 
similar  one  in  the  north-west,  both  banks  of  clouds 
charged  with  water;  both  seemingly  determined  to 
'•'fight  it  on  that  line,"  the  ominous  line  of  precipita 
tion  being  drawn  just  over  Jackson.  The  wind 
which  for  some  time  had  been  quite  a  gale, 
ceased,  like  a  breathing  spell  before  two  opposing 
armies  lock  themselves  in  the  embrace  of  death. 
The  fall  of  a  leaf  could  be  heard  on  the  ground,  but, 
high  up  in  the  air  could  be  heard  the  roaring  of  the 
fierce,  surcharged  currents,  as  they  met  each  other. 
Down  came  the  rain,  great  drops  as  largo  as  bullets, 
some  feet  apart  at  first,  but  soon  nearer  together, 
until  one  could  not  see  ten  steps  away;  in  five 
minutes  the  hill-sides  were  a  sheet  of  running  water, 
the  little  gulches  were  creeks,  and  the  creeks,  rivers; 
still  the  rain  continued  for  some  time.  When  its 
force  seemed  exhausted,  and  silence  had  come,  a 
great  roar  of  rushing  waters,  mingled  with  shouts 
and  shrieks,  was  heard;  the  waters  from  the  head 
of  the  north  fork,  and  the  other  forks  heading  near 
the  New  York  ranch,  had  come  rolling  in  a  wall 
or  breast,  variously  estimated  at  five  to  ten  feet 
high,  carrying  before  it  houses,  barns,  logs,  fences, 
and  uprooted  trees. 

It  struck  Chinatown  (the  north  end  of  Jackson), 
carrying  everything  in  its  way.  A  few  were  able 
to  take  out  some  articles,  but  in  five  minutes  the 
stream  was  full — struggling  Chinamen,  houses,  shops, 
goods,  all  in  a  rolling  mass.  Most  of  the  Chinamen 
escaped  before  the  stream  entered  the  canon.  Six  of 
them  went  down  the  stream  in  the  wreck,  the 
bodies  being  afterwards  found  all  the  way  from 
Jackson  to  Buena  Vista.  Some  white  men,  assisting 
the  Chinamen,  were  carried  down  the  stream,  but 
saved  themselves  before  they  entered  the  canon. 
In  half  an  hour  or  more  after  the  flood  had  swept 
Chinatown  away,  the  middle  fork,  which  is  longer 
than  the  north  fork,  came  booming  the  same  way, 
with  a  bulk-head  of  timber,  fences,  and  trees.  It 
struck  the  bridge  across  the  creek  near  Genochio's 
store,  forming  a  dam,  and  for  a  few  minutes  the 
stream  turned  through  Jackson,  in  front  of  the 
National  House;  and  at  one  time  it  seemed  as  if  all 
that  end  of  the  town  would  be  swept  away  in  one 
wreck.  Several  persons  narrowly  escaped  drowning 
in  the  streets.  A  foot-bridge,  belonging  to  Mushet, 
lodged  in  the  street  in  front  of  the  National.  The 
bridge  finally 'gave  way,  and  the  channel  cleared,  car 
rying  with  it  all  the  out-houses  and  lumber  in  its 
course.  The  flood  was  over,  and  people  could  then 
estimate  their  losses. 

The  Amador  Canal  Company  were  damaged  to  the 
sum  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  by  the  breaking  of 
reservoirs  and  ditches. 

The  French  garden  above  Jackson  lost  about  two 
thousand  dollars;  Geo.  Clark,  four  miles  above  Jack 
son,  one  thousand  dollars. 

Some  considerable  damage  was  done  to  ranches  in 
the  valley  also. 


The  following  is  a  partial  list  of  the  losses: — 


ON   WATER   STREET. 

J.  B.  Phelps $500  00 

H.  I.  Stribley 200  00 

Mrs.  Westfall 100  00 

N.  Draper 100  00 

B.  S.  Sanborn 300  00 

R.  M.   Briggs 100  00 

Henry    Barton 500  00 

Mrs.  S.    Bradley. . .    .  1,000  00 

E.  G.  Freeman 100  00 

Mat.   Ryan 100  00 

W.  Little 100  00 

A.  C.  Brown 100  00 

C.  Weller 100  00 

R.   Hall 50  00 

J.  Williams 100  00 

E.  Genochio 300  00 

F.  Rocco 2,000  00 

J.  A.  Butterfielcl. .  700  OC 


A.  S.  Kelly $     100  03 

National    Hotel 250  00 

Benjamin  &   Ledou. .  1,00000 

Thos.   Jones 500  00 

R.  W.  Palmer 600  00 

B.  F.   Richtmyer 100  00 

Bridges 7,500  00 

OX    MAIN    STREET. 

Frank  Guerra 10000 

Madam  Retrou 200  00 

B.  Sanguenetti 400  00 

Benjamin  &  Carreau  1,500  00 
Eight     China    stores 

and  contents 15,000  00 

P.  Kelly 700  00 

Geo.  White 300  00 

Antone  Silva 250  00 

John    Belleuomiui. . .  20000 


INCIDENTS. 

As  one  Chinaman  sat  astride  of  his  house,  which 
was  whirling  in  the  canon,  some  one  asked  him: — 

"  Where  you  go,  John  ?" 

"  No  sabe,"  says  the  Chinaman,  in  an  impatient, 
savage  manner.  It  was  supposed  that  he  was 
drowned  in  the  canon,  but  two  or  three  days  after 
the  flood,  he  came  to  life,  or  rather  he  came  walking 
into  town,  being  probably  the  only  man  whoever 
successfully  navigated  Jackson  creek  through  the 
canon. 

BIG  FROLIC. 

Thanksgiving  day,  185-,  was  the  witness  of  the 
most  extraordinary  frolic  that  ever  occurred  in  the 
county.  No  one  could  tell  how,  or  exactly  when,  it 
commenced,  but  as  the  sun  went  down  it  was  evi 
dent  that  there  were  sounds  of  revelry  in  the  air; 
but  this  was  no  gathering  of  beauty  and  chivalry. 
As  the  whistling  of  the  wind  through  the  rigging 
sends  the  sailor  aloft  to  make  all  snug,  or  the  moan 
ing  of  wind  around  the  chimney  portending  a  storm 
sends  the  thrifty  housewife  out  to  gather  in  her 
wash  from  the  clothes-line,  so  at  the  ominous  signs 
the  careful  mother  sends  after  her  son,  and  the  pru 
dent  wife  seeks  her  husband,  for  the  Bacchanalian 
press  gang  were  out. 

Some  were  drinking  who  never  drank  before; 
Those  who  always  drank  now  drank  the  more. 

As  usually  sober  men  found  themselves  getting  more 
than  was  good  for  them,  they  determined  that  their 
friends  should  share  the  pleasure  or  disgrace.  An 
eminent  lawyer  once  asked,  how  do  men,  who  never 
get  drunk,  know  each  other?  Did  not  Byron  say  of 
a  man,  "  He  is  a  splendid  fellow  and  I  long  to  get 
drunk  with  him  "  ?  and  of  another  that  he  had  "tried 
him  drunk  and  tried  him  sober,  there's  nothing  in 
him"!  All  who  had  held  office,  or  had  run  for  it, 
or  were  known  to  want  it,  as  well  as  those  who 
drank,  were  sought  out  and  pressed  into  service. 
When  the  hunt  commenced  some  retreated  to  their 
homes,  but  the  warrant  for  arrest  reached  them  even 
there,  and  men  were  torn  from  their  wives'  arms. 
O.  D.  Araline's  wife,  firmly  locking  her  arms  around 
her  husband,  declared  that  if  they  took  her  husband 


RESIDENCE  ^  RANCH  OF    MRS  MARY  M.KIDD, 

JACKSON  VALLEY  AMADOR  0°  CAL. 


RESIDENCE  AND  RANCH  OF  320  ACRES,  INGLEFIELD  B.GREGORY, 
JACKSON  VALLEY,  AMADOR  C?CAL. 


JACKSON. 


177 


they  should  take  her  also,  and  looked  as  it' she  meant 
it  too,  and  the  party  had  to  leave  him. 

They  took  possession  of  the  Young  America  saloon 
and  appointed  a  door-keeper  who  locked  the  door  on 
the  outside,  opening  only  for  the  admittance  of  new 
victims,  no  egress  being  permitted.  A  press  gang 
waylaid  the  Judge,  who  was  expecting  to  hold  court 
the  next  day.  He  resisted  their  importunities  a 
long  time  on  the  grounds  of  public  duty,  but  he  had 
been  known  to  take  a  spree  and  no  excuse  would 
answer  now.  "Good-bye,  boys,"  said  he;  "  it  can't 
be  helped."  What  took  place  on  the  inside  can  only 
be  guessed.  Some  in  their  wild  excitement  were 
tossed  like  foot-balls  over  the  tables.  Speeches  and 
songs,  and  shouts  mingled  in  confusion  dire.  Four 
teen  dozen  of  champagne  had  their  necks  broken. 
Some  were  soon  helpless  on  the  floor;  one  or  two 
escaped  from  an  upper  window,  and  some  were  able 
to  keep  up  the  orgies  till  midnight.  When  morning 
came  those  who  were  able  had  left.  The  Judge's 
pants  were  found  on  the  steps  of  the  Court  House, 
other  garments  in  other  places.  He,  with  a  sense  of 
public  duty  still  uppermost,  was  delivering  a  charge 
to  an  imaginary  jury.  The  officers  of  course  took 
care  of  him  until  he  was  sufficiently  sober  to 
attend  to  business,  which  was  not  for  some  days. 
The  Grand  Jury  found  a  Bill  against  him  for  mis 
demeanor  and  conduct  unbecoming  a  magistrate. 
The  Judge  complimented  the  jury  on  having  fear 
lessly  done  their  duty,  acknowledged  the  delinquency 
and  promised  that  they  should  never  have  occasion 
to  do  so  again,  and  with  his  silver  tongue,  which  so 
often  had  charmed  away  opposition,  turned  aside  the 
righteous  indignation  of  his  constituents. 

CELEBRATION  OP  ADMISSION   DAY. 
[Taken  from  Amador  Dispatch.] 

"The  celebration  of  the  30th  anniversary  of  the 
admission  of  California  into  the  Union  by  the  Ama 
dor  Pioneer  Association,  in  this  place  last  Thursday, 
was  one  of  the  most  pleasing,  unique,  and  successful 
affairs  of  the  kind  ever  witnessed  in  the  county,  and 
reflected  great  credit  upon  the  Association,  owing 
to  the  excellent  manner  in  which  the  programme 
was  carried  out  from  beginning  to  end.  The  pro 
cession  was  formed  about  ten  o'clock,  and  was  quite 
an  extensive  and  imposing  affair,  extending  nearly 
the  whole  length  of  Main  street,  and  consisting  of 
pioneers  and  others  on  foot  to  the  number  of  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty,  many  of  whom  were  armed 
with  guns  of  various  kinds,  axes,  and  other  imple 
ments  generally  used  in  frontier  life,  also,  pioneers 
and  others  on  horseback,  followed  by  a  large  num 
ber  of  vehicles  of  various  kinds,  including  a  regular 
emigrant  ox-team,  driven  by  our  pioneer  friend, 
William  Cook  of  Buena  Vista,  who  was  rigged  up 
for  the  occasion  in  regular  '49  style,  including  a 
huge  leather  belt  to  which  was  attached  the  inev 
itable  pistol,  bowie-knife,  tin  cup,  etc.  This  and  the 
dilapidated  looking  emigrant  wagon  which  followed, 
loaded  with  women,  children,  frying-pans,  pots,  ket 
tles,  tin  pans,  and  other  cooking  utensils,  formed 
one  of  the  most  familiar  and  noticeable  features  of 
the  grand  procession,  and  created  much  merriment 
among  the  hundreds  of  spectators  who  thronged 
23 


our  streets.  After  marching  through  the  principal 
streets  of  the  town,  under  the  command  of  the  hand 
some  and  energetic  Marshal  of  the  day,  E.  VV.  Pal 
mer,  who  was  closely  followed  by  Kay's  lone  Cornet 
Band,  the  procession  wended  its  way  to  the  picnic 
ground  in  Walker's  ranch,  where  the  literary  and 
musical  exercises  were  gone  through  with,  consist 
ing  of  an  oration  by  Hon.  J.  A.  Eagon,  poems  by  C. 
B.  Swift  and  J.  F.  Gould,  an  impromptu  address  by 
Hon.  J.  T.  Farley,  singing,  music  by  the  band,  etc. 
Our  room  will  not  permit  us  to  speak  in  detail  of 
these  exercises,  but  suffice  it  to  say  that  they  all 
did  well,  and  the  audience  were  well  satisfied  there 
with.  At  the  conclusion  of  these  exercises,  all 
hands  were  invited  to  partake  of  a  sumptuous  lunch, 
consisting  of  pork  and  beans,  and  other  substantial 
edibles,  and  the  invitation  was  accepted  with  a  vim 
seldom  surpassed  in  this  or  any  other  country. 
After  dinner,  horse-racing,  foot-racing,  and  other 
amusements  were  indulged  in  until  near  sundown, 
when  the  procession  and  many  of  the  spectators 
returned  to  town  to  prepare  for  the  grand  ball  in 
the  evening. 

"The  ball,  like  everything  else  connected  with 
the  celebration,  was  a  grand  success,  Love's  hall 
being  well  filled  with  gay  and  festive  pleasure-seek 
ers  of  both  sexes,  who  enjoyed  themselves  in  a  man 
ner  well  calculated  to  create  envy  in  the  heart  of 
a  king  or  prince — or  even  a  country  editor.  In 
short,  nothing  transpired  during  the  day  or  night 
to  mar  the  pleasures  of  the  occasion,  and  the  affair 
will  hereafter  constitute  one  of  the  most  pleasing 
pages  in  the  history  of  Amador  county." 

MOKELUMNE    RIVER. 

It  is  uncertain  whether  gold  was  first  mined  on 
the  Mokelumne  river  or  at  lone  valley,  though  the 
discovery,  according  to  Weber's  account,  was  on  the 
Mokelumne.  In  the  Summer  of  1848  James  P.  Mar 
tin  passed  through  lone  valley,  on  his  way  to 
Mokelumne  river,  Hicks'  rawhide  house  being  the 
only  improvement  there.  A  man  was  mining  at 
lone.  A  Spanish  cart  was  doing  duty  as  a  house 
near  where  the  National  Hotel  now  stands,  there 
being  no  houses  at  the  time,  or  even  mining,  at 
Jackson.  At  first,  Martin's  company  of  eight  men 
were  the  only  ones  on  the  river,  though  quite  a  num 
ber  came  in  shortly  afterward.  They  did  very  well, 
making  several  thousand  dollars  each  in  the  course 
of  two  months.  They  had  some  fears  of  Indians, 
who,  however,  did  not  trouble  them.  Nearly  the 
whole  party  were  taken  sick  with  diarrhea,  arid  com 
pelled  to  leave.  Colonel  Stevenson,  with  about  one 
hundred  of  his  men,  who  had  previously  been  mus 
tered  out  of  service,  mined  here  and  at  Mokelumne 
Hill  in  the  Autumn  of  the  year.  The  Colonel  drew 
up  the  first  code  of  mining  laws,  perhaps,  ever  writ 
ten  in  the  State,  for  the  use  of  his  men.  A  party  of 
his  was  the  first  to  turn  the  river,  the  place  being 
near  the  crossing.  A  cabin  was  built  on  the  ground, 
afterwards  proving  very  rich,  though  his  party  did 
not  discover  it.  He  returned  to  Sutter's  Fort  in 
December,  at  the  beginning  of  the  rainy  season,  a 
few  inches  of  snow  having  fallen  at  Mokelumne 
Hill.  With  regard  to  the  report  that  a  deep  snow 
fell  all  over  the  State  in  that  vear,  and  that  he  had 


178 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


to  send  a  patry  of  relief  to  his  men,  the  Colonel  says 

that  remain  to  tell  the  story  of  the  thousands  that 

he  knows  nothing  of  it;  that  the  men  were    well 

toiled  under  a  broiling  sun,  in  the  ice-cold  water. 

supplied  with  provisions,  and  could  have  stood  any 

The  following  poem  by  Charles  Boynton,  written 

siege  of  snow.     Colonel  Stevenson,  from  whom  these 

in  1853.  will  give  an  idea  of  the  river  in  its  best  days: 

facts  were  gathered,  though  nearly  eighty  years  old, 

TO   THE  MOKELUMNE  RIVER. 

is  still  hale  and  hearty,  his  memory  having  a  full 
retention   of  the   early   incidents  in  his    California 

To  thee,  Mokelumne,  the  bard 
His  humble  tribute  pays, 

life. 

And  should  he  work  but  half  as  hard 

In  chronicling  thy  praise, 

SPRING   OP     49. 

As  he  has  labored  on  thy  bars, 

His  daily  grub  to  gain, 

Very  many  came  the  following  Spring.     A  com 

The  reader  would  pronounce  his  verse 

pany,  consisting  of  J.  S.  Smythe;  Michael  and  John 

A  very  labored  strain. 

O'Neal;  Peter  Jacobs,  a  German;   Captain    Rogers? 

Of  thee,  Mokelumne,  I  sing, 

from  the  Sandwich  Islands;  Godey  and  Perry  Lake> 
the    two    latter    of  Stevenson's  regiment,    dammed 

For  I  have  known  thee  long  ; 
And,  from  that  knowledge,  I  can  bring 
Some  truth  into  my  song. 

the    river    near    the    mouth  of  Rich    gulch.     The 

Four  long  and  tedious  years  have  passed 

claim  did  not   equal  their  expectations;  that  is  to 

Since  first  I  reached  thy  shore, 
And  near  thy  stream  my  lot  is  cast, 

say,  it  did  not  yield  a  bucketful  of  gold  a  day,  and 

I  fear,  forevermore. 

they  abandoned  it. 

For  now  my  pile  is  quite  as  small 

Colonel  James  gave  his  name  to  the  bar.     His  part 

As  when  I  saw  thee  first  ; 
Thy  early  freshets  in  the  Fall 

ners   were  two  brothers,  Vanderslice,  one   a   doctor, 

My  bubble  fortune  burst. 

the  other  a  gambler.     Judge  Smith,  who  afterwards 

The  rise  of  water  and  of  flour, 
And  every  drink  a  scad, 

killed  Colonel  Collyer  at  Jackson,  and  a  man  by  the 

Together  with  the  monte-bank, 

name  of  Haskell,  kept  a  store  there.     Soon  after  the 

Soon  took  what  dimes  I  had.                         f 

immigration  got  in  it  was  estimated  that  a  thousand 

Time  was  —  I  mean  in  '49  — 

men  were  mining  on  the  river  within  a  distance  of 
two  or  three  miles,  mostly  with  pans  and  rockers. 

When  in  each  wild  ravine 
And  tributary  gulch  of  thine, 
A  jolly  crew  was  found. 

A  large  meeting  of  miners  was  called  to  drive  away 
foreigners,  which  project  however,  did   not   carry. 

Who  dug  up  chispas  by  the  pound, 
And  spent  them  fast  and  free, 
Thinking  that  gold  would  still.  abound, 

McKimm  mined  here  in  '49,  as  also  did  Donnelly  (who 

As  late  as  —  '53. 

is  now  driving  a  wood  team),  J.  D.  Davis  and  Dr. 

But  ah!  a  change  came  o'er  their  dream, 

Elliott.    McKimm  had  at  one  time  seventy-five  pounds 
of  gold-dust;  Donnelly   had,   also,  about   the   same 

Ere  yet  a  year  had  sped; 
For  '50  brought  a  living  stream 
Of  miners  to  thy  bed. 

quantity.      N.   W.  Spaulding   and   Company   whip- 

Old  Pike  with  half  his  stalwart  sons, 
.And  1  foosici'dom  was  tliOjT 

sawed  out    thirteen  thousand    feet  of   lumber  one 

While  all  the  Suckers  in  the  world 

season,  to  flume  the  Mokelumne  river.    The  project  was 

Camped  on  each  gulch  and  bar. 

determined  upon  by  getting  a  few  cents'  worth  of  gold 

They  turned  thy  waters  from  their  course, 

in  a  shovel  of  dirt  out  of  a  deep  hole  in  the  river. 

Through  many  a  rude  canawl  ; 

When,    after  immense   labor,    the   river   bad    been 

They  dammed  thee,  from  thy  very  source, 
Down  to  the  lowest  fall. 

dammed  and  flumed,  and  the  channel   exposed,  all 

Ingratitude  personified  ! 

the  gold  of  consequence  found  in  the  claim,  was  in 

Without  the  slightest  shamming, 
Each  company  was  occupied 

that  immediate  spot,  and   amounted   to   about   one 

In  the  hardest  kind  of  damming. 

hundred    and   sixty  dollars.     As    many    thousands 

But  those  who  dammed  thee,  were  the  men, 

would  not  have  been  considered  anything  trreat. 

Who  never  made  a  dime; 

j 
The  river  in  the  vicinity  of  Rich  gulch  and  Mur 

Thy  waters  raised  indignant  then 
Long  ere  the  usual  time; 

phy's  was  very  rich,  men  taking  out  with  a  rocker 

They  burst  all  dams  and  carried  off 

several  thousand  dollars  in  a  day.     In  some  places 

Toms,  rockers,  pans,  and  kettles, 
And  left  each  claim  not  worth  a  dam, 

the  gravel  would  be  "  lousy  "  with  gold.     It  must 

And  raised  the  price  of  wittles. 

not  be  supposed  that  all  fared  this  way,  however. 

Mokelumne,  thy  source  is  in 

As  many  men  then  were  wandering  around  "  broke" 

Nevada's  hills  of  snow. 

as  now.     When  Winter  came  on    most  of  the  men 

And,  when  thine  icy  torrents  reach 
The  burning  plains  below, 

left,  some  going  up  the  gulches  and  others  to  Jack 

A  draught  from  thee  is  better  far, 

son   and  Mokelumne  Hill,  which  now  began  to  be 

The  miners'  thirst  to  slake, 
Than  choicest  cobblers  at  the  bar, 

permanent   camps.      At    the   present    writing,  one 

That  ever  Bruce  can  make. 

walking  along  the  banks  of  the  Mokelumne  river,  can 
hardly  realize  that  the  stillness,  broken  only  by  the 

And  though  thy  waves  have  ever  been 
As  free  and  uncontrolled, 

murmur  of  the  water,  was  ever  otherwise.     A  few 

As  when  the  New  York  Volunteers, 

old  cabins  rotting  away  on  the  side-hills,  or  the  relic 

First  sought  thy  banks  for  gold, 
Soon  will  the  Anglo-Saxon  race, 

of  some  chimney,  where  thirty  years  since  the  miner 
fried  his  slapjacks  or  dried  his  wet  clothing,  are  al]  • 

With  science,  labor,  skill, 
Throw  over  thee  their  mighty  chain, 
And  make  thee  work  their  mill. 

JACKSON. 


179 


Thy  waters  will  be  made  to  come 

And  go  at  their  command, 
Led  around  to  wash  their  ore, 

Or  fertilize  the  land. 
And  even  here  in  Jackson  town 

We  are  expecting  soon 
To  see  Cap  Ham*  and  all  his  men 

Come  sailing  down  the  flume. 

Reader,  if  Logan  +  had  the  time 

He  would  extend  the  song, 
But,  like  his  liquor  bills  up  street, 

'Tis  even  now  too  long. 
Beneath  Mokelumne's  dark  waves 

Lies  many  a  precious  nugget, 
And  there  the  poet's  fortune  is 

If  some  one  has  n't  dug  it. 

Sober  &  Parrish's  Big  Bar  bridge  has  quite  a 
history.  The  first  ferry,  a  dug-out,  was  run  by  a 
Scotchman,  the  price  of  passage  being  one  dollar. 
Getting  tired  of  the  business,  he  donated  it  to  Dr. 
Sober,  who  in  turn  gave  it  to  John  Hasley,  who 
sold  it  in  1850  to  Pope  &  Burns  for  fifty  dollars. 
They  bought  some  lumber  and  built  a  small  ferry 
boat,  charging  the  same  for  crossing  as  formerly. 
Horses  were  made  to  swim  by  leading  them  beside 
the  boat.  Travel  increasing,  they  began  to  make 
money  rapidly,  seeing  which,  Dr.  Sober  thought 
to  buy  it  back;  but  the  stock  had  now  gone  up,  the 
.parties  asking  twelve  thousand  dollars  for  it.  The 
Goodwins,  Sober,  A.  J.  Houghtaling,  and  Kenny 
bought  it,  the  latter  selling  his  share  for  six  thousand 
dollars.  The  bridge  was  built  in  1853,  costing  twelve 
thousand  dollars — the  road  on  the  Amador  side, 
twelve  thousand  dollars,  and  on  the  other,  three 

thousand  dollars. 

MURPHY'S  GULCH 

Was  natui'ally  traced  up  from  the  Mokelumne  river, 
into  which  it  empties.  It  lies  parallel  to  the  great 
quartz  lode,  crossing  it  once,  and  derives  its  gold 
from  the  breaking  down  of  that  auriferous  reef  of 
slate.  It  has  been  the  source  of  many  fortunes, 
having  been  worked  and  re-worked  for  years.  It 
is  threaded  by  many  veins  of.  rich  quartz,  not 
extensive  enough,  however,  to  justify  large  mining. 
Murphy's  gulch  starts  on  the  west  side  of  the  lode, 
keeping  its  course  along  the  base  for  a  mile  or  so; 
then  crosses  the  lode,  emptying  into  the  river  on  the 
north  side. 

BLACK   GULCH 

Is  the  continuation  of  Murphy's  gulcli  on  the  same 
side,  and,  though  shorter,  has  the  same  characteris 
tics  as  that  gulch. 

HUNT'S  GULCH 

Was  also  enriched  by  the  breaking  down  of  the 
Mother  Lode  along  its  course,  and  also  by  the  stream 
of  gravel  which  left  its  deposits  on  Tunnel  hill  and 
Ohio  hill.  This  gulch  was  perhaps  richer  than 

*Cap  Ham  was  the  projector  of  the  Jackson  flume,  which 
being  four  or  five  feet  wide  was  expected  to  be  navigable  for 
boats  both  ways.  A  model  propeller,  with  a  stern-wheel,  which 
should  rest  on  a  track  on  each  side  of  the  flume,  and  thus  force 
a  boat  upstream  against  the  current,  was  constructed,  but,  like 
many  other  brilliant  ideas,  was  wrecked  soon  after  being  launched. 

t  Boynton's  nom  de  plume. 


Murphy's,  though  somewhat  harder  to  work  in  con 
sequence  of  the  great  deposit  of  gravel  on  it.  The 
Tunnel  hill  gravel  has  been  run  into  it,  prolonging 
its  thorough  working.  If  the  Dewitt  hill  should  be 
worked  off  as  it  is  now  being  worked,  the  gulch  will 
sometime  pay  for  working  again. 

TUNNEL    HILL. 

This  was  the  largest  deposit  of  the  drift,  belonging 
to  the  north  and  south  rivers  of  the  county.  Here 
it  seemed  to  have  spread  out  into  a  large  body,  most 
of  which  was  swept  away  by  the  subsequent  glacier 
erosion.  The  remains  of  the  ancient  plain  may  be 
easily  see  around  the  base  of  Butte  mountain,  also 
on  all  the  hills  around.  The  great  wealth  of  the 
gulches  around  Tunnel  hill,  soon  taught  the  miners 
to  look  for  the  source  of  the  gravel;  and  we  find 
that,  as  early  as  1850,  some  of  the  miners  had 
ascended  the  slope  of  the  hill, -until  they  had  struck 
it  sinking  bed  rock. 

Daniel  Haskell  and  Martin  Love  have  the  credit  of 
being  the  first  to  work  the  dead  river  bed  of  gravel. 
They  hauled  the  dirt  to  the  south  fork  of  Jackson 
creek  about  half  a  mile  away.  The  dirt  was  rather 
hard  to  drift,  but  paid  from  one  to  two  ounces  to  the 
cart-load.  Madame  Pantaloon,  a  woman  dressed  in 
man's  clothing,  and  doing  a  man's  work,  made  a 
large  sum  of  money  out  of  this  hill;  she  drove  a 
team  and  did  light  work  at  first,  and  for  some  time 
was  supposed  to  be  a  boy. 

The  hill  was  first  tunnelled  in  1852,  by  Braxton 
Davenport,  K.  M.  Johnston,  and  William  McLeod, 
who,  after  one  year's  labor  of  drifting,  sold  their 
interest  to  Peter  A.  Martin,  who  in  the  Spring  of 
1853,  erected  a  trestle  work,  with  a  car  track  and 
chute,  extending  to  the  survey  of  the  Cunningham 
ditch,  which  was  soon  after  constructed  along  the 
western  and  southern  side  of  the  hill.  The  second 
tunnel  was  run  by  A.  C.  Loveridge,  in  the  Spring 
of  1854,  which  year  inaugurated  a  thorough  prospect 
ing  of  the  hill,  which  was  all  claimed,  and  worked  by 
the  usual  drifting  system,  until  water  was  brought 
on  the  hill  in  1858,  when  piping  and  sluicing  suc 
ceeded  the  former  slow  process  of  removing  the  dirt. 
By  this  method  the  whole  surface  was  made  to  pay, 
as  well  as  the  rich  gravel  at  the  bed  rock.  It  is  im 
possible  to  tell  how  much  gold  was  taken  out,  as 
many  lucky  miners  judiciously  kept  the  results  to 
themselves. 

BUTTE   BASIN 

Is,  and  always  was,  a  mystery.  Butte  mountain 
looks  down  upon  it  from  the  north,  Tunnel  hill  from 
the  west,  and  rich  gravel  hills  on  the  south.  On  the 
west  is  the  high,  rocky  wall  of  the  Mokelumne 
river,  broken  through  in  a  narrow  gorge,  so  as  to 
form  an  outlet  to  the  basin.  The  west  and  south 
sides  have  been  very  rich,  and  the  whole  surface  of 
the  basin  was  rich  enough  to  pay  for  piping.  On  the 
west  and  south  sides  the  gravel  followed  the  slopes 
of  the  hills  down  under  the  volcanic  matter  with 


180 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


which  the  basin  is  filled.  Efforts  have  been  made  to 
follow  this  down  and  work  it  out,  but  so  far  without 
success,  on  account  of  immense  quantities  of  water 
the  miners  meet  in  sinking.  Not  long  since  a  com 
pany,  under  the  superintendence  of  C.  W.  Tozier,  an 
experienced  miner,  sunk  one  hundred  and  forty  feet. 
At  this  point  there  was  no  appearance  of  bottom,  and 
the  water  was  so  strong  that  two  pumps,  eight  and 
twelve  inch  respectively,  driven  by  a  powerful  engine, 
were  not  sufficient  to  control  it.  After  expending 
about  twenty  thousand  dollars,  the  company  was 
obliged  to  abandon  the  enterprise.  The  material 
with  which  the  basin  is  filled,  though  of  volcanic 
origin,  bears  the  marks  of  having  been  deposited  by 
water.  The  descending  lines  of  deposit  on  the  sides 
indicate  a  former  lake,  the  gravel,  following  down 
the  slopes  of  the  basin,  being  left  at,  or  near,  the 
edge  of  the  water,  while  the  lighter  matter  was 
carried  further  on — a  phenomenon  any  one  may  see 
where  a  set  of  sluices  dump  into  a  river  or  body  of 
water,  and  which  may  be  seen  in  a  thousand  places 
along  the  foot-hills. 

Formerly  the  surface  of  the  basin  was  much 
higher,  but  the  wearing  away  of  the  outlet  has 
lowered  it,  perhaps  several  hundred  feet. 

A  project  has  been  started  to  run  a  tunnel  into  the 
basin  from  Mokelumne  river,  tapping  it  three  hun 
dred  feet  below  the  outlet.  The  length  of  the  pro 
posed  tunnel  is  one  thousand  seven  hundred  feet, 
and  the  estimated  cost  is  twenty  thousand  dollars. 
James  Morgan  is  the  owner  of  the  east  side  of  the 
basin,  C.  D.  Horn  of  the  west  side;  the  latter  owning 
some  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  a  large  portion  of 
which  was  formerly  an  orchard  and  vineyard,  bear 
ing  the  best  of  fruit,  which  he  sluiced  away. 

BUTTE    CITY. 

This  was  a  camp  on  the  south  side  of  the  basin  and 
for  a  while  bid  fair  to  rival  Jackson.  Only  a  few 
houses  now  mark  the  site  of  the  former  city.  An 
orange  tree  bearing  regular  crops,  on  the  place  of  H. 
L.  Loveridge,  shows  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the 
mildness  of  the  climate. 

BUTTE     MOUNTAIN 

Is  a  landmark  for  twenty  miles  away.  It  is  a  puzzle 
for  geologists,  many  believing  it  to  be  of  volcanic 
origin.  The  rock  has  the  appearance  of  being 
trachyte,  but  as  a  pretty  thorough  examination  fails  to 
bring  to  light  anything  like  a  crater;  the  solution 
may  be  left  to  the  coming1  geologist.  * 

WEDDING   IN   HIGH   LIFE. 

W.  L.  McKimm  and  Mrs.  Mann  were  married  one 
fine  morning,  many  years  ago,  on  the  top  of  the  mount 
ain.  It  is  not  recorded  whether  the  reporters  were 
invited  or  whether,  if  they  were,  they  had  the  energy 
to  make  the  ascent.  The  height  of  the  mountain 
(two  thousand  five  hundred  feet)  and  its  isolation, 
caused  it  to  be  selected  for  one  of  the  stations  of  the 
United  States  Geodetical  Survey.  Whether  from  its 


grand  appearance,  or  from  the  clear  atmosphere 
around  its  summit,  or  other  causes,  this  mountain  has 
caused  the  outflow  of  an  immense  amount  of  wit  and 
wisdom.  Some  years  ago  when  the  periodic  epidemic 
for  the  removal  of  the  capital  was  raging,  R.  M. 
Briggs,  then  Assemblyman  from  Amador,  introduced 
a  Bill  for  the  removal  of  the  capital  to  Butte  mount 
ain.  The  Bill  provided  for  a  sufficient  number  of 
balloons  to  be  attached  to  the  capitol  to  float  and  hold 
it  suspended,  so  that  in  case  of  high  water  or  other 
danger,  it  might  be  removed  without  expense.  A 
petition  for  the  change  accompanied  the  Bill,  signed 
by  every  voter  of  the  county,  or  at  least  the  great 
register  itself  was  attached  to  the  petition.  The  Bill 
did  not  move  the  capitol,  but  it  moved  the  members 
to  laughter,  and  helped  to  throw  ridicule  on  capitol 
movers. 

Once,  when  the  project  for  building  abridge  across 
the  Mokelumne  river  was  being  considered,  a  wag 
proposed  to  construct  one  of  rawhide  from  Butte 
mountain  to  Mokelumne  Hill.  It  should  be  made  of 
rawhide  cables,  laid  along  the  ground  and  covered 
with  planking  in  the  ordinary  way.  Ho  thought, 
when  the  hot  weather  came,  and  the  bridge  shrank, 
it  would  come  up  taut! 

THE    GATE. 

This  place  is  on  the  north  fork  of  Jackson  creek, 
about  one  mile  from  Jackson.  It  takes  its  name 
from  a  fissure  in  a  reef  of  rock,  which  crosses  the 
creek,  about  twenty  feet  wide  with  nearly  perpen 
dicular  walls  on  each  side,  through  which  the  creek 
flows.  The  place  was  discovered  in  1849  by  a  boy 
who  ran  away  from  Sacramento.  It  was  not  as  rich 
as  many  other  places,  but  uniformly  good,  paying 
eight  to  sixteen  dollars  a  day  to  the  man. 

In  1850  as  many  as  five  hundred  miners  settled 
around  the  Gate.  Diarrhea  prevailed  here  as  else 
where  at  the  time.  The  miners  were  shocked  one 
day  by  seeing  two  boys  carrying  away,  to  bury,  the 
corpse  of  their  father,  who,  unknown  to  the  miners, 
had  died  of  the  prevailing  epidemic  a  day  or  two 
before.  The  boys  were  induced  to  suspend  the  inter 
ment,  and  in  a  short  time  several  hundred  men  were 
collected  together,  to  give  him  as  decent  a  burial  as 
the  circumstances  would  permit. 

Claims  were  fifteen  feet  square.  This  was  the 
usual  size  of  claims  all  over  the  country,  until  the 
Spring  of  1851.  Several  of  the  Johnston  family  who 
came  from  Pennsylvania,  were  settled  here.  One  of 
them  being  sick,  a  man  called  "  Grizzly,"  jumped  his 
claim.  A  meeting  of  the  miners  was  called  and  it 
was  decided  that  a  sick  man  had  no  right  to  a  claim. 
The  decision  was  thought  to  have  been  brought 
about  by  the  fear  of  "Grizzly's"  ill-will,  and  an 
appeal  from  the  decision  was  made  by  a  friend  getting 
on  the  claim  with  a  drawn  revolver,  and  promising  a 
quick  passage  to  the  happy  hunting-grounds  to  any 
one  who  should  attempt  to  work  it.  The  decision 
was  reversed  and  the  claim  respected  until  the  owner 
was  able  to  work.  The  largest  lump  of  gold  ever 


or  THE 
UNlVERSITTj 


JACKSON. 


181 


found  at  the  Gate  came  out  of  this  piece  of  ground. 
It  weighed  four  ounces  and  was  shaped  like  a  bull's 
head. 

During  the  dry  part  of  the  season  dirt  was  carried 
in  sacks  to  the  spring  near  Kennedy  flat  for  wash 
ing.  The  ditch  still  visible  on  the  north  side  of  the 
creek,  said  to  have  been  the  first  ditch  in  Amador 
county,  was  dug  by  the  Johnstons.  It  was  but  a 
mile  or  two  in  length,  but  the  water  sold  for  one  dol 
lar  per  inch.  One  evening  one  of  the  Johnstons 
being  out  late,  called  at  a  Mexican  camp  for  a  drink 
of  water.  The  Mexican  drew  an  immense  knife  and 
putting  himself  in  a  position  of  defense,  said  in 
Spanish,  "Speak  louder,  sir;  I  am  hard  of  hearing." 
The  Mexicans,  as  well  as  the  Americans,  were  on  the 

alert  for  danger. 

OHIO    HILL 

And  Squaw  gulch  were  rich  places  in  the  vicinity. 
From  the  former  place  one  man  by  the  name  of  Bod 
kin  carried  away  some  forty  or  fifty  thousand  dollars 
as  the  result  of  a  Winter's  work.  Madame  Pantaloon 
took  out  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  and  then  sold 
the  claim  for  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  more. 
This  hill  was  of  the  same  formation  as  Tunnel  hill, 
with  the  same  polished,  but  not  rounded,  boulders, 
indicating  a  river  of  moderate  size  as  the  source  of 
the  wash.  It  is  highly  probable  that  the  gravel  was 
never  moved  any  great  distance,  and  that  the  veins 
of  quartz  near  by  are  the  ones  from  which  the  bould 
ers  were  formed. 

SLAB    CITY. 

This  place  took  its  name  from  the  cabins  being 
built  of  slabs  from  Iluffaker's  mill  in  the  early  fifties. 
It  had  in  1855  to  1860  some  fifty  or  sixty  miners. 
The  shallow  gulches  were  soon  worked  out  and  the 
place  is  now  converted  to  farming  ground.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  Irishtown,  once  a  lively  camp. 

CLINTON. 

This  place,  which  is  north-east  from  Jackson  some 
six  miles,  was  first  worked  by  Mexicans,  who  drifted 
under  the  red  hills  around  the  town,  making  mod 
erate  pay.  After  the  introduction  of  water,  by 
means  of  canals,  quite  a  number  of  miners  settled 
here.  Judge  Hugh  Kobinson,  J.  W.  Paugh,  Sheriff 
of  Amador  county  for  several  terms,  and  now  a 
resident  of  San  Francisco,  L.  N.  Ketchum,  after 
wards  State  Senator,  N.  W.  Spaulding,  since  Mayor 
of  Oakland,  D.  B.  Spagnoli,  and  many  others  of 
note,  were  first  heard  of  in  Clinton.  Some  small 
quartz  veins  traverse  this  part  of  the  country,  which 
probably  have  supplied  part  of  the  gold  found  in 
the  gulches;  but  the  hills  indicate  an  ancient  river 
system,  probably  the  same  that  left  deposits  of 
gravel  at  Pine  Grove  and  Aqueduct  City.  The 
mines,  at  the  best,  were  but  moderately  rich,  and 
to  this  fact,  perhaps,  is  due  the  political  careers  of 
many  of  its  citizens.  This  town  was  the  occasion 
of  some  talk  a  few  years  ago,  in  connection  with  an 


election,  one  man  acting  as  both  Judge  and  Clerk. 
A  good  deal  of  eloquence  was  displayed  before  the 
Board  of  Supervisors  when  this  vote  was  canvassed, 
which  is  lost  to  the  world  for  want  of  short-hand 
reporters. 

N.  W.  Spaulding  is  the  inventor  of  the  famous 
circular  shank  saw  tooth.  He  was  a  mill-wright 
by  profession,  and  after  mining  a  few  years,  returned 
to  his  trade,  which  became  profitable  in  utilizing 
the  vast  forests  of  the  Sierras.  Movable  teeth  had 
been  used  before,  but  under  such  conditions  as  to 
cause  them  to  be  set  aside.  The  improvement  con 
sisted  in  using  a  circular  instead  of  a  square  shank. 
The  continued  vibration  of  the  saw,  incident  to  a 
high  speed,  caused  a  crystallization  of  the  plate  to 
take  place,  it  being  most  intense  at  the  corners  of 
the  cavity,  causing  a  cracking  and  ultimate  ruin  of 
the  plate;  by  distributing  the  crystallization  evenly 
around  the  cavity,  the  plate  would  endure  an  indefi 
nite  amount  of  work.  This  little  improvement 
became  of  so  much  value  that  it  revolutionized  the 
methods  of  sawing  lumber,  the  circular  saw  being 
everywhere  adopted,  the  improvement  being  appro 
priated  by  saw-mill  men  without  leave  or  license. 
Four  different  lawsuits  concerning  this  tooth  were 
carried  to  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  one  of 
which  involved  costs  to  the  amount  of  twenty  thou 
sand  dollars.  An  attempt  was  made  to  prove  that 
this  form  of  tooth  had  been  in  general  use  for  years, 
and  particularly  in  a  mill  owned  by  Tupper  and 
others,  in  a  certain  town  in  Yermont,  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Percival,  who  was  said  to  have  been  dead 
for  some  years,  being  the  mill-wright  who  had  made 
and  used  them.  Mr.  Spaulding,  with  his  accustomed 
energy,  set  inquiries  on  foot,  and  found  that  Perci 
val,  though  somewhat  advanced  in  years,  was  still 
living,  and  among  the  pineries  in  Wisconsin;  not 
withstanding  the  distance,  he  was  brought  into 
court  at  San  Francisco,  before  the  close  of  the  case. 
Every  attempt  to  prove  a  previous  use  of  the  cir 
cular  shank  had  failed,  except  in  the  case  of  the 
Tupper  mill;  and,  when  Percival's  name  was  called, 
a  look  of  astonishment  ran  over  the  countenances 
of  the  opposing  lawyers,  one  of  them  audibly  remark 
ing,  "  Eather  a  lively  looking  corpse,"  referring  to 
the  oft-repeated  statement  that  Percival  was  dead. 
He  had  a  vivid  remembrance  of  the  kind  of  tooth 
used  in  the  Tupper  mill,  and,  what  was  of  much 
importance,  had  a  veritable  sample  of  the  teeth 
then  used,  which  he  had  kept  in  his  tool  chest  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  When  these  were 
produced  in  court,  behold,  they  had  the  square 
shank.  This  settled  the  matter,  the  defendants' 
lawyer  remarking,  "  Well,  Spaulding,  you've  beaten 
us."  The  saws  now  go  to  every  quarter  of  the 
globe. 


182 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

IONE  VALLEY  AND  VICINITY. 

First  White  Men  in  lone  Valley — First  House — First  Ranches — 
Judge  Lyncli — Starkey's  Case — First  Mill — Fun  with  Griz 
zlies — Origin  of  Name  lone — First  School — First  Flour  Mill 
— First  Brick  Store — Methodist  Church — Centennial — Pres 
ident's  Address — Extracts  from  Poem — Extracts  from  Ora 
tion — lone  in  1876 — Railroad — Stockton  Narrow-Guage — 
Gait  Road — Overflows — Fires — Bueiia  Vista — First  Settle 
ment — Mining — Arroyo  Seco  Grant — Dispossession  of  Settlers 
— Present  Appearance — Buckeye  Valley — Irish  Hill — Qnincy 
— Muletown — Miners'  Court — The  Funny  Man — Faithful 
Wife. 

IONE  VALLEY  is  situated  about  twelve  miles  west 
of  the  county  seat,  and  is  formed  by  the  junction 
of  Dry  creek,  Sutter  creek,  and  Jackson  creek,  soon 
after  they  leave  the  mountains. 

Who  has  not  heard  of  lone  valley.  Whether  one 
rides  over  the  dusty  plains  from  Sacramento,  or 
descends  from  the  pine-clad  hills  of  the  Sierras,  lone 
comes  on  his  view  like  the  realization  of  a  dream. 
None  ever  saw  but  to  admire.  When  the  plains  are 
sweltering  in  heat,  when  the  scanty  herbage  is  with 
ering  under  a  scorching  sun,  lone  is  green  and 
delightful.  The  tall  oaks  send  their  long,  flexible 
limbs  to  the  ground,  reminding  one  of  tropical 
scenes.  The  wild  grape-vine  climbs  to  the  topmost 
boughs,  and,  trailing  into  natural  arbors,  invites  to 
repose  and  rest.  The  natural  grasses,  taller  than 
horses  or  men,  attest  the  unexampled  fertility  of  the 
soil.  Rumors  of  this  paradise  occasionally  reached 
the  far-off  miners;  of  oats  nine  feet  in  height;  of  six 
tons  of  hay  to  the  acre;  but  the  melons,  forty  or 
fifty  pounds  in  weight,  wild  oats  half  an  inch  in 
diameter  and  long  enough  for  a  fish  pole,  onions 
weighing  four  pounds,  potatoes  seven  or  eight,  and 
squashes  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  were  wit 
nesses  whose  testimony  could  not  be  impeached.  It 
is  not  known  that  any  white  man  visited  this  valley 
previous  to  1848.  The  Indians  relate  that,  at  the 
time  Sutter  settled  in  Sacramento,  numbers  of 
them  went  to  see  the  man  with  a  white  skin;  that 
afterwards  they  were  captured  (corralled  would  be  a 
proper  term),  and  driven  to  Sacramento  and  made  to 
work  for  Sutter,  though  they  soon  after  went  volun 
tarily. 

It  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  Teodosio  Yorba, 
or  any  other  Mexican,  ever  saw  the  valley  even  from 
a  distance,  the  name  Arroyo  Seco  being  given  the 
Drytown  branch  of  the  creek  by  the  miners  who 
went  there  soon  after  the  discovery  of  gold.  Some 
of  the  Weber  party  in  prospecting  from  the  Stanis 
laus,  might  have  passed  through  the  valley,  as  it  is 
recorded  that  they  found  gold  on  the  Mokelumne 
river  first,  and  at  every  place  until  they  reached 
Weber  Creek,  in  El  Dorado  county.  Sutter,  in  an 
early  day,  1846,  got  out  timbers  for  a  ferry-boat  on 
the  divide  between  Sutter  and  Amador,  about  three 
miles  above  the  towns,  but  it  is  said  that  his  wagons 

*This  chapter  is  lamely  made  up  from  the  Centennial  address 
of  the  Hon.  C.  B.  Swift.  When  practicable,  his  own  words  are 
used. 


passed  up  on  the  north  side  of  Dry  creek,  this  route 
being  the  one  over  which  wagons  passed  to  and  fro 
in  the  earliest  days,  Lower  Rancheria  being  one  of 
the  way  places.  The  pit  where  the  sawing  was  done 
is  still  visible.  J.  T.  Wheeler  of  Pine  Grove,  saw 
this  in  1849,  some  of  the  partly-finished  timbers 
being  still  on  the  blocks.  J.  P.  Martin  passed  through 
lone  on  his  way  to  Big  Bar,  on  the  Mokelumne  river, 
in  1848.  At  that  time  a  man  was  mining  on  a  gulch 
emptying  into  the  creek  on  the  north  side  of  the 
town,  this  being  soon  after  Utcks  opened  his  store 
neur  Judge  Carter's  residence.  It  is  said  that  the 
man  made  seven  thousand  dollars  with  a  rocker  in  a 
short  time.  There  was  but  one  house  in 'Jackson,  a 
Spanish  cart  doing  duty  as  a  house  near  whei-e  the 
National  Hotel  now  stands.  The  first  mining  of 

o 

which  any  knowledge  can  be  obtained,  was  by  a 
Mexican  early  in  1848,  before  Hicks  had  pastured 
cattle  here.  The  Mexican  told  Indian  Tom  that  the 
oro  (gold)  would  buy  beef  and  sugar,  which  induced 
the  Indians  to  go  to  work. 

FIRST    WHITE    MEN    IN    IONE   VALLEY. 

About  the  last  of  August,  1848,  two  men  then  min 
ing  at  Mormon  Island,  at  the  head  of  the  American 
river,  imbued  with  that  restless  spirit  which  charac 
terized  all  early  Californians,  started  out  on  a 
prospecting  tour,  and  headed  directly  for  this  valley, 
reports  having  already  reached  them  of  its  existence 
and  its  great  fertility.  They  entered  the  valley 
where  Dosh's  store  now  stands.  Those  two  men 
were  William  Hicks  and  Moses  Childers,  who  crossed 
the  plains  in  1843  in  company  with  J.  P.  Martin. 
There  were  then  living  here  (1848)  in  an  adobe  house, 
on  the  ranch  now  owned  by  the  Winters  brothers, 
the  Patterson  family,  and  a  man  named  Edward 
Robinson.  Soon  after  the  arrival  of  Hicks  and  Chil 
ders,  General  Sutter,  who  was  then  living  at  Sutter's 
Fort  in  Sacramento,  came  through  here  with  a  retinue 
of  Indians  on  an  excursion  to  the  mountains,  and 
camped  on  the  spot  where  Sutter  Creek  now  stands, 
which  event  gave  that  town  its  name,  and  also  the 
creek  on  which  it  is  situated.  Andreas  Pico,  with  a 
large  crowd  of  Mexicans,  also  visited  this  section  the 
same  season. 

FIRST   HOUSE. 

Hicks  built  his  first  house,  with  poles  covered  with 
hides,  on  the  knoll  where  Judge  Carter's  house  now 
stands.  He  and  Martin  engaged  in  the  stock  busi 
ness,  buying  cattle  in  southern  California  and  driving 
them  here  to  fatten  for  market,  the  valley  being  then 
covered  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of  grass,  "high  as  a 
man's  head."  The  business  proved  to  be  lucrative. 
In  the  Spring  of  '49  Hicks  converted  his  house  on 
the  knoll  into  a  store,  the  first  in  the  valley,  with 
Childers  as  manager.  His  first  goods  were  hauled 
from  Sacramento  in  a  cart.  They  sold  all  sorts  of 
trinkets  to  the  Indians,  such  as  beads,  jewsharps, 
calicoes,  and — whisky.  They  received  gold-dust  in 
exchange.  Extravagant  prices  ruled.  A  bottle  of 


IONE  VALLEY  AND  VICINITY. 


183 


whisky  would  often  bring  its  "  weight  in  gold-dust." 
It  was  estimated  that  there  were  five  thousand 
Indians  within  a  radius  of  ten  miles  around  the  val 
ley  at  that  time.  Previous  to  its  settlement  by  the 
whites,  they  disposed  of  their  dead  by  raising  them 
into  the  tops  of  the  trees  and  fastening  them  with 
withes.  Eobert  Ludgate,  who  came  to  the  valley  in 
1851.  relates  that  as  he  was  walking  one  day  down 
the  lower  side  of  the  valley,  he  saw  something  in  the 
crotch  of  a  tree  which  attracted  his  curiosity,  and 
climbing  up  to  look  at  it,  was  startled  to  see  the  grim 
skeleton  of  an  Indian. 

FIRST   RANCHES. 

The  Q  ranch  was  taken  up  in  1850,  by  James 
Alvord,  Buck  Tarrier  and  one  or  two  others.  Henry 
Gibbons,  who  was  a  member  of  Company  Q  of  the 
Ohio  Volunteers,  gave  the  ranch  its  name,  which  it 
will  probably  retain  until  the  next  centennial  celebra 
tion.  A  D  ranch  was  taken  up  by  Harry  Hensner 

and Merchant.     They  branded  their  stock  with 

the  letters  "A  D,"  which  gave  that  ranch  its  name. 
The  2  L  ranch,  taken  up  by  the  Luther  brothers,  was 
named  in  the  same  manner,  their  brand  being  a  figure 
2  and  the  letter  L.  The  Q  ranch  was  bought  in 
1853  by  Charles  Green,  who,  in  company  with  John 
Vogan,  established  a  line  of  stages  between  Sacra 
mento  and  Sonora,  via  the  Q  ranch,  Jackson  and 
Mokelumne  Hill ;  and  the  Q  became  quite  a  noted 
place,  having  a  post-office,  blacksmith  shop,  and 
race  track. 

JUDGE    LYNCH. 

Two  Mexicans  were  hung  on  a  tree  a  few  rods 
south  of  the  Q  dwelling-house,  for  stealing  stock. 
Another  was  hung  on  a  tree  by  the  roadside,  about 
half-way  between  Dosh's  store  and  the  Alabama 
House,  by  the  side  of  a  little  stream  called  the  Wol 
verine.  A  negro  was  tied  up  and  whipped  for 
stealing  a  horse.  He  stoutly  objected  to  that  mode 
of  punishment  on  the  ground  that  it  would  injure 
his  character.  These  transactions  took  place  after  a 
trial  and  conviction  of  the  parties  before  Judge1 
Lynch.  The  first  wedding  ceremony  occurred  in  a 
house  which  stood  near  J.  P.  Martin's  present  resi 
dence,  where  William  Hicks  was  married  to  a  Mrs. 
Wilson,  a  widow  lady.  The  first  child  born  in  the 
valley  only  lived  two  or  three  months,  and  was 
named  lone  Harnett  by  its  parents,  who  then  resided 
on  the  place  now  owned  by  the  Winters  brothers. 
Tiie  second  child  born  was  named  William  Burris, 
who  is  still  living.  The  first  sermon  was  preached 
in  Andes  Courtright's  house,  which  stood  a  short 
distance  west  of  Mr.  Dawson's  present  residence,  and 
is  now  torn  down.  No  one  recollects  this  preacher's 
name.  But  he  is  represented  as  having  preached  a 
most  excellent  discourse,  and  under  its  influence 
quite  a  large  collection  was  taken  up.  He  immedi 
ately  went  to  Drytown  and  opened  a  monte-bank, 
where  he  was  followed,  the  next  day,  by  Gourtright, 
who  won  back  the  entire  proceeds  of  the  collection. 


It  may  be  proper  to  state  that  the  present  represen 
tatives  of  the  cloth  in  lone  do  not  accept  that 
example  as  a  standard  of  ministerial  dignity  and 
propriety. 

STARKEY'S  CASE. 

In  the  fall  of  '50,  it  became  known  to  the  valley 
that  the  two  Starkey  brothers  and  a  man  named 
Haines,  who  lived  at  the  lower  end  of  Jackson 
valley,  were  engaged  in  stealing  stock.  They  also 
had  a  rendezvous  at  the  forks  of  the  Cosumnes. 
One  of  the  Starkeys,  and  a  hired  man  by  the  name 
of  Reed,  were  arrested  and  brought  to  Hicks'  ranch, 
where  forty  or  fifty  men  were  awaiting  their  arrival. 
Starkey  was  immediately  put  on  trial.  Williams, 
Mays,  .Robinson,  Clark  (afterward  Judge  in  Fresno 
county,  and  connected  with  a  cutting  affray  at  the 
same  place),  Dr.  Jabez  Newton  (discoverer  of  the 
Newton  copper  mine),  and  others,  acting  as  jurymen. 
It  was  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  he  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  slaughtering  cattle  and  selling  the 
meat,  though  he  put  in  a  plea  that  the  cattle  seemed 
to  be  abandoned  property  and  without  owners. 
The  crime  of  grand  larceny  had  so  far  been  consid 
ered  greater  than  murder,  the  penalty  prescribed  by 
the  statutes  being  death,  although  it  is  doubtful 
whether  any  court  in  California,  other  than  Judge 
Lynch's,  ever  •  passed  such  a  sentence,  or  if  so,  that 
it  was  executed,  so  early  had  the  people  begun  to 
revolt  against  the  code. 

A  motion  was  made  that  he  should  receive  one 
hundred  and  fifty  lashes  on  his  bare  back,  have  his 
head  shaved,  and  the  letter  R  branded  on  his  cheek, 
with  the  understanding  that  he  might  be  hung  if 
he  preferred.  On  taking  the  vote,  all  but  one 
present  voted  aye!  One  person,  Eobert  Reed,  voted 
no.  The  crowd  turned  fiercely  upon  him,  demanding 
his  reasons  for  voting  against  the  sentence,  and  for 
awhile  it  seemed  as  if  he  also  might  be  lynched. 
He  said  that  no  man  could  live  through  such  a  pun 
ishment,  and  urged  a  mitigation.  It  was  finally 
agreed  that  Dr.  Newton  should  stand  by  and  stop 
the  whipping  when  it  should  be  necessary  to  do  so,  to 
save  his  life.  Upon  Starkey  being  asked  his  choice 
of  punishments,  he  replied  that  he  would  take  the 
chance  for  his  life.  He  was  tied  to  a  log  with  his 
face  down,  and  his  back  stripped.  A  Spaniard,  or 
Mexican,  then  doubled  a  rawhide  riata,  and  com 
menced  the  work.  The  first  blow,  made  with  a 
long  sweep  of  the  arm,  left  two  blue  stripes  across 
his  back.  The  flesh  quivered,  but  no  groan  escaped 
him.  Blow  after  blow  followed  with  the  same  cruel 
deliberation,  for  the  greaser  had  feelings  of  his  own 
to  satisfy. 

Starkey  was  a  powerful  man,  and  bore  it  until 
the  flesh  was  cut  into  shreds,  and  the  blood  was 
dripping  to  the  ground.  At  every  swing  of  the 
riata  the  blood  would  fly  off  in  the  air  and  fall 
among  the  crowd.  At  the  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
fifth  blow  the  doctor  made  a  sign  to  suspend  the 
whipping.  He  was  untied  and  his  shirt  put  on.  He 


184 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


was  able  to  step  tip  to  the  bar  and  take  a  drink  of 
whisky,  after  which  he  laid  down  on  a  mattress 
in  the  corner  of  the  room.  A  branding  iron  in  the 
shape  of  the  letter  R,  about  two  inches  each  way, 
was  made  from  a  piece  of , hoop  iron.  Hicks  applied 
it  to  the  man's  face.  It  did  not  make  a  very  distinct 
letter,  as  the  victim  turned  his  face  during  the  oper 
ation.  Perhaps  Hicks  had  mercy  on  the  man  and 
purposely  made  it  indistinct.  Starkey's  wife,  who 
was  present,  wanted  to  share  the  punishment. 
After  it  was  over,  he  was  mounted  on  a  horse  behind 
his  wife,  and  they  left  for  their  cabin,  near  the  mouth 
of  Jackson  creek,  where  Frank  McMurray's  house 
now  stands. 

The  hired  man,  Reed,  received  the  twenty-five 
lashes,  which  came  near  proving  fatal,  as  he  did  not 
have  the  iron  nerves  of  Starkey. 

Many  cattle  had  been  stolen  during  the  year,  and 
Starkey's  conviction  had  fixed  the  whole  loss  on  him, 
though  in  after  years  it  became  a  current  opinion, 
in  the  mountains,  that  stealing  cattle  was  a  common 
practice  on  the  ranches.  It  is  quite  certain  that 
teamsters  and  others  would,  at  the  close  of  Summer, 
drive  their  cattle  and  horses  to  the  valleys  to  tres 
pass  on  the  farmers,  who  might  sometimes  have 
taken  that  way  to  get  even.  At  any  rate,  a  great 
crowd,  mostly  from  the  mines,  came  to  Starkey's  the 
next  day  to  hunt  their  missing  cattle.  Not  finding 
them,  they  burned  his  house  and  voted  to  hang  him, 
which  they  were  in  the  act  of  doing  when  Hicks, 
Reed,  and  other  parties,  who  witnessed  the  punish 
ment  of  the  day  before,  coming  up,  persuaded  the 
crowd  to  remit  it  on  condition  of  his  leaving  the 
country.  He  recovered,  and  was  seen  afterwards 
driving  a  team  in  some  of  the  Territories. 

FIRST  MILLS. 

In  1851  Wooster  and  the  Reed  brothers  built 
a  saw-mill  where  J.  Farnsworth's  barn  now  stands. 
Reed  was  then  living  on  the  place  now  owned  by 
D.  Younglove. 

PUN    WITH    GRIZZLIES. 

In  going  to  their  daily  work  of  hewing  timber  for 
the  mill,  they  discovered  bear  tracks  in  the  road, 
and  the  provisions,  which  they  hung  up  in  the  trees 
over  night,  were  stolen  by  the  grizzlies.  Woostcr 
and  Baker,  the  latter  of  whom  was  a  blacksmith, 
made  steel  traps,  and  succeeded  in  catching  three  of 
these  monsters.  The  difficult  and  dangerous  task  of 
tying  them  was  accomplished  by  R.  Reed,  with  one 
assistant.  They  sold  one  to  Hicks,  who  advertised 
fora  bull  and  bear  fight.  A  great  crowd  came  from 
all  directions  to  see  so  novel  a  spectacle.  Among 
those  who  came  from  Winters'  Bar,  on  the  Mokel- 
umne  river,  was  Dr.  Brusie,  who  was  then  a  Justice 
of  the  Peace  there.  The  bear,  however,  died  before 
the  day  fixed  for  the  fight,  and  the  day  was  turned 
into  horse-racing.  They  also  sold  one  to  the  Q 
ranch  folks  for  the  same  purpose,  and  with  the  same 
result.  The  other  one  was  caged  up  in  a  pen  on 


the  ground  where  Woolsey's  lumber  yard  now 
stands,  but  finally  broke  out  and  ran  away.  A  Cal 
ifornia  lion,  or  panther,  was  caught  in  a  ravine  north 
of  lone.  An  attempt  was  made  to  take  him  away 
alive,  but  the  animal  struggled  fiercely,  and  died  on 
the  way,  the  day  being  very  hot.  Dr.  E.  B.  Harris, 
who  built  and  was  then  keeping  the  afterwards 
"Newton  Copper  Mine  House,"  stuffed  the  panther's 
skin  and  made  it  look  natural  as  life,  and  twice  as 
fierce.  It  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  chamber 
stairs.  Many  a  stranger,  who  was  induced  to  pre 
cede  the  landlord,  has  been  frightened  out  of  half  a 
night's  sleep  by  the  glaring  eyes  and  open  mouth 
with  the  frightful  fangs,  of  the  well  fixed  up  skin. 

One  Indian,  trying  to  get  the  meat  with  which  the 
trap  was  baited,  got  caught  and  had  to  stay  until 
help  could  be  got  from  lone,  the  Indians  not  know 
ing  how  to  free  him  from  the  trap. 

J.  M.  Wooster  built  the  first  house  of  hewed  logs. 
It  still  stands  where  it  was  built,  and  is  used  as  the 
sitting  room  of  the  Arcade  Hotel.  The  house  in  which 
Judge  Carter  resides  was  the  first  frame  built  in  the 
county.  It  was  brought  around  the  Horn  in  1850 
and  is  still  a  very  good  house.  A  man  by  the  name 
of  Baker  did  the  first  blacksmithing  at  a  forge  under 
a  tree  below  the  steam  flour-mill.  Abraham  Sells 
built  the  first  blacksmith  shop  on  the  corner  west  of 
the  livery  stable.  He  was  bought  out  by  A.  Sheak- 
ley,  who  run  it  until  he  was  burnt  out  in  the  fire  of 
1865.  In  the  Spring  of  1851,  A.  Gr.  Lane  opened  the 
first  store,  on  the  corner  now  occupied  by  J.  P.  Fcr- 
rier's  saloon.  Reed,  Wooster  and  Lane  built  the  brick 
grist-mill  in  1855,  which  runs  by  water-power  and  is 
now  owned  by  Dr.  Gumming.  Daniel  Stewart  built 
the  first  brick  store  in  1855.  Dr.  E.  B.  Harris  was 
the  first  practicing  physician  who  located  here. 

ORIGIN    OF   THE    NAME    IONE. 

The  valley  was  named  lone  before  a  town  was 
started  here,  by  Thomas  Brown,  who  was  a  great 
reader.  He  was  reading  a  historical  romance  of 
Bulwer,  entitled  "  Herculaneum;  or  the  last  days  of 
Pompeii,"  one  of  whose  heroines  was  a  very  beauti 
ful  young  girl  named  "  lone."  By  one  of  those 
happy,  thoughts  which  sometimes  come  to  us  like  a 
revelation,  it  occurred  to  him  that  "  lone"  was  a 
most  appropriate  name  for  this  valley,  and  he  accord 
ingly  gave  it  that  name.  But  the  town  itself  did  not 
escape  the  fate  of  most  California  towns,  without 
being  christened  evil  names.  It  was  named  first. 
Bedbug,  then  Frcezeout.  Finally  a  meeting  was 
called  to  decide  on  a  name;  a  few  were  in  favor  of 
Wooster,  but  a  majority  were  in  favor  of  naming  it 
after  the  valley,  so  it  was  christened  lone  City. 
Thus  it  remained  for  Bulwer,  the  great  English 
scholar,  novelist  and  poet,  to  furnish  a  name  for  this 
beautiful  town  and  valley.  Wooster,  after  whom  it 
was  proposed  to  name  the  town,  was  the  discoverer 
of  the  big  trees  in  1850,  having  followed  some  miners 
in  that  direction  who  were  supposed  to  be  going  to 


r  ^     OF  THE 

XJNIVERSITTJ 


TONE  VALLEY  AND  VICINITY. 


185 


Gold  Lake.  He  cut  his  name  on  one  of  the  trees 
with  a  hatchet.  Andes  Courtright  was  the  first  Jus 
tice  of  the  Peace.  W.  C.  Pratt  was  the  first  Assem 
blyman  elected  from  this  town.  Mr.  Pratt  was  a 
man  who  Went  for  everything  with  his  whole  might 
and  strength.  While  in  the  Legislature  he  either 
knew  or  thought  he  knew  of  immense  sums  of  money 
being  expended  in  the  Senatorial  election  then  pend 
ing,  Broderick  and  Gwin  being  the  candidates.  He 
made  a  very  enthusiastic  speech  without  throwing 
much  light  on  the  subject  however,  but  he  told  the 
members  that  he  knew  something  of  it.  In  those 
days  people  had  a  habit  of  mixing  Spanish  words  into 
their  talk.  "  I  sabe  mottcka,"  said  he.  He  was  known 
ever  after  as  "sabe  moucha."  Amador  was  then 
included  in  Calaveras  county,  of  which  Henry  A. 
Carter  was  the  first  District  Attorney. 

FIRST    SCHOOL. 

The  first  school  was  taught  by  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Meade  in  1853,  in  a  house  owned  by  Eeed.  The 
Methodist  church  was  organized  in  1853,  Thomas 
Kickey  being  the  most  active  person  in  promoting 
the  organization.  He  also  kept  the  Irene  Hotel, 
and  a  store  at  the  same  time.  George  B.  Taylor 
was  the  first  minister  stationed  here.  He  was  a 
man  of  considerable  talent,  though  some  of  his 
subsequent  actions  would  hardly  square  with  the 
notions  of  church  people.  The  church  building,  used 
at  that  time,  was  converted  into  a  paint  shop  some 
years  since.  About  this  time  several  families  began 
to  exert  a  moderating  influence  on  the  manners  of 
the  people.  There  were  then  living  here  the  families 
of  Thomas  Eickey,  Eobert  Eeed,  E.  JD.  Style,  A. 
Preater,  John  T.  Poe,  I.  B.  Gregory,  Judge  Turner, 
Phillips,  the  McMurrays,  Spencer,  and  others.  There 
were  several  marriageable  girls,  who  unconsciously 
exerted  a  good  influence  in  elevating  the  morals  of 
the  young  men,  who  would  visit  the  town  to  get  a 
glimpse  of  them.  Dr.  E.  B.  Harris,  the  first  practic 
ing  physician  to  locate  here,  taught  a  singing-school 
which  drew  a  crowd  of  well- behaved  people. 

FIRST    FLOUR    MILL. 

The  first  flour  mill  was  built  in  1855  by  Eeed, 
Wooster,  and  Lane.  At  first  it  was  intended  for  a 
feed  mill  but  was  soon  afterwards  improved  so  as  to 
make  flour.  The  steam  mill  was  built  in  1856  by 
Thomas  Eickey,  though,  at  the  time  of  the  erection, 
it  was  but  a  small  affair  compared  to  what  it  after 
wards  became  under  the  ownership  of  Hall  &  Son. 

Daniel  Stuart  built  the  first  brick  store  in  1855, 
John  Edwards  putting  up  the  next,  now  occupied  by 
George  Woolsey.  The  school-house  was  built  in  1858, 
the  upper  story  being  occupied  by  the  Masonic  fra 
ternity.  A  town  hall  was  also  built  in  1858,  which 
was  afterwards  used  by  the  Presbyterian  denomina 
tion  as  a  church.  The  Baptist  church  was  built  in  '59. 

THE   METHODIST   CHURCH 

Was  built  in  1862,  Bishop  Simpson  laying  the  corner 
stone  July  4th,  Dr.  Peck,  Dr.  Owens  and  several  other 
24 


prominent  men  of  the  Methodist  church  assisting. 
Some  effective  solicitation  was  done  and  a  large 
amount  of  money  was  raised,  not  enough  to  complete 
the  church  however,  which,  owing  to  reverses  which 
will  be  mentioned  hereafter,  remains,  nearly  twenty 
years  afterwards,  hopelessly  in  debt.  A  man  by  the 
name  of  Mandel  was  the  architect.  The  estimated  cost 
of  the  edifice  was  eight  thousand  dollars,  but  whether 
from  incorrect  estimates  of  labor  and  material,  or 
other  causes,  the  church  cost  twice  as  much,  which, 
with  interest  paid  on  mortgages,  and  other  debts 
pertaining  to  it,  will  make  the  total  not  far  short  of 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 

A  celebration  was  held  the  same  day,  Thomas 
Fitch,  the  celebrated  orator,  being  the  speaker.  A 
car  of  young  ladies  representing  the  galaxy  of  States 
was  a  noticeable  feature  of  the  occasion.  A  circus, 
and  afterwards  expensive  fire-works,  concluded  the 
day.  So'many  notable  events  are  not  often  crowded 
into  one  occasion. 

The  centennial  celebration  was  an  event  in  the 
history  of  lone.  It  was  notable  in  many  respects; 
for  the  unanimity  and  good  feeling  with  which  it  was 
conducted;  the  general  and  almost  universal  attend 
ance  of  the  people,  and  the  marked  difference  of  the 
assemblage,  in  character  and  sex,  from  all  former 
gatherings.  In  early  days  a  few  seats  of  honor  near 
the  Chair  would  have  accommodated  all  the  females 
and  children  who  would  be  present.  What  a  differ 
ence  a  quarter  of  a  century  had  made.  As  the  hour 
for  the  exercises  approached,  wagon  after  wagon 
unloaded  children  of  all  ages,  and  before  long  they 
took  the  town.  They  swarmed  through  every  street 
and  lane,  and  out  of  every  door.  The  old  '49ers  who 
had  danced  in  glee  around  a  woman's  cast-off  bonnet, 
or  taken  a  walk  of  miles  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  a  sun- 
bonnet  flitting  around  a  house,  now  stood  aghast 
with  the  change.  The  tide  had  turned.  Men  were 
now  emigrating  to  the  mines,  leaving  a  redundant 
female  population.  If  the  quails  in  '49  or  '50  had 
donned  female  gear  and  come  tripping  around  the 
miners'  cabins,  the  pioneers  would  not  have  been 
more  astonished  than  in  1876,  to  see  the  turn  affairs 
had  taken.  Scores  of  attractive,  blushing  damsels 
thronged  the  grounds  as  if  a  natural  product  of  the 
valley.  The  miner,  with  a  red  shirt,  and  revolver 
slung  to  his  side,  must  now  be  sought  in  our  Terri 
tories. 

A  procession  was  formed  under  the  charge  of  J. 
Brannan.  An  immense  carriage  had  been  impro 
vised  for  the  occasion  in  shape  of  a  pyramid,  with 
the  goddess  of  liberty  seated  on  the  apex,  and  young 
ladies  seated  around  to  represent  the  galaxy  of 
States.  Then  followed  a  troop  of  boys  dressed  in 
continental  uniform,  with  military  companies,  citi 
zens,  and  carriages  containing  the  officers  of  the 
day.  The  exercises  were  held  in  a  grove  of  shade 
trees  at  the  foot  of  Church  street,  near  Hall's  mills. 
Two  thousand  people  were  estimated  to  be  present. 


186 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


PRESIDENTS   ADDRESS. 

"J.  D.  Mason,  president  of  the  day,  opened  the 
meeting  with  the  following  remarks: — 

"FELLOW -CITIZENS:  It  is  unnecessary  to  announce 
the  object  of  this  gathering.  The  old  and  the  young 
alike  know  why  we  celebrate  this  day.  The  cen 
tennial  of  our  nation's  birth  is  a  festal  day  in  every 
civilized  land.  From  an  inauspicious  beginning — a 
birth  in  pain  and  sorrow,  and  surrounded  by  adverse 
circumstances — our  country  has  grown  to  marvelous 
dimensions,  reaching  from  ocean  to  ocean,  including 
in  its  boundaries  the  longest  rivers,  the  largest  lakes, 
mountain  ranges  rich  in  all  valuable  minerals,  fertile 
valleys  and  plains,  producing  all  the  heart  of  man 
can  desire,  where  the  humblest  laborer  can  rest  in 
the  bosom  of  his  family,  secure  in  the  protection  of 
just  laws.  Unlike  nations  of  the  Old  World,  no 
millions  toil  in  sorrow  that  a  pampered  few  shall 
rest  in  wealth  and  power. 

"While  other  nations  have  marched  to  greatness 
through  blood  and  carnage,  crushing  out  other 
governments  and  civilizations,  ours  has  achieved 
its  victories  over  the  silence  of  the  desert,  the  lone 
liness  of  the  forest,  and  the  rock-guarded  treasures 
of  the  mountains.  Her  victories  are  the  triumphs 
of  peaceful  industry,  filling  the  land  with  churches, 
schools,  and  comfortable,  happy  homes. 

"The  earth  is  filled  with  the  wrecks  of  nations 
that  have  flourished  a  time,  only  to  be  submerged 
in  the  surrounding  barbarism;  but  the  student  of 
history  will  discover  in  the  upheaval  of  thought 
which  produced  our  free  institutions,  the  germ  of 
a  greater,  better,  and  more  permanent  civilization 
than  the  world  has  ever  seen,  surpassing  the  wildest 
dreams  of  the  ancients.  With  the  aid  of  the  tele 
graph,  the  steam  engine,  and  the  printing  press, 
remote  nations  now  share  their  wealth  and  wants, 
their  joys  and  sorrows.  All  our  surroundings  are 
conducive  to  prosperity. 

"We  begin  the  second  century  of  our  existence 
with  these  substantial  achievements  and  brilliant 
prospects.  It  is  well  to  commemorate  this  day  that 
our  children  may  learn  the  value  of  the  estate  we 
transmit  to  them.  It  is  proper  to  usher  in  the  sec 
ond  century  of  our  existence  with  bonfires,  illumina 
tions  and  hymns  of  joy." 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  read  by  F. 
C.  Hall,  after  which  the  Rev.  A.  K.  Crawford,  for 
merly  Professor  of  Belles- Lettres,  at  the  Santa 
Clara  College,  delivered  the  poem,  portions  of 
which  are  given  here: — 

******* 

Honor,  all  honor  to-day  to  those  men, 

And  their  labors  and  triumphs — 

Labors  that  shaped  a  new  world, 

And  triumphs  that  crown  them  immortal. 

Rude  was  -the  wild  they  traversed, 

A  continent,  virgin  and  pathless. 

An  unformed  choas  of  men, 

From  the  ends  of  the  earth  flung  together, 

Mingled  as  quartz  and  feldspar 

And  hornblende  are  mingled  in  granite; 

Mingled  by  fiery  fusion, 

To  make  the  bedrock  of  the  nation. 

Fierce  were  the  forces  that  fought 
In  the  furnace  where  freedom  was  molded, 
"  Tyranny  kindled  the  flame, 
But  Liberty  fanned  it  and  fed  it," 
Till  the  crude  mass,  refractory,  stubborn,  chaotic, 
Blended  at  last  in  a  union  of  hearts 
And  of  States  in  firm  compact, 
Welded,  in  blood  and  fire,  established  for  ages  of  ages. 


The  Declaration  made  that  day 

Was  no  mere  mass  of  glittering  words; 
It  set  the  nation  in  array 

Against  far  more  than  British  swords. 
'Twas  the  proposal  we  still  make 

That  all  mankind  shall  here  be  free. 
Jehovah  smiled  and  said,  "Go  take 

The  right  to  nationality." 
That  smile,  sent  for  our  pledges'  sake, 
Is  now  the  ground  on  which  we  stake 

Our  hope  of  perpetuity. 

Each  nation  of  antiquity, 

When  first  its  life  began, 
Gave  promise  to  co-operate 

With  God  in  his  great  plan 

To  elevate  humanity. 
And  each  was  made  invincible 

While  faithful  to  her  trust; 
But  when  she  failed  to  do  her  work, 

Her  heroes  bit  the  dust. 

We  have  passed  through  some  terrible  conflicts, 

Our  banner  still  kissing  the  sky, 
While  star  after  star  has  been  added 

Before  the  world's  envious  eye. 

Shall  that  banner,  hereafter,  by  traitors 

Be  trampled  in  dust  and  decay? 
Or  shall  it  float  on,  over  liberty's  sons, 

Till  the  dawn  of  unending  day? 

Say,  friends,  shall  it  wave 
O'er  the  free  and  the  brave, 
Till  the  stars  and  blue  sky 
It  resembles  on  high, 
Into  ruin  shall  roll, 
Like  a  shriveling  scroll  ? 

The  oration  which  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  J. 
T.  White,  was  somewhat  lengthy,  and  was  a  histor 
ical  review  of  the  circumstances  out  of  which  grew 
the  modern  Republics  and  the  spirit  of  freedom, 
moving  governments  to  ameliorate  the  conditions 

of  the  people. 

******* 

"And  here  the  question  arises,  Was  the  Revolti- 
tion,  taking  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case  into 
review,  right?  Was  it  right?  This  is  a  very  proper 
question  to  ask,  and  this  is  the  proper  time  to  ask 
it.  I  say, then,  was  it  right?  Every  American  will 
answer  with  an  emphatic  '  Yes.'  Every  true  patriot, 
no  matter  in  what  land  born  or  reared,  will  answer, 
Yes.  Every  lover  of  liberty,  in  whatever  country 
his  destiny  may  have  been  cast,  will  answer,  Yes. 
The  truest  men  in  old  England  at  the  time  said  it 
was  right,  and  protested  in  indignant  terms  (still  to 
be  read)  against  the  cruelty  and  oppression  that 
rendered  such  a  step  necessary  on  the  part  of  the 
colonists.  The  splendid  eloquence  of  Pitt,  and  the 
brilliant  oratory  of  Burke,  were  heard  in  denuncia 
tion  of  such  flagrant  wrong-doing.  The  long  halls 
of  the  British  House  of  Parliament  rang  again  with 
the  echoes  of  the  clear  voice  of  the  great  Earl  of 
Chatham,  as  in  bold  and  uncompromising  langu:i»-e 
he  declared,  '  Were  I  an  American  as  I  am  an  Eng 
lishman,  while  a  foreign  troop  was  landed  in  my 
country  I  never  would  lay  down  my  arms — never, 
never,  never!'  And  the  circumstance  that  I  stand 
here  to-day  to  raise  my  voice  in  this  matter  is  a 
proof — a  solemn  assurance  in  fact — that  I  think  it 
was  right.  Were  it  otherwise,  1  should  not  be  found 
on  this  platform  to-day.  Money  couldn't  buy  me, 
and  threats  couldn't  intimidate  me,  and  flattery 
couldn't  induce  me  to  get  up  here  and  let  sentiments 
escape  my  lips,  either  on  the  subject  of  liberty,  or 
any  other  topic  that  didn't  find  an  echo  in  my  heart. 


TONE  VALLEY  AND  VICINITY. 


187 


You  will  consider  it  no  breach  of  etiquette  for  me 
to  remind  you  that  the  spirit  of  liberty  is  neither 
native  to  the  American  soil,  nor  exclusively  confined 
to  the  American  people.  Wherever  on  the  face  of 
God's  wide  earth  there  is  a  true  man  with  a  true 
heart  in  his  bosom,  the  spirit  of  liberty  is  there — 
is  there  inspiring  him  with  a  noble  love  for  every 
thing  that  is  beautiful,  and  pure,  and  good,  and 
filling  him  with  a  lofty  scorn  for  everything  that  is 
lowr  and  base,  and  mercenary.  My  position,  there 
fore,  and  the  post  assigned  me  in  connection  with 
this  centennial  celebration  to-day,  although  one 
from  which  I  naturally  did  shrink  on  the  ground 
of  conscious  incompetency  for  many  reasons,  is  yet 
one  from  which  1  do  not  shrink,  and  have  no  reason 
to  shrink,  on  the  score  of  want  of  sympathy  with 
this  day's  proceedings,  or  with  the  grand  object 
which  we  are  assembled  here  this  day  to  commem 
orate.  I  yield  to  no  man  in  my  love  of  liberty.  I 
yield  to  no  man  in  my  sympathies  with  the  enslaved. 
My  mission  from  week  to  week  is  to  proclaim  '  lib 
erty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison 
to  those  that  are  bound.'  Why  should  I  shrink 
from  the  performance  of  a  duty  so  nearly  allied  to 
that  to-day?" 

"  And  now  before  quitting  this  part  of  our  subject, 
let  us  consider  what  is  the  grand  lesson  taught  us 
by  the  history  of  the  Revolution.  What  do  you 
think  it  is  ?  As  /  read  that  event,  1  take  it  to  be 
this:  that  man  was  made  to  be  free.  God  ordained 
every  man  to  be  a  free  man.  Liberty  is  the  inherent, 
inalienable  birthright  of  every  son  and  daughter  of 
God.  The  American  Revolution,  and  similar  revolu 
tions  in  other  lands  and  other  times,  have  been 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  man  asserting  his  claim 
to  this  God-given  heritage.  All  down  the  ages,  ever 
since  the  primal  curse  rested  upon  the  race,  men 
have  been  saying  here  and  there,  and  yonder:  '  We 
want  you  to  be  subject  to  us — bow  down  and  serve 
us;'  and  ever  the  reply  has  been  hurled  back:  'We 
shall  not  do  it — we  were  born  free  as  you — we  shall 
not  do  it — we  shall  die  first.'  And  hence  on  this  very 
point  have  arisen  all  the  battles  that  were  ever 
fought  on  the  theater  of  this  world,  between  despot 
ism  on  the  one  hand,  with  its  chains  for  the  van 
quished,  and  freedom  on  the  other,  with  its  glorious 
charter  of  equal  rights  for  every  man,  and  unfet 
tered  liberty  for  all.  It  was  to  conserve  and  preserve 
intact  this  grand  principle,  this  legacy  of  God  to  his 
children  here  below — that  marshaled  that  little 
band  of  Grecian  warriors  on  the  plain  of  Marathon; 
that  filled  their  hearts  with  a  courage  almost  super 
human,  and  nerved  their  arms  with  almost  more 
than  mortal  strength,  and  sent  a  thunderbolt  of  God 
scattering  confusion,  and  dismay,  and  disaster, 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  mighty 
hosts  of  Persia,  making  Marathon  the  grandest 
name  in  the  military  history  of  our  world — a  syno 
nym  for  Liberty  herself.  It  was  in  behalf  of  this 
great  principle  that  that  tiny  handful  of  three  hun 
dred  heroic  men  disputed  the  narrow  pass  of  Ther 
mopylae,  against  the  combined  hosts  of  Asia,  and  on 
gory  death-beds,  under  the  open  firmament  of  heaven, 
testified  their  allegiance  to  the  spirit  of  liberty,  and 
practically  said,  writing  it  in  their  hearts'  blood  in 
the  soil  of  their  native  Greece,  '  We  shall  not  wear 
your  chains;  we  shall  not  do  it;  we  shall  die  first.' 
And  they  did  die,  every  man  of  them,  every  man  of 
the  three  hundred.  Died,  did  I  say?  Such  men 
never  die!  The  world  will  not  let  them  die.  They 
shall  live,  embalmed  in  the  memories  of  the  nations, 
as  long  as  the  world  itself  has  an  existence.  It  was 


.over  the  settlement  of  this  great  question  that  the 
continent  of  Europe  during  the  early  part  of  this 
century  was  turned  into  an  immense  battlefield, 
where  despotism  and  liberty  were  pitted  against 
each  other  in  mortal  conflict,  the  victory  at  one  time 
inclining  toward  despotism,  and  then  again  alternat 
ing  on  the  side  of  liberty,  until  on  that  memorable 
18th  of  June,  there  was  drawn  up  to  settle  the  con 
test  the  grandest  and  most  imposing  military  specta 
cle  that  the  world  has  ever  witnessed — the  grandest 
because  of  the  mighty  issues  at  stake,  the  most 
imposing  because  of  the  unrivaled  and  wonderful 
combination  of  power,  skill,  discipline,  zeal,  courage, 
and  extraordinary  military  genius  of  the  opposing 
forces — and  there  and  then,  on  that  memorable 
Sunday  in  June,  on  the  plains  of  Belgium,  amid 
smoke,  and  slaughter,  and  carnage,  and  ten  thousand 
deaths,  and  confused  noise,  and  garments  rolled  in 
blood,  the  great  battle  of  liberty  was  won,  and  the 
name  of  Waterloo  crowned  for  all  time  with  imper 
ishable  and  deathless  glory!  Such  cases  as  these 
teach  us  (what  your  own  Revolution  teaches  with 
equal  force  and  clearness)  that  man  was  made  to  be 
free.  This,  I  take  it,  is  the  grand  lesson  to  be  learned 
from  the  important  events  we  have  had  under 
review." 

After  the  oration  the  Hon.  C.  B.  Swift,  in  accord 
ance  with  the  recommendation  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  gave  a  brief  history  of  lone 
valley,  the  most  of  which  has  been  incorporated  into 
this  work;  as  it  will  be  of  interest  hereafter,  the  con 
dition  of  lone,  as  given  by  him  at  that  time,  will  be 
added. 

IONE  IN  1876. 

lone  City  contains  a  popiilation  of  about  six  hun 
dred.  Of  this  number  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
are  between  the  ages  of  five  and  seventeen;  two 
hundred  and  twenty-nine  are  under  seventeen. 
Nine  woman  and  eleven  men  are  over  seventy. 
The  Chinese  population  numbers  about  one  hundred. 
It  has  four  churches,  two  Sunday-schools,  one  pub 
lic  school,  »one  division  of  the  S.  of  T.,  with  sixty 
members,  one  Masonic  lodge,  one  Legion  of  the  K. 
of  A.  C.  Pastor  of  the  M.  E.  church,  Rev.  A.  K. 
Crawford;  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  Rev. 
James  White;  pastor  of  the  Catholic  church,  Rev. 
Father  Welch.  The  Baptists  have  no  minister  here 
at  present.  Teachers  of  the  public  schools,  Miss 
Augusta  Withington  and  Mrs.  T.  Stewart.  It  has 
four  stores,  two  hotels,  one  meat  market,  one  brew 
ery,  one  restaurant,  one  millinery  establishment,  one 
art  gallery,  six  saloons,  one  drug  store,  one  barber 
shop,  two  paint  shops,  two  blacksmith  shops,  one 
harness  shop,  one  tin  shop,  three  shoe  shops,  one 
variety  store,  one  jewelry  store,  one  cabinet  shop, 
one  powder  house,  one  livery  stable,  two  flouring  mills 
— one  running  by  steam,  the  other  by  water-power. 
The  water  mill  has  not  been  running  the  past  year. 
The  steam  mill  grinds  a  yearly  average  of  over 
two  thousand  tons  of  barley,  one  thousand  or  twelve 
hundred  tons  of  wheat,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
tons  of  corn. 

lone  will  close  the  centennial  year  with  a  rail 
road  completed  to  her  town  limits.  The  project  of 


188 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


a  road  from  Gait  to  lone,  was  first  broached  to  the 
directors  of  the  Central  Pacific  by  F.  C.  Hall,  about 
the  time  of  the  "miners'  strike'.'  in  Sutter.  The 
company  then  agreed  to  lay  the  track  and  put  on 
the  rolling  stock,  whenever  the  road-bed  should  be 
graded.  The  general  depression  in  business  which 
followed  the  "  strike,"  postponed  the  enterprise- 
Finally,  Messrs.  Hart,  Goodman  &  Co.,  seeing  that 
their  coal  interests  demanded  a  road,  entered  into  a 
contract  with  the  Central  Pacific  to  build  the  grade 
from  Gait  to  Buckeye.  While  this  work  was  in 
progress,  the  citizens  of  lone  called  a  meeting  to 
take  measures  to  continue  the  grade  from  Buckeye 
to  lone,  a  distance  of  six  miles.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  raise  the  necessary  funds,  and  to  let 
the  contract.  Nine  thousand  nine  hundred  and  forty 
dollars  was  raised  by  subscription,  one  thousand  of 
which  was  appropriated  to  buy  the  right  of  way. 

At  the  close  of  the  meeting,  the  president  cordially 
invited  all  to  be  present  at  the  next  centennial. 
Perhaps  a  few  may  be  able  to  accept  the  invitation. 

RAILROAD. 

Previous  to  1876,  lone  was  connected  with  the  out 
side  world  with  only  the  poorest  kinds  of  wagon 
roads.  Many  persons  had  advocated  and  others  had 
opposed  a  railroad.  Those  who  favored  it  pointed  to 
the  fact  that,  with  few  exceptions,  cheap  transporta 
tion  aided  to  build  up  a  country;  that,  though  a  few 
local  interests  suffered,  a  railroad  made  markets  and 
also  made  more  things  marketable.  Others  said  that 
we  had  a  market  for  all  that  we  could  raise  now; 
that  a  railroad  from  the  plains  would  put  down  the 
price  of  grain  to  the  extent,  that  it  would  lower  the 
price  of  transportation  from  the  great  valleys  with 
which  the  farmers  were  now  competing.  This  was 
evidently  true  for  the  producer,  also  for  the  con 
sumer.  But  the  desire  for  a  railroad  yearly  grew 
stronger.  A  ride  over  the  abominated  stage  road 
between  lone  and  Gait  was  sure  to  convert  one  to 
the  railroad  system.  About  1872  things  began  to 
shape  themselves  in  this  direction.  The  discovery 
of  extensive  beds  of  lignite,  which  made  a  very  good 
substitute  for  coal,  which  had  not  then  been  found 
in  quantities  that  it  since  has,  turned  attention 
to  the  valley.  Occasional  articles  in  the  county 
papers  which  were  copied  into  the  city  papers  also 
called  attention  to  the  projects. 

STOCKTON    NARROW-GAUGE. 

This  was  projected  by  Dr.  E.  S.  llolden,  who  was 
instrumental  in  building  the  Stockton  and  Sacra 
mento  road  afterwards  incorporated  into  the  Central 
Pacific  Railroad,  and  also  the  Stockton  and  Copper- 
opolis,  which  was  also  absorbed  by  the  Central 
Pacific  Railroad.  It  was  advocated  by  the  Stockton 
Independent  and  the  other  city  papers.  J.  K.  Doak, 
Mayor  of  Stockton,  H.  E.  Hall,  N.  M.  Orr,  J.  H. 
O'Brien,  John  Willson,  Dr.  A.  Clark,  Geo.  Gray,  E. 
Lyon,all  prominent  citizens,  became  the  officers  of  a 


joint-stock  company.  The  design  at  that  time  was  to 
build  a  branch  road  from  Linden  to  lone,  but  the 
embarrassment  of  the  company  caused  by  the  fail 
ure  of  the  copper  mines  and  the  inability  to  complete 
or  maintain  possession  of  the  road,  induced  them  to 
re-organize  and  attempt  the  building  of  a  narrow- 
guage  direct  from  lone  to  tide-water  at  Stockton. 
Some  of  the  coal  was  taken  to  Stockton  and  tried. 
It  was  thought  that  it  could  be  delivered  in  Stock 
ton  for  three  or  four  dollars  .per  ton,  which  was  less 
than  half  the  ordinary  price  of  fuel.  Subscriptions 
to  the  amount  of  one  hundi*ed  thousand  dollars  were 
made  by  the  citizens  of  Stockton.  A  survey  was 
made  under  Schuyler,  and  the  project  fairly  inau 
gurated.  A  favorable  contract  for  coal  and  the 
necessary  land  for  depot  grounds  was  entered  into 
and  the  building  of  the  road  let  to  W.  H.  Platt,  of 
San  Francisco,  for  the  sum  of  four  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  payable  in  installments  as  the  road  pro 
gressed.  The  route  of  the  road  was  to  have  been  by 
way  of  Waterloo,  Lockford,  Poland  House,  Zimmer 
man's  creek,  Jackson  valley,  to  lone,  a  route  involv 
ing  but  few  heavy  grades  or  expensive  bridges.  A 
few  miles  were  graded  and  a  few  rails  laid  down ;  a 
passenger  and  two  or  three  box  cars  were  partly 
built.  Two  narrow-guage  engines  were  shipped  from 
the  East  and  brought  to  Stockton,  and,  at  one  time, 
it  looked  as  if  the  road  might  be  built.  Considerable 
money  was  paid  in  on  the  subscriptions,  which 
seemed  to  be  wasted  in  mere  show,  and  finally  the 
project  fell  through.  The  engines  were  soon 
removed  and  put  upon  the  Nevada  Narrow-Guage, 
and  the  half-finished  cars  upon  which  a  hundred  or 
two  dollars  were  expended  is  all  to  show  for  the 
fifty  thousand  dollars  or  more  paid  in  by  the  citizens 
of  Stockton. 

GALT   ROAD. 

This  was  projected  by  F.  C.  Hall,  who  never  had 
much  confidence  in  the  Stockton  enterprise.  In  1876 
the  Central  Pacific  Company  having  finished  some 
of  their  main  lines,  were  induced  to  turn  their  atten 
tion  to  some  of  the  side  lines.  A  survey  was  made 
and  the  route  found  to  be  inexpensive.  It  was 
intended  to  run  the  road  up  Dry  creek,  but  some  of 
the  farmers  evincing  hostility  to  having  the  road  pass 
over  their  lands,  it  was  deflected  up  Buckeye  creek, 
running  directly  to  the  coal  mines,  at  what  is  now 
Carbondale.  The  road  was  intended  mostly  to  carry 
away  coal,  and  it  seemed  that  the  company  wei-e 
in  no  hurry  to  extend  it  to  lone.  This  did  not  look 
favorable  for  the  prosperity  of  the  town,  as  the  travel 
from  the  upper  towns  might  be  diverted  from  lone. 
A  donation  of  some  twelve  thousand  dollars,  nearly 
or  quite  enough  to  pay  the  right  of  way  and  grade 
the  line  from  Buckeye,  was  made  by  the  citizens,  and 
the  cars  came  into  the  town  about  December  1, 1876. 
Much  difference  of  opinion  exists  as  to  the  benefit 
of  the  road.  Freight  on  goods  is  somewhat  cheaper, 
though  not  enough  to  prevent  wagons  from  doing 
some  of  the  work.  A  greater  number  of  teams  get 


': 


TONE  VALLEY  AND  VICINITY. . 


189 


employment  into  the  mountains  than  were  engaged 
before  its  completion.  Considerable  wholesale  trad 
ing  is  now  done  at  lone.  The  amount  of  goods 
received  by  rail  is  constantly  increasing,  necessitating 
a  recent  increase  of  storage  at  the  depot.  Those 
who  believe  that  freshets,  drought,  pestilence,  famine, 
and  failures  of  mines  follow  in  the  march  of  rail 
roads,  will  undoubtedly  think  that  lone  and  the  other 
portions  of  the  county  have  been  damaged  by  it. 
When  the  farmers  adapt  their  crops  to  the  changed 
circumstances,  and  raise  such  things  as  the  fine  soil 
and  climate  ripens  to  perfection,  such  as  grapes, 
peaches  and  apricots,  they  will  probably  discover 
that  the  railroad  is  beneficial. 

OVERFLOWS. 

The  same  agency  which  has  deposited  the  fertile 
soil  of  the  valley,  occasionally  becomes  a  means  of 
destruction.  A  large  water-shed  is  at  the  head  of 
Dry  and  Sutter  creeks.  In  early  days  when  no 
tailings  or  slickens  burdened  the  water,  the  overflows 
were  comparatively  harmless,  but  not  so  when  the 
streams  are  taxed  to  their  utmost  capacity  to  pre 
cipitate  on  the  valleys  the  mud,  sand,  and  rocks, 
from  a  thousand  mining  claims.  The  most  disas 
trous  overflow  occurred  in  1861-62.  The  piles  of 
tailings — the  accumulations  of  years — were  forced 
through  the  canon,  and,  though  pulverized  by  the 
constant  attrition,  lodged  soon  after  reaching  the 
valley,  filling  the  channel,  nearly  to  the  surface;  con 
sequently  the  great  mass  of  water  either  eroded 
new  channels,  or  carried  great  quantities  of  sterile 
sand  over  the  farms,  destroying  orchards,  vineyards, 
and  gardens — the  work  of  years  of  industry — leaving 
only  a  waste  producing  willows  and  malaria.  Some 
of  the  finest  farms  were  hopelessly  buried  up  in  this 
way.  A  stream  of  water  several  hundred  feet  wide 
left  Sutter  creek  near  lone;  portions  of  it  going 
through  the  town  swept  across  the  ranch  formerly 
owned  by  Thomas  Eickey,  in  some  places  carrying 
away  several  feet  of  soil,  in  others  leaving  as  much 
sand.  Houses,  bridges,  fences,  and  all  improvements 
were  swept  away.  At  the  lower  part  of  the  valley, 
the  waters  from  Mule  creek  had  already  buried  some 
of  the  land  with  tailings.  This  freshet  piled  on  new 
horrors,  adding  several  feet  more  of  slickens,  and 
covering  a  still  larger  area.  At  Dry  creek  a  new 
channel  was  eroded  through,  perh  aps,  the  finest  corn 
field  in  the  State,  leaving,  as  on  Sutter  creek,  a 
great  waste  of  useless  sand.  Mr.  Scott,  an  elderly 
and  much  esteemed  man,  was  swept  away  at  lone, 
and  drowned,  his  body  being  found  some  miles  be 
low,  after  several  days'  search. 

A  great  destruction  also  occurred  on  Sunday,  Feb 
ruary  16,  1878.  This  overflow  was  not  the  product 
of  a  long-continued  rain,  but  of  a  cloud  burst,  which 
was  only  of  a  few  hours'  duration  and  limited  in 
extent,  the  rain-fall  being  the  greatest  nearly  on  the 
line  of  the  Mother  Lode  or  along  the  towns  of  Jack 
son,  Sutter  Creek,  and  Amador.  The  shower  has 
been  more  particularly  described  in  the  history  of 


Jackson.  Only  one  inch  of  rain  fell  at  lone;  proba 
bly  ten  times  that  fell  at  other  points.  The  nature 
of  a  cloud  burst  limits  it  in  its  operations,  or  we 
might  have  a  repetition  of  Noah's  flood.  In  this 
instance,  the  torrents  from  the  neighborhood  of  Sut 
ter  and  Amador  filled  the  channel  full,  and  over 
flowed  the  surrounding  country,  lone  being  for  a 
time  another  Venice.  Doctor  Cummings'  costly  im 
provements  were  swept  away,  and  many  farms  were 
damaged. 

These  overflows  produce  malaria,  as  well  as  destroy 
land  and  property.  The  debris  question  is  the  most 
serious  danger  the  valleys  have  to  confront,  and  will 
be  treated  more  extensively  in  the  chapter  on  gravel 
mining. 

FIRES. 

lone  has  been  particularly  fortunate  in  not  having 
shared  the  usual  fate  of  California  towns — a  general 
conflagration.  Occasionally,  a  small  fire  would 
arouse  the  population  to  greater  watchfulness.  On 
the  night  of  October  8,  1865,  occurred  the  largest 
fire  that  lone  has  experienced.  The  block  bounded 
by  Main,  Buena  Vista,  Jackson,  and  Church  streets, 
was  entirely  consumed.  The  night  was  perfectly 
calm,  and  the  blaze  went  straight  up  in  one  tall 
column;  otherwise  the  whole  town  would  have  been 
destroyed.  The  losses  were:  Farnsworth's  black 
smith  shop;  Stevens'  paint  shop;  Bona  Belter's  bak 
ery;  Ringer's  saloon;  Miller's  saloon;  Ludgate  & 
Surface's  livery  stable,  and  a  barber  shop.  The 
block  was  soon  rebuilt,  much  better  than  before, 
many  of  the  new  buildings  being  of  brick. 

In  this  fire  the  old  lone  Valley  Hotel,  one  of  the 
first  buildings  erected,  was  destroyed. 

BUENA   VISTA. 

This  is  the  center  of  a  farming  region,  and,  as  its 
name  implies,  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
places  in  the  State.  Jackson  creek  here  comes  out 
of  the  mountains,  and  the  valley  spreads  out  from 
one  to  two  miles  in  width,  maintaining  this  char 
acter  until  Dry  creek  comes  into  it,  some  five  or  six 
miles  below.  The  long  sweep  of  hills  around  the 
valley  have  the  effect  of  a  fine  setting,  and  the 
Buena  Vista  mountain,  with  bold  castellated  peaks, 
varying  their  outlines  with  every  change  of  view, 
brino-  to  mind  some  of  the  ruins  of  the  older  world, 
and  make  one  feel  that  ho  is  on  the  ground  of 
ancient  civilization.  The  rich,  black  soil,  covered 
with  grass  as  high  as  a  man's  head,  early  attracted 
the  attention  of  settlers,  though  it  is  impossible  to 
learn  who  first  visited  it.  It  forms  part  of  the  tract 
of  land  granted  to  Teodosia  Yerba*  in  1840,  by  Gov 
ernor  Juan  B.  Alvarado;  though  it  is  doubtful 
whether  Yerba,  or  any  Mexican,  or  other  citizen 
of  California,  ever  set  foot  on  the  land  at  that  early 
date,  as  it  was  inhabited  by  the  Nesheans,  Luck- 
lumlas,  Mokelkos,  and  other  Indians,  who  had  taught 

*The  name  is  spelled  Yerba  and  Yorba.  It  is  probable  that  the 
family  did  not  know  how  it  was  spelled,  as  they  signed  their 
names  with  a  cross. 


190 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


the  native  population  to  respect   the   San   Joaquin 
river  as  the  boundary  line. 

Cattle  were  grazed  here  as  early  as  1848,  whether 
by  some  of  Hick's  and  Martin's  vaqueros,  is  not 
known;  but  the  land  was  claimed  by  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Diggs,  who  kept  a  trading  post,  ranched 
cattle  and  sold  beef,  in  1849.  In  1850,  it  was 
purchased  by  Charles  Stone,  Warren  Nimms,  and 
Fletcher  Baker,  all  from  the  eastern  part  of  New 
York.  Stone  seemed  to  have  been  the  business 
man  of  the  firm,  and,  under  his  management,  the 
valley  had  quite  a  princely  look.  They  run  a  log 
fence  around  a  thousand  acres  or  more  of  land,  put 
up  buildings,  costing,  with  the  then  high  price  of 
lumber  and  labor,  several  thousand  dollars.  They 
purchased  large  herds  of  cattle  in  southern  California 
at  low  figures,  kept  them  on  the  place  until  the 
condition  of  the  market  or  the  cattle  was  favorable, 
and  sold  them  at  a  great  advance.  They  also  went 
into  farming,  and  raised  large  quantities  of  barley, 
when  it  readily  brought  from  one  hundred  and  fifty 
to  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  ton,  hay  being 
sold  on  the  place  for  fifty  dollars  per  ton.  It  is 
said  that  the  yield  of  barley  was  sometimes  one 
hundred  and  twenty  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  seven 
tons  of  weighed  hay  were  sold  from  an  acre  at 
fifty  dollars  per  ton,  though,  says  the  narrator,  it 
was  not  quite  cured.  They  were  not  suffered  to 
enjoy  such  abundance  in  peace,  however.  The 
Johnston  family,  as  well  as  others,  laid  hold  of  a 
quarter  section,  here  and  there,  and  expensive  law 
suits  resulted.  An  attempt  was  made  to  get  a  bill 
through  Congress,  donating  the  land  to  them  in 
consideration  of  their  improvements,  which  were 
estimated  at  forty  thousand  dollars,  but  Congress 
failed  to  give  them  any  relief.  In  1852,  Congress 
donated  to  California  five  hundred  thousand  acres 
of  land  for  school  purposes,  and  the  State  issued 
warrants  for  the  same  to  settlers  who  wished  to  pur 
chase  land.  Attempts  were  made  to  locate  under 
these  warrants,  but  the  land  was  unsurveyed,  and 
no  land  offices  had  been  created;  and  all  that  could 
be  done  was  to  record  in  the  county  archives,  the 
intention  of  locating  them.  These  disturbances  pro 
duced  a  dissolution  of  the  copartnership,  Baker  sell 
ing  out  to  Stone,  and  going  East.  A  division  of 
property  then  took  place  between  Stone  and  Nimms, 
the  latter  taking  the  western  half  of  the  tract.  He 
put  up  fine  buildings  (fine  for  that  day),  and  main 
tained  the  suits  against  the  jumpers  with  increased 
vigor,  which  soon  reduced  his  purse  to  such  a  low 
ebb,  that  he  was  compelled  to  dispose  of  the -land, 
although  he  had  succeeded  in  holding  it  on  the 
ground  of  priority  of  possession,  Judge  Murry, 
before  whom  the  case  was  tried,  holding  that  the 
log  fence,  being  sufficient  to  turn  cattle  and  save 
the  crops,  was  an  inchoate  title,  which  was  good 
until  a  better  one  was  shown.  Nimms  went  to 
preaching  the  gospel,  and  is  now  (1880)  engaged  in 
the  same  profession  somewhere  in  Nevada. 


Stone,  more  prudent  and,  perhaps,  wiser,  suffered 
Nimms  to  carry  on  the  suits,  and  awaited  results. 
It  is  said  that  he  kept  the  squatters  off  his  portion 
of  the  ground  with  his  lariat,  with  which  he  was  an 
expert.  He  would  ride  up  to  a  beginning  of  a 
house,  throw  his  riata  around  it,  and  in  a  few  min 
utes  the  residence,  that  was  to  be,  would  be  scat 
tered  in  fragments  a  mile  away,  fences  being  served 
the  same  way.  He  could  not  always  scare  men 
away,  however.  Jim  Johnston,  one  of  the  Johnston 
family,  commenced  building  a  house  somewhere  on 
Jonathan  Ringer's  present  ranch,  which,  Stone  dis 
covering,  he  rode  up  and  commenced  swinging  his 
riata  in  preparation  for  an  immediate  move  on  the 
works.  Johnston  quietly  drew  a  revolver,  and 
warned  Stone  that  he  had  better  not  make  any  such 
demonstrations  with  him.  Stone  seemed  to  be  of 
about  the  same  opinion,  and  let  the  house  building 
go  on.  After  the  termination  of  the  Nimms  suits, 
the  squatters,  who  were  on  the  portion  claimed  by 
him,  bought  or  left,  and  this  ended  the  land  suits  for 
the  time. 

About  1856  to  1860  the  ranches  were  generally 
sold  to  the  present  size,  Alexander  Thompson, 
William  Spray,  Samuel  Williams  (on  the  farm  now 
occupied  by  Lyman  Tubbs),  Moses  Hill.  John  P.  Hoff 
man,  P.  Y.  Cool,  William  Joiner,  Joseph  Fithian, 
Mathew  Leary,  William  C.  Thompson,  J.  D.  Mason, 
Azariah  Sellers,  and  others,  settling  in  the  valley. 
Calvin  Dillon,  John  Kite,  Patrick  and  William 
Sculley,  Samuel  Deardorff,  George  Martin,  J.  C.  Ham- 
rick,  and  Thomas  Jones,  came  in  a  year  or  two 
earlier.  In  1857  a  school-house  was  built,  which 
was  also  used  for  church  purposes.  Religious  meet 
ings  had  been  previously  held  in  Stone's  house. 
The  first  school  was  taught  by  Cyrus  James  in  1858- 
From  this  time  forward  the  place  had  much  of  the 
style  prevailing  in  eastern  rural  communities. 
MINING. 

On  the  north  side  of  the  valley  considerable  min 
ing  was  carried  on  in  the  early  days.  The  pay  was 
generally  on  the  top  of  the  ground,  and  the  working- 
inexpensive.  Some  of  the  gulches  were  rich,  in 
some  instances  as  much  as  eight  dollars  to  the  pan 
being  obtained.  When  the  Turner  ditch  was  brought 
in,  quite  a  town  sprang  up  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Dillon's  ranch.  George  Walker  established  the  first 
store.  William  C.  Richey  afterwards  engaged  in 
merchandising,  and  moved  his  store  to  the  corner 
near  his  present  residence,  where  he  traded  for  a 
year  or  two,  selling  out  to  John  Fitzsimmons  about 
1860.  Fitzsimmons  had  formerly  traded  at  Poverty 
Bar,  but  on  the  failure  of  the  mines  there,  he  chose  a 
surer  if  not  more  profitable  trade,  in  a  farming  com 
munity.  He  remained  in  trade  until  about  1874,  and 
was  succeeded  by  William  Cook,  from  Lancha  Plana. 

EFFECT   OF   THE   ARROYO    SECO    GRANT. 

This  grant  included  a  larger  part  of  this  valley, 
which,  like  lone  valley,  was  a  great  sufferer,  though 


IONE  VALLEY  AND  VICINITY. 


191 


not  to  the  same  extent  as  much  of  the  land  had  been 
purchased  of  the  first  claimants,  in  1857.  Some  of 
the  principal  sufferers  were  Calvin  Cole,  Patrick  and 
VVrn.  Sculley,  Chas.  Black, —  Strobridge,  and  Samuel 
Deardorff.  When  the  ejection  took  place  the  soldiers 
were  quartered  on  the  premises  of  Cole,  his  goods 
being  piled  rather  roughly  out  on  the  common. 
They  made  free  use  of  his  property,  killing  his  sheep 
and  appropriating  whatever  was  needed  by  them. 
It  is  believed  Captain  Starr  tried  to  preserve  the 
property  from  harm,  but  soldiers  are  not  apt  to 
starve  in  the  midst  of  plenty,  and  the  old  man  had 
plenty,  for  he  was  as  saving  as  he  was  thrifty.  It  is 
said  that  one  of  the  soldiers,  while  dressing  a  stolen 
sheep,  received  a  bullet  in  his  leg,-  inflicting  a  severe 
though  not  dangerous  wound.  No  inquiry  was 
made  for  the  author. 

Charley  Black's  house  was  opened  in  the  absence 
of  the  family,  and  the  goods,  a  valuable  organ  among 
the  other  things,  thrust  out  into  the  storm  to  be 
ruined.  At  other  places  the  same  rudeness  was  dis 
played.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  soldiers 
were  not  in  reality  acting  under  the  commands  of 
their  own  officers,  but  under  the  command  of  Her 
man  Wohler,  one  of  the  grant  proprietors.  The 
soldiers  disliked  the  business  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
avow  it.  After  a  representation  of  the  matter  to  the 
authorities  they  were  relieved  from  handling  hot 
stoves,  and  other  household  goods.  When  they  came 
to  Joe  Fithians  he  had  the  United  States  flag  hoisted, 
for  Joe  was  an  out  and  out  Union  man,  and  the 
soldiers  disliked  more  than  ever  to  tumble  his  family 
of  little  children  into  the  street,  but  the  orders  were 
peremptory,  and  they  were  loaded  into  an  army 
wagon  and  hauled  out  to  the  boundaries  of  the  grant 
with  the  flag  flying  over  the  wagon,  so  that  it  had  the 
appearance  of  a  triumphal  march.  At  Deardorff's  they 
found  the  door  locked  (which  they  broke  open),  and 
the  cooking  stove  red  hot,  which  was  Mrs.  Deardorff's 
system  of  war.  They  found  means  to  carry  it  away 
however.  When  they  were  about  locking  the  door 
of  Bill  Sculley's  house,  after  having  taken  pos 
session,  Bill  shook  his  fist  in  the  agent's  face  (the 
agent's  name  was  Clark),  observing,  "  I  would  like 
to  lock  the  gates  of  hell  on  you,"  and  looked  as 
though  be  might  make  short  work  of  the  job  then 
and  there.  Clark  called  for  protection,  but  Sculley 
was  not  arrested.  The  following  night  Sculley's 
house  was  burned,  no  attempt  being  made  to  save  it. 
It  may  be  remarked  that  Sculley  obtained  very  easy 
terms  when  he  purchased  his  property,  perhaps,  for 
the  reason  that  the  grant  owners  did  not  care  to  have 
him  for  an  enemy,  for  capital  is  quite  as  cowardly  as 
it  is  unscrupulous  and  selfish. 

In  a  few  years  the  excitement  abated  and  industry 
was  resumed,  although  men  rested  uneasy,  not  know 
ing  when  the  torch  should  fire  the  dry  grain  fields 
and  the  fire  sweep  away  the  accumulations  of  years 
of  industry,  but  the  law  was  suffered  to  take  its 
course;  indeed,  the  people  of  this  valley  have  ever 


been  remarkable  for  their  law-abiding  character, 
not  a  single  homicide  ever  having  been  committed  in 
the  valley. 

The  valley  suffered  considerably  from  the  overflow 
of  1861-62,  getting  a  foretaste  of  what  slickens  can  do 
in  ruining  land.  For  nine  years  mining  had  been 
carried  on  above,  but  most  of  the  debris  had  lodged 
in  the  small  gulches,  and  up  to  this  date  no  overflow 
had  left  any  serious  amount  of  sand  or  gravel.  The 
unusual  quantity  of  water  in  that  season  sent  it 
down  all  at  once.  The  channels  were  filled  with 
moving  sand  to  the  depth  of  several  feet.  After  the 
water  went  down,  boulders  weighing  several  pounds 
were  found  in  the  canon  above,  nine  feet  above  the 
bed  of  the  stream,  showing  that  the  moving  gravel 
had  been  that  high.  The  most  of  the  gravel  had 
been  ground  to  sand  when  it  had  reached  the  valley, 
but  the  streams  were  so  full  even  when  the  water 
was  down,  as  to  make  crossing  dangerous.  The  stage 
generally  managed  to  get  through,  but  frequently 
eight  or  ten  horses  hitched  to  the  wagon  with  a  long 
rope,  would  be  required  to  pull  it  out.  When  the 
wheels  commenced  sinking,  the  only  alternative  was 
to  get  the  horses  loose  from  the  carriage  and  pull 
them  ashore,  as  they  were  utterly  helpless  in  the 
quicksand.  Early  in  the  storm  the  creek  broke  over 
its  banks  a  mile  or  two  below  the  foot  of  the  canon, 
and  carried  a  great  quantity  of  coarse  sand  on  the 
ranches  of  John  Kite,  Samuel  Williams  &  Son, 
William  Spray,  and  others  below,  burying  the  fertile 
soil  from  one  to  three  feet  deep  with  the  debris. 
Some  of  these  lands  have  been  partially  reclaimed; 
others  still  produce  nothing  but  worthless  weeds. 

Eecently  the  debris  has  begun  to  dam  up  below 
and  seems  inclined  to  bury  the  lower  part  of  the  val 
ley  first,  though  every  year  the  point  of  deposit  is 
advancing  up  the  valley.  Since  1861-62  the  overflows 
have  not  seriously  injured  the  land  in  consequence 
of  the  almost  entire  suspension  of  hydraulic  mining 
on  the  different  branches  of  Jackson  creek.  Some 
years  since,  when  what  is  called  the  Isaacs  claim,  on 
the  east  side  of  Jackson  valley,  was  opened,  it  was 
feared  that  the  valley  would  be  inundated  with  tail 
ings,  but  fortunately,  for  the  farmers  at  least,  the 
claim  did  not  prove  remunerative,  and  work  was 
suspended  and  the  danger  averted. 

The  "  cloud  burst "  which  played  such  havoc  in 
Jackson  in  February,  1878,  dumped  the  broken  build 
ings  and  dead  Chinamen  on  the  ranches  near  the 
foot  of  the  canon,  the  bodies  of  several  of  the 
drowned  being  found  on  Mr.  Tubbs'  farm. 

At  the  present  writing  (1881)  it  is  by  far  the  most 
beautiful  spot  in  Amador  county.  The  finest  fruit  as 
well  as  the  abundant  crops  attest  the  capacity  of  the 
soil.  Artesian  water  enables  the  people  to  have  green 
crops  through  the  year  (although  all  the  fruits  and 
cereals  flourish  without  irrigation)  and  have  per 
petual,  blooming  flowers  around  their  generally  ele 
gant  residences,  and  altogether  the  people  may  feel 
proud  of  their  homes  as  well  as  their  history. 


192 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


BUCKEYE    VALLEY". 

This  valley,  beautifully  situated  with  low  rolling 
hills  for  a  setting,  was  inferior  to  lone  for  cultivated 
crops,  but  furnished  an  abundance  of  the  finest 
quality  of  hay.  It  was  occupied  mostly  by  stock 
men.  Samuel  Hill,  Captain  Good,  I.  N.  Kay  (now 
of  Alameda),  Wayburn,  Mugford,  Barrett,  and 
others,  being  the  first  settlers.  The  lone  &  Gait  R. 
R.  Co.  have  a  station  here  called  Carbondale,  from 
which  is  taken  annually  a  great  quantity  of  the  soft 
coal,  or  lignite,  which  is  said  to  underlie  the  whole 
valley.  Miss  Wilbur,  the  poetess,  better  known 
under  the  nom  de  plume  of  "  Gordon  Bracket "  resides 
in  this  valley.  She  has  written  some  very  good  lines. 
Perhaps  her  poem  on  the  death  of  J.  W.  Coffroth  is 
an  average  of  her  work. 

The  soil  of  the  valley  having  been  farmed  and 
cropped  many  years  with  no  return,  has  ceased  to  be 
productive.  In  the  northern  part  of  the  valley 
Addington  &  Son  have,  for  many  years,  made  a  good 
article  of  fire  brick,  also  of  pottery,  out  of  the  clays 
overlying  the  coal.  He  was  the  first  to  utilize  the 
clays  for  this  purpose,  his  works  having  been  in 
operation  some  twenty-three  or  four  years.  Until 
the  opening  of  the  C.  P.  R.  R.,  which  crossed  the 
same  formation  at  Lincoln,  quite  a  trade  existed  in 
this  clay,  the  return  freight-wagons  loading  with  it 
and  supplying  several  potteries  at  Sacramento. 

IRISH  HILL. 

This  hill,  situated  on  the  north  side  of  Dry  creek, 
where  it  leaves  the  canon,  was  a  mixture  pf  river 
and  beach  diggings,  unlike  Muletown,  having  bould 
ers  from  river-wash  mingled  with  the  beach-wash. 
It  was  also  very  rich  in  an  early  day.  Four  men, 
Hawley,  Nelson,  Millner,  and  -  —  (name  unknown), 
made  nine  thousand  dollars  each  in  seven  months. 
Nelson  is  still  working  in  the  vicinity — poor.  Hawley 
went  East,  and  by  a  fortunate  venture  converted  his 
dollars  into  thousands.  He  came  back  recently  to 
see  the  place  where  he  had  made  his  start.  Millner 
was  killed  by  the  caving  of  a  bank  in  his  claim.  He 
was  buried  in  the  graveyard  in  lone.  A  hundred 
or  more  men,  dressed  in  black  pants  and  gray  shirts, 
walked  in  procession  from  Irish  hill,  taking  turns  in 
carrying  the  bier. 

The  place  is  still  worked,  the  ground  being  owned 
by  Alvinza  Hay  ward  and  Stanford  &  Co.,  the  latter 
being  owners  of  the  grant  of  which  this  hill  forms  a 
part.  The  water  used  comes  from  the  Plymouth 
ditch,  after  being  used  at  the  Empire  mills. 

This  town  also  had  its  fun  with  the  enrolling  officer 
in  1863.  When  he  put  in  an  appearance,  some  one 
blew  a  tremendous  horn  which  gave  notice  to  all 
the  able-bodied  to  decamp,  which  was  done  to  an 
extent  sufficient  to  make  the  enrolling  rather  difficult. 

QUINCY. 

Scarce  one  man  in  ten  who  lives  in  lone  valley  has 
ever  heard  of  Quincy,  though  they  can  scarcely  look 


up  from  their  plowing  without  seeing  the  former  site 
of  this  town,  which  is  as  much  a  thing  of  the  past  as 
Babylon  or  Nineveh.  But  for  a  newspaper  pub 
lished  there  in  an  early  day,  its  very  existence  would 
remain  unknown.  According  to  this  paper  (the 
Quincy  Prospector'),  edited  and  published  by  Alexan 
der  Badlam,  now  Assessor  of  San  Francisco,  the 
town  was  quite  large,  having  a  Broadway  with 
houses  numbered;  stores,  with  stocks  of  general 
merchandise;  saloons;  doctors',  lawyers',  and  even 
real  estate  offices.  From  the  paper  it  might  be 
inferred  that  it  was  quite  a  city,  rivaling  Sacramento 
or  even  Muletown  in  its  best  days.  The  locality  of 
the  town  is  uncertain,  but  it  is  known  to  have  been 
somewhere  between  Muletown  and  the  Boston  store. 
Some  of  our  antiquarian  societies  will  confer  a  great 
favor  on  the  world,  and  advance  the  cause  of  science, 
by  sending  out  an  exploring  party  to  dig  up  its 
valuable  relics  before  the  tooth  of  time  shall  have 
obliterated  them. 

MULETOWN. 

This  place  was  about  two  miles  north  of  lone,  and 
in  the  fifties  was  a  very  lively  camp".  It  belonged  to 
the  foot-hill  diggings,  the  gold  &i  the  gulches  and 
hills  having  been  liberated  from  the  quartz  veins  by 
a  wash  of  the  sea,  all  the  gravel  having  a 
peculiar,  polished  appearance  without  the  rounded 
form  usually  seen  in  river  deposits.  The  ravines 
were  very  rich.  Yancy,  a  native  of  the  Argentine 
Republic,  often  made  a  hundred  dollars  a  day  with  a 
pan  alone.  Others  made  nearly  as  much.  A  China 
man  picked  up  a  piece  weighing  thirty-six  ounces. 
He  was  so  elated  that  he  immediately  left  for  home. 
The  first  store  was  kept  by  Charles  Simmors;  others 
were  started  soon  after  by  the  Dillards,  and  also  by 
a  man  of  peculiar  character,  named  Cunningham. 
These  insignificant  places,  with  not  a  tenth  as  large 
stocks  as  the  present  stores  at  lone,  would  sell 
thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  merchandise  a  day. 
Water  was  brought  in  in  1854  by  the  Johnston  broth 
ers.  After  the  ravines  were  worked,  the  hills  were 
attacked  with  hydi-aulic  power,  and  paid  better  than 
the  ravines  bad  ever  done.  The  first  hydraulic  was 
put  up  by  Wm.  H.  Fox  &  Co.,  consisting  of  pen 
stock,  flume  and  hose.  The  next  was  by  Willson, 
Miller,  &  Bagley,  with  iron  pipe,  then  but  recently 
introduced.  Some  of  the  claims  paid  as  high  as  one 
thousand  dollars  per  week  to  the  man.  In  its  best 
days,  Muletown  had  several  hundred  inhabitants, 
mostly  Irish,  though  other  nationalities  were  well 
represented.  The  peculiarities  of  the  Irish  had  full 
sweep.  Most  of  those  who  could  afford  to,  purchased 
horses,  and  on  Sunday  would  ride  outiri  quest  of  fun 
and  adventure.  They  were  not  skillful  or  graceful 
horsemen  at  first,  and  a  Muletown  crowd  could  be 
distinguished  at  a  long  distance  by  the  flopping 
limbs  and  furious  riding.  The  pranks  and  funny 
affairs  of  Muletown  would  fill  a  book.  A  few  only 
will  be  related. 


RESIDENCE  8:  STOCK  RANCH  OF  JAMES  ROBERTSON,  NEAR  MOUNTAIN  SPRINGS, 

TPI.  AMADOR  C°CAL. 


RESIDENCE  OF  MATTHEW  MURRAY,  LANCHA  PLANA, 
AMADOR  C°CAL. 


HTM.  sF.trrntJ  *  HEY  a..  F 


TONE  VALLEY  AND  VICINITY. 


193 


.MINERS     COURT. 

In  1830  the  miners  had  got  tired  of  being  taken 
from  their  work  to  testify  in  cases  of  disputed  min 
ing  titles,  and  a  public  meeting  was  called  to  consider 
the  situation.     It  was  finally  resolved  that  all  such 
cases  should  be  settled  by  arbitration;  that  no  appeal 
should   be   taken;  that  any  party   that  should  feel 
aggrieved    should    fight    his  opponent  a  fist  fight, 
according  to  the  rules  of  the  ring,  the  best  man  tak 
ing  the  ground.     It  was  also  agreed,  that  in  case  of  a 
great  disparity  in  size  or  strength,  the  weaker  per 
son  might  substitute  a  friend  to  do  his  fighting.     In 
order  not  to  interfere  with  the  work,  the  fights  were 
to  come  off  on  the  first  Sunday  after  the  dispute.     It 
happened  that  the  first  trial  of  this  kind  fell  on  a 
Sunday  on  which  there  was  to  be  a  Catholic  service. 
How  to  proceed  so  as  to  keep  the  priest  in  ignorance 
of  the  matter,  so  that  he  might  not  interfere,  was  the 
question.     At  a  meeting  held  the  evening  before  to 
make  arrangements,  it  was  determined  to  commence 
the    fight    at    daylight  at  a  spot  a    little   distance 
from  the  town.     It  was  thought  that  by  conducting 
the  matter  quietly  the  Father  might  not  hear  of  it. 
There   were  several  parties  to  the  affair,  involving 
sevei'al  fights,  but  it  was  hoped  that  they  might  be 
finished    before    the    women    and    children  should 
awake,  as  the  custom  was  to  sleep  late  on  Sunday. 
The  morning  came  and  nearly  all  the  male  popula 
tion  were  present.     The  ring  was  marked  out,  the 
bottle-holders  and  seconds  appointed,  and  the  fight 
commenced.     The   contest  proved  longer  than  was 
expected.     The  litigants  were  both  plucky.     Eound 
after  round  was  fought,  still  no  sign  of  yielding.    The 
sun  was  getting  well  up  and  the  women  and  children 
would  soon  be  moving.     So  far  there  had  been  no 
cheering.     The  blows  had  fallen  thick  and  fast,  taken 
and  given.     It  is  not  strange  then  that  the  friends  of 
each  party  began  to  cheer  the  combatants,  until  the 
noise  aroused  the  women  and  the   priest,  who  came 
rushing   to  the  ground,  about   the  time    each   side 
thought  the  other  side  was  about  whipped.     "  How 
dare  you  desecrate  the  Sabbath  this  way  ?  "  says  the 
priest,  addressing   one  of  the   seconds,  whose  shirt, 
from  sponging  his  principal's  face,  was  quite  bloody. 
The  second,  answering  for  the  meeting,  replied  that 
it  was  much  better  to  settle  a  difficulty  by  a  fist 
fight    than    with  knives  and   pistols,  as  had   been 
recently   done  at  Volcano,  where   the  priest  lived; 
that  it  was  sometimes  necessary  to  choose  the  least 
of  two    evils.    The    priest  turned    away,   mounted 
his  horse  and  left  the  place,  without  saying  a  word. 
There   was  no  service  that  day.     It  was  expected 
that  he  would  give  them  a  fearful  admonition  the 
next   time,  but  the   subject  was   never  mentioned. 
This  method  of  settling  disputes  involved  so  many 
inconveniences  that  it  was  not  tried  again. 

THE   FUNNY    MAN. 

Muletown    had  a  philanthropist  by  the  name   of 
Cunningham,  who  had  very  original  ways  of  bene- 
25 


fiting  mankind.  He  had  been  very  successful  in 
trade,  also  in  mining,  and  wanted  to  use  his  money 
for  the  benefit  of  the  community.  "  He  was  rough, 
but  generous  and  brave,"  as  the  poet  would  have 
it,  a  good  deal  addicted  to  drink,  fully  conscious  of 
his  importance,  and  inclined  to  be  dictatorial  when 
in  his  cups.  He  built  a  hall  which  was  free  to  all 
churches,  public  meetings,  and  respectable  parties, 
which  was  dedicated  with  a  dancing  party,  with 
the  following  schedule  for  tickets: — 

Tickets  to  gentlemen  without  ladies ...$6.00 

«  "  with  one  lady 3.00 

"  "  "    two  ladies free. 

The  entertainment  was  magnificent,  and  gave  sat 
isfaction  to  his  numerous  guests.  The  hall  was  used 
also  as  a  school-house,  the  old  man  contributing  liber 
ally  to  the  support  of  the  school. 

While  the  camp  was  still  flourishing,  his  wife  died. 
She  was  buried  without  the  usual  funeral  ceremonies, 
which  were  postponed  to  a  more  convenient  season, 
that  he  might  get  them  up  in  a  style  becoming  his 
wealth.  Sometime  after",  he  stipulated  with  Elder 
Sharp,  the  Methodist  preacher  at  lone,  to  preach 
two  sermons  at  twenty  dollars  each.  He  gave 
notice  of  a  free  dinner  to  all  who  would  attend,  and 
as  the  style  of  his  entertainments  was  well  known, 
the  attendance  was  numerous.  As  the  old  man  was 
somewhat  wanting  in  reverence  for  the  cloth,  and 
apt  to  make  disparaging  remarks,  the  Elder  thought 
it  best  to  take  along  Father  Eickey,  and  some  of 
the  elder  members  of  his  church,  to  overawe  the 
old  man,  which  did  not  succeed,  however,  as  he  was 
quite  ready  to  applaud  or  condemn,  when  anything 
pleased  or  displeased  him.  "That's  good,"  said  he, 
"that's  bully,  that's  first  rate,"  looking  around  in 
triumph.  "The  next  sermon  will  be  better  than 
this."  The  Elder  continued  his  remarks  without 
being  disturbed  by  the  applause.  During  the  ser 
mon,  Mr.  Cunningham  felt  a  call  from  nature,  and 
asked  Elder  Sharp  to  wait  a  few  minutes  till  he 
could  go  out;  but  the  preacher,  not  being  used  to 
such  interruptions,  continued  his  sermon.  Cunning 
ham  commenced  raising  his  bulky  form,  some  of 
Sharp's  friends  trying  to  hold  him  down  in  his  seat. 
He  shook  them  off,  however,  for  his  strength  was 
immense,  and  balanced  himself  in  front  of  the 
preacher,  wrath  oozing  out  of  every  inch  of  his 
bloated  face,  his  bulky  form  and  baggy  cheeks 
quivering  with  rage.  "By  G — ,  sir,  I  would  like  to 
know  who  is  running  this  funeral!"  The  Elder 
heaved  a  sigh  and  subsided,  waiting  for  the  old  man 
to  come  back.  Cunningham  died,  and  was  buried 
near  his  wife,  nearly  a  score  of  years  since,  and  the 
sheep  and  goats  feed  where  once  stood  his  hall  and 
the  surrounding  town,  but  the  memory  of  his  many 
benevolent  deeds  will  last  until  the  pioneers  have 
gone  to  their  final  rest. 

A   FAITHFUL    WIFE. 

In  the  early  fifties,  two  Mexicans  getting  into  a 
difficulty,    agreed   to   settle   the   matter  in   dispute 


'194 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


with  an  exchange  of  pistol  shots,  the  contest  to  be 
continued  with  knives,  in  case  both  parties  survived 
the  shooting,  until  one  was  slain,  which  was  done. 
The  wife  of  the  party  slain  wished  to  continue  the 
fight,  but  was  not  allowed.  She  remained  faithful 
to  his  memory,  and  once  every  month,  for  years 
afterward,  lighted  twelve  candles  on  his  grave,  and, 
alone,  watched  the  whole  night. 

When  copper  was  discovered  in  the  McNealy 
claim,  Muletown  took  a  little  start  upwards,  but 
soon  resumed  its  decay,  one  house  after  another 
being  removed,  or  falling  to  ruins.  The  removal  of 
the  inhabitants  was  accelerated  by  the  prevalence 
of  chills  and  fever,  supposed  to  be  generated  by  the 
immense  pile  of  tailings,  which  cover  the  low  lands 
in  the  vicinity.  The  house  owned  by  the  Johnstons, 
the  proprietors  of  the  ditch,  was  consumed  by  fire 
a  few  years  since,  and  now,  naught  but  the  scarred 
hill-sides  remain  to  show  that  twenty  years  ago  the 
place  was  alive  with  a  striving  humanity.  Wood- 
burn,  Member  of  Congress  from  Nevada,  mined  in 
Muletown  in  1860. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

LANCHA    PLANA'    AND   VICINITY. 

Its  Early  Settlers  —  Cholera  and  Diarrhea — Judge  Palmer's 
Bridge  —  Fires — First  School  —  Notable  Homicide  —  Bluff 
Mining — Open  Sea — Chaparral  Hill — Growth  of  the  Town 
— Bonita  Affair — Indian  War — Butler  Claim — Decline  of 
the  Town — Put's  Bar  and  the  Fruit  Interest — Overflows — 
Townerville — Camp  Opera — French  Camp — Copper  Centre. 

THIS  town,  situated  in  the  south-western  part  of 
the  county,  where  the  Mokelumne  river  leaves  the 
mountains,  was  settled  soon  after  the  discovery  of 
gold.  Though  the  foot-hills  were  not  as  rich  as  at 
the  main  gold  belt,  the  gold  was  finer,  more  evenly 
distributed,  and  over  a  great  surface  of  country, 
enabling  a  great  number  of  persons  to  make  remu 
nerative  wages.  Like  nearly  all  such  places,  it  was 
first  worked  by  the  native  Californians,  or  Mexicans. 
It  did  not  amount  to  much  as  a  town  until  1850,  and 
then  the  population  was  scattered  along  the  river  at 
Poverty  Bar,  Winters'  Bar,  and  other  places,  Win 
ters'  Bar,  perhaps,  having  the  largest  number.  As 
these  towns  were  in  the  same  county,  and  intimately 
associated  together  in  early  times,  a  history  of 
Lancha  Plana  will  involve,  to  some  extent,  a  history 
of  the  other  towns,  although  not  included  in  the 
county  of  Amador. 

In  1850,  we  find  the  towns  in  a  flood-tide  of  pros 
perity.  Many  men,  since  noted  in  the  history  of 
our  country,  settled  here  about  this  time.  The 
Dudleys,  Al.  and  Bill,  and  others  who  had  a  love  for 
intellectual  strife,  but  none  for  hard  work,  and  were, 
consequently,  generally  flat  broke,  gave  name  to 
Poverty  Bar.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Luffton,  for 
merly  a  lieutenant  in  the  regular  army,  who  was  cash 
iered  in  Jackson's  time  for  some  irregularity  in  money 
matters,  was  also  in  the  vicinity,  living  with  a  squaw 

*  Flat  boat. 


for  a  wife.  He  was  a  braggart,  pompous,  and  con 
sequential,  professing  to  hold  his  honor  in  high  esti 
mation,  and  ready  to  avenge  an  insult  with  his 
sword,  which  was  always  ready  for  emergencies. 
His  professions  of  valor  were  taken  for  what  they 
were  worth,  and  were  finally  squelched  in  a  difficulty 
by  a  shower  of  flour  upon  his  person,  which  caused 
a  great  laugh  but  no  bloodshed.  General  Stedman, 
afterward  a  noted  soldier  in  the  Union  army,  mined 
on  the  Oregon  bar.  He  had  been  an  engineer  on 
the  Ohio  canal,  was  used  to  the  control  of  men,  and 
was  employed  by  the  Oregon  Bar  Company  to  con 
struct  a  dam  to  turn*  the  river,  all  previous  efforts  to 
make  a  dam  stick  having  failed.  He  constructed  log 
pens,  eight  or  ten  feet  square,  floated  them  to  the 
desired  place,  and  sunk  them  by  filling  them  with 
rock.  Timbers  and  brush  against  these,  and  then 
gravel,  made  a  good  dam,  enabling  the  company  to 
work  the  river,  which,  however,  proved  worthless. 
The  operation  bursted  the  company.  Some  of  the 
cribs  could  be  seen  as  late  as  1860.  Gen.  Stedman 
would  take  off  his  wet  clothes  when  he  came  out  of 
the  river,  don  a  pair  of  overalls,  and  walk  around  on 
the  hot  sand  barefooted,  like  the  rest  of  the  boys. 
He  was  very  fond  of  whist,  being  a  skillful  player. 
The  Oregon  Bar  Company  was  composed  mostly  of 
Southern  men,  who  brought  their  negroes  with  them. 
The  miners  generally  looked  upon  the  introduction 
of  negro  labor  with  disfavor,  and  to  this  antipathy, 
more  than  to  any  moral  principle,  we  owe  the  pro 
hibitive  clause  in  our  Constitution.  When  the  com 
pany  had  determined  on  removal,  the  negroes  were 
sent  out  to  gather  up  the  horses,  but  they  failed  to 
find  their  way  back  to  the  camp,  though  the  party 
remained  several  weeks  to  give  them  a  chance  to 
return.  Koon,  one  of  the  principal  owners,  tried  to 
enlist  the  miners  in  a  search  for  the  missing  slaves, 
but  they  did  not  respond  to  his  efforts. 

Charles  T.  Meader,  afterwards  merchant  at  Stock 
ton,  and  the  great  copper  miner,  also  commenced  life 
in  California  at  this  place,  besides  many  more  of  note 
whose  names  appear  in  the  course  of  our  history. 
The  criminal  element  was  well  represented.  Sam 
Brown,  who,  perhaps,  committed  more  murders  on 
this  coast  than  any  other  person,  also  resided  in 
Lancha  Plana,  though  at  a  later  date,  as  also  did  Sam 
Marshall,  the  murderer  of  Dan  Childs,  and  Ritter,  of 
Willow  Springs.  A  company  of  men  from  Steuben- 
ville,  Ohio,  also  made  their  influence  felt.  They  were 
roughs,  shoulder-strikers,  much  like  the  New  York 
firemen,  and  were  the  cause  of  many  disturbances, 
generally  being  in  the  lead  whenever  a  mob  was 
gathered.  Most  of  them  perished  by  violence,  for 
the  forbearance  of  men  would  not  last  forever. 

In  1850  an  effort  was  made  to  expel  the  Mexican 
population.  A  mass-meeting  was  called,  violent 
harangues  were  made,  and  resolutions  calling  for  the 
immediate  expulsion  of  the  Mexicans  offered.  Gen 
eral  Stedman  opposed  the  measure  as  an  unfair  and 
unreasonable  act,  and  contrary  to  our  solemn  treaties, 


LANCHA  PLANA  AND  VICINITY. 


195 


and  probably  to  his  influence  was  due  the  failure  of 
the  movement.  Soon  after  this,  his  trusted  servant, 
a  Mexican  boy,  robbed  Stedman's  camp  of  the  money 
and  other  valuables,  and  left,  and  was  not  seen  after 
wards,  though  a  thorough  search  was  made.  Some 
persons  who  were  angry  at  Stedman  for  the  part  he 
took  in  opposing  the  expulsion  of  the  Mexicans, 
openly  rejoiced  at  his  loss. 

CHOLERA    AND    DIARRHEA. 

Cholora  and  diarrhea  prevailed  in  this  vicinity  in 
1850,  as  in  nearly  all  the  towns  of  California.  Poor 
living,  the  great  change  of  the  thermometer,  (as  many 
as  sixty  degrees  between  midnight  and  midday,)  the 
working  in  the  cold  water  of  the  river,  and  the  blaz 
ing  sun  overhead,  with  the  reduced  condition  of  the 
system  after  a  long  voyage  at  sea,  or  trip  across  the 
plains,  predisposed  the  system  to  disease,  and  made 
an  easy  harvest  for  the  epidemic;  a  few  days  of 
diarrhea  and  the  cholera  finished  the  work  in  an 
hour  or  two.  There  were  no  homes,  no  medicines, 
no  nurses,  and  but  few  physicians,  though  some 
quacks,  pretenders,  seeing  a  chance  to  make  money, 
put  out  their  M.  D.,  and  for  a  fee  of  an  ounce,  gave 
bad  medicine  and  worse  advice,  which  accelerated 
the  fatal  journey.  Hundreds  died  whose  names  were 
never  known,  and  whose  families,  perhaps,  are  living 
in  hopes  to  this  day,  to  hear  from  them.  Dr.  Brusie, 
then  living  here,  was  active  in  relieving  suffering,  and 
won  the  esteem  of  all  by  his  disinterested  efforts,  and 
is  remembered  with  kindness  by  numbers  who  have 
not  kept  trace  of  him  since.  He  is  still  living,  hale 
and  hearty,  at  lone,  and  can  relate  many  thrilling 
incidents  in  his  lorg  career  in  California  and  in  the 
army  for  the  suppression  of  the  Eebellion. 

The  first  ferry  was  established  in  1850,  by  Kaiser 
and  Winter,  the  boat  being  a  kind  of  raft  made  of 
casks  lashed  together  ;  it  carried  over  passengers 
only,  the  fare  being  fifty  cents.  A  French  Canadian 
by  the  name  of  Prank,  opened  the  first  store. 

Lumber  was  worth  one  dollar  per  foot;  tacks,  one 
dollar  and  a  quarter  per  paper;  inch  screws,  one  dol 
lar  per  dozen;  a  sheet  of  iron  large  enough  for  a 
rocker,  three  dollars. 

Tom  Love  was  the  first  to  introduce  the  long  torn, 
which  soon  took  the  place  of  the  rocker.  At  first 
the  water  was  conducted  to  the  torn  through  hose 
and  short  ditches,  but  the  elevating  wheel  was 
shortly  introduced;  this  resembled  the  flutter  wheel, 
and  was  ten  to  fifteen  feet  in  diameter.  It  was 
placed  in  a  strong  current  in  the  river,-  and  elevated 
the  water  in  buckets  (sometimes  oyster  cans  were 
used),  nailed  to  the  rim  of  the  wheel,  which  went  up 
partly  filled  with  water,  and  were  emptied,  by  the 
turn  of  the  wheel,  into  a  trough  which  carried  the 
water  to  the  torn.  As  many  as  twenty  or  thirty 
wheels  were  sometimes  running  near  a  camp. 

JUDGE  PALMER'S  BRIDGE. 

This  bridge  was  built  in  1852,  and  seems  to  have 
been  a  slender  affair,  set  on  bents  or  posts  in  the 


river,  with  timbers  reaching  from  one  bent  to 
another,  much  like  the  bridges  which  Caesar  built 
two  thousand  years  ago,  when  he  made  his  famous 
campaign  among  the  German  tribes.  The  Judge, 
being  a  Latin  scholar,  probably  got  his  plan  from 
Caesar's  Commentaries.  Accounts  differ  as  to  how 
long  the  bridge  stood.  The  Judge  says  until  the 
rains  came;  others  say  that  it  fell  the  next  day  after 
it  was  completed;  that  only  one  man,  a  Dutch 
man  with  a  horse  and  cart,  crossed  on  it.  As  it  was 
completed  in  the  Fall,  just  before  the  big  rise  of  '52, 
all  the  stories  may  be  correct.  All  parties  agree 
that  it  was  raining  very  hard;  that  he  was  engaged 
in  a  game  of  pedro,  or  something  like  it;  that  a 
great  outcry  among  the  Chinamen  caused  him  to  get 
up  from  the  table  and  look  out  of  the  door.  The  bridge 
was  taking  its  departure  for  the  bay  without  as 
much  as  by  your  leave.  Not  a  muscle  of  his  face 
stirred.  With  his  usual  serenity  he  reseated  himself 
at  the  table,  inquiring  "Whose  deal?"  That,  and 
nothing  more. 

After  the  departure  of  the  bridge,  Westmoreland's 
ferry  continued  to  be  the  only  way  of  crossing 
though  a  bridge  some  distance  up  the  river  was 
built  by  Delaney,  now  a  resident  of  San  Francisco 
which,  having  been  put  up  of  green  lumber,  fell 
when  the  hot  Summer  shrank  the  timbers.  About 
1856  the  present  bridge  was  built.  It  has  witnessed 
the  quarter-century  which  marked  the  rise  and 
decay  of  the  mining  towns  of  the  river,  and  is  likely 
to  do  service  much  longer. 
FIRES. 

The  first  and  only  fire  in  Lancha  Plana  was  in 
1853,  burning  the  entire  town,  which,  at  that  time, 
was  a  cluster  of  tents  and  brush  shanties.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  the  loss  was  inconsiderable,  and 
did  not  much  retard  its  prosperity. 

THE    FIRST    SCHOOL 

Was  taught  by  James  Gould,  who  came  from  Vol 
cano  and  set  up  a  private  school  in  1853.  At  this 
time  there  were  but  few  families  in  the  place,  and 
perhaps  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  children. 

The  church  was  built  by  subscription  in  1855,  and 
was  used  by  all  denominations  for  religious  purposes, 
and  also  by  the  citizens  generally  as  a  town  hall. 

NOTABLE    HOMICIDE. 

This  occurred  in  1855,  and  from  the  respectable 
standing  of  the  parties,  was  an  event  in  the  history 
of  the  town.  A  stream  of  water  used  for  running  a 
wheel  was  turned  away,  causing  a  dispute  in  which 
some  high  words  were  passed.  A  man  by  the  name 
of  Norton,  who  was  not  interested  in  the  affair, 
came  up  to  quiet  the  dispute,  when  Dr.  Beck,  a  man 
of  generous  though  hasty  feelings,  -threw  a  rock, 
breaking  Norton's  skull.  A  general  row  ensued,  in 
which  knives  and  pistols  were  freely  used,  without 
any  further  serious  casualties,  however.  Dr.  Beck 
gave  himself  up,  and  seemed  to  be  extremely  peni- 


196 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


tent  in  regard  to  the  matter,  even  giving  directions 
for  dressing  Norton's  wound,  and  would,  doubtless, 
have  done  everything  in  his  power  to  prevent  a  fatal 
result.  He  was  acquitted  of  the  charge  of  murder, 
and  afterwards  went  to  Santa  Fe  to  settle  the  estate 
of  a  brother,  who  had  been  engaged  in  trade,  and 
who  had  been  shot  in  a  difficulty.  A  hasty  temper 
provoked  another  shooting  affair,  in  which  he  was 
the  victim  this  time:  thus  ends  the  tragedy  with 
three  victims. 

BLUFF    MINING 

Commenced  in  1856.  It  is  not  known  who  made  the 
first  discovery,  probably  several  about  the  same 
time.  A  bed  of  gravel,  several  feet  thick,  extended 
over  the  flat  and  through  the  bluff,  richer  than  the 
river  ever  was;  it  was,  in  fact,  the  former  bed  of  the 
river  in  pliocene  times,  though,  when  the  river  ran 
long  enough  to  deposit  such  a  mass  of  auriferous 
gravel  a  hundred  times  greater  than  was  found  in 
the  river-bed  proper;  when  the  stream  buried  it  as 
deep  or  deeper  than  the  bluff;  when  it  eroded 
the  valley  where  Winters'  Bar,  Poverty  Bar,  and 
the  flat  on  which  Lancha  Plana  rests — are  ques 
tions  involving  many  doubtful  points.  The  his 
tory  of  Buena  Yista  mountain,  is  the  history  of  the 
bluffs  around  Lancha  Plana,  and  a  short  digression 
from  the  recent  to  the  ancient,  may  be  interesting  to 
those  who  either  have,  or  will  hereafter,  mine  in 
this  vicinity.  Lancha  Plana  furnishes,  perhaps,  the 
best  point  in  the  county  to  study  the  effect  of  ero 
sions  and  deposits.  The  bluffs  and  deposits  of  gravel 
around  Campo  Seco,  must  also  be  considered  in  this 
history.  The  story  shall  be  short,  though  marvel 
ous,  and  the  proofs  such  that  any  thinking  man  can 
see  them  for  himself  in  an  hour's  walk. 

THE   OPEN  SEA. 

First,  suppose  that  around  Lancha  Plana  all  of  the 
sandstones  are  away,  only  the  slate,  and  rocks  of 
that  character,  stand  in  the  shallow  bay,  or  water  of 
the  sea,  which  extends  west  from  the  foot  of  the 
mountains,  which  are  not  yet  cut  and  eroded  into 
channels  as  deep  as  now  by  hundreds  of  feet.  A 
stream  is  flowing  in  here,  but,  though  it  has  force 
enough  to  bring  in  moderate  sized  gravel,  it  does  not 
bring  sediment  faster  than  the  tides,  which  daily 
sweep  past  the  boulder-like  slate  rocks  scat 
tered  up  and  down  the  present  river,  can  carry  it 
away.  Then  was  deposited  the  gravel  along  the 
foot-hills,  forming  the  beds  now  lying  under  the 
pay-streak  under  consideration,  and  separated  from 
it  in  many  places  by  a  hard  floor  of  sand.  It  may 
be  seen  under  the  claim  of  Mat  Murray,  on  the  bed 
rock  north  of  the  town,  and  wherever  gravel  lies  under 
t/te  coal  formation  all  the  way  to  Jackson  creek,  the 
position  fixing  its  age.  The  coal  formation  may  be 
seen  under  what  is  called  Alum  peak.  A  liberal 
allowance  of  time  may  be  made  here.  Above  the 
coal  formation  allow  time  for  a  deposit  of  clay,  say 
an  eighth  of  an  inch  a  year;  this  is  during  the  gla 
cier  period,  when  little  gravel  is  being  brought 


down,  all  being  ground  into  fine  clay.  This  being 
done,  let  the  sandstones,  the  fine  building  stones  of 
Lancha  Plana,  appear;  after  that,  gravel  in  moderate 
quantities.  Some  of  the  hills  north  of  Lancha  have 
this  gravel,  notably  around  China  gulch.  In  some 
instances,  the  gold  is  in  paying  quantities. 

Lancha  Plana  by  this  time  was  several  hundred  feet 
under  ground.  Now  the  streams  begin  to  run  with 
greater  force.  The  ocean  line  is  crowded  out  miles 
and  miles.  The  progress  of  the  filling  is  now  much 
faster.  Gravel,  sand,  clay,  and  lava,  alternate  with 
each  other,  until  the  first  deposits  are  buried  a  thou 
sand  feet  deep,  and  the  whole  country  to  the 
east  is  a  plain  higher  than  Buena  Yista  mount 
ain.  In  Calaveras  county  is  a  mountain  of  peculiar 
structure,  that  may  be  a  part  of  a  plain  a  thou 
sand  feet  higher  than  the  Buena  Yista  mountain. 
If  it  should  prove  to  be  so,  then  we  may  provide  for 
the  lapse  of  a  still  greater  number  of  years,  not 
only  in  the  filling,  but  in  the  erosion  which  is  to  fol 
low.  Then  the  present  system  of  rivers  was  formed. 
They  begin  to  gnaw  away  the  great  masses  of  mat 
ter  which  had  taken  so  many  millions  of  years  to 
heap  up.  Little  by  little,  as  now,  the  earth  is  carried 
out  on  the  plains  to  fill  up  the  San  Joaquin  valley 
which  heretofore  has  been  an  open 'sea.  The  great 
masses  of  gravel  deposited  in  the  mountains,  like  that 
at  Mokelumne  Hill  and  Jackson,  in  fact,  covering  the 
greater  part  of  the  country,  is  now  being  moved  and 
re-adjusted.  The  gravel  hills  around  Campo  Seco 
and  Camanche  are  now  one  after  another  deposited, 
the  streams  eroding,  in  all  instances,  more  than  they 
deposit,  wearing  away  and  concentrating  the  gravel 
and  the  gold.  Now  the  rivers  are  beginning  to  find 
their  present  channels,  as  they  wear  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  sandstones  and  rocks,  for  they  have 
again  struck  the  slate  rocks.  They  have  now  worn 
down  far  below  the  glacier  erosions,  and  now  flow  in 
saw-like  channels,  instead  of  the  long,  smooth  val 
leys  of  the  time  when  such  vast  masses  of  gravel 
were  on  the  move.  The  volcanoes  have  now  been 
quiet  for  ages.  The  whole  country  is  comparatively 
in  a  state  of  repose.  The  bluff  banks  by  Lockford 
and  the  Poland  House  may  begin  to  show,  as  the 
stream  is  not  pressed  with  sand  and  gravel  from  the 
mountains.  Having  no  serious  work  on  hand,  the 
river  may  commence  eroding  a  valley  in  the  former 
deposits,  making  room  for  the  present  bottom-lands. 
When  this  condition  has  arrived,  we  may  look  for 
the  river  to  reach  the  level  of  the  big  gravel  deposits 
forming  the  base  of  the  bluffs.  How  many  years 
the  rive.r  was  wearing  into  the  sandstones,  into  the 
hard  clays,  carrying  them  off  ounce  by  ounce,  perhaps 
only  as  muddy  water,  none  can  tell.  It  had  to  make 
room  for  the  gravel;  then  had  to  have  uninterrupted 
ages  to  bring  the  gravel  down  from  the  deposits  in 
the  mountains.  Running  in  a  nearly  straight  course 
towards  the  plains,  it  slowly  piled  up  acres  of  gravel, 
perhaps  a  hundred,  and  for  some  unexplained  reason 
buried  it  up  in  sand  again,  until  a  flat  appears,  of 


LANCHA  PLANA  AND  VICINITY. 


197 


which  the  blutt'  where  Maroon's  house,  Judge  Palm 
er's,  and  others  are  situated,  is  a  relic.  This  piling 
up  of  fine  quicksand,  must  also  have  been  the  work 
of  ages.  It  will  be  obvious  to  any  one,  that  a  slight 
difference  either  in  the  obstruction  in  carrying 
off  of  the  debris  from  the  mountains  above,  or  an 
increase  in  the  erosive  and  carrying  power  of  the 
mountain  streams,  would  produce  a  change  in  the 
lines  of  deposit  in  the  valley. 

It  might  have  occurred  by  a  change  of  channel,  as 
there  is  much  to  show  that  the  Mokelumne  river  has 
occupied  various  channels;  for  instance,  it  once  ran 
through  Story's  chain  south  of  the  bluff  through 
which  he  tunneled;  also,  at  the  Metzer  ranch,  it  ran 
in  a  channel  north  of  the  present  one.  The  next 
change  was  the  erosion  of  the  present  channel  and 
the  wearing  away  of  a  large  portion  of  the  bluff, 
leaving  the  flat  where  the  town  was  standing  in  1860, 
now  covered  with  alfalfa  patches,  vineyards  and 
orchards.  What  a  period  of  time  to  contemplate! 
Yet  all  these  changes  are  recorded  in  rocky  bluffs 
around  the  town,  in  such  characters  that  all  may 
read  who  wish  to.  One  step  will  lead  to  another 
until  the  whole  will  be  like  an  open  book. 

After  this  somewhat  lengthy  digression,  the  bluffs 
may  claim  attention.  The  claims  were  very  rich. 
In  many  instances  the  proceeds  of  a  week's  drifting 
would  pay  the  whole  expense  of  opening.  The  firt-t 
to  go  down  met  with  a  great  amount  of  water.  It 
was  feared  for  some  time  that  the  water  could  not 
be  controlled,  but  when  several  companies  began  to 
work,  the  water  was  so  reduced  that  it  gave  but  lit 
tle  trouble.  William  Cook  had  a  claim  which  paid  a 
hundred  dollars  a  week  to  the  man.  Kidd,  Porter 
&  Lyman  had  a  claim  near  where  Judge  Palmer's 
residence  now  is,  which  paid  even  better  than  that. 
Krail,  Perkins  &  Barnett  also  had  a  good  claim  in 
the  same  vicinity.  The  Murray  brothers,  Wad- 
dell  brothers,  Phil.  Kennedy,  McCarty  &  Hinkley, 
Christie,  English  &  Mclntyre,  Walters,  John  Cook, 
Calvin  Cole,  also  mined  on  the  bluff  with  success,  as 
did  many  others.  The  mines  on  the  hill  north-east 
of  the  town  were  also  discovered  about  this  time 
and  many  moderate  fortunes  were  made.  This 
place  was  called 

CHAPARRAL    HILL. 

Miner  Frink,  afterwards  member  of  the  Assembly, 
Joseph  Cochran,  Mat.  Leary,  Patrick  O  Keefe,  Ned 
and  Jerry  McGraw,  Geo.  Wagner,  who  was  Asso 
ciate  Judge  and  member  of  the  Assembly,  etc.,  Joe 
Hall,  Geo.  Sitzer  and  brother  (the  latter  being  killed 
in  his  mine),  Tom  Love  and  Joe  Clark  (fighting 
Joe),  all  had  good  claims  here.  The  town  began  to 
grow.  Eestaurants,  saloons,  breweries,  stores,  hotels, 
and  other  institutions  common  to  California  mining 
towns,  also  came  and  flourished  as  long  as  the  mines 
lasted.  Several  substantial  buildings,  made  of  fine 
sandstone  resembling  granite,  with  fire-proof  shut 
ters  and  doors,  still  attest  the  prosperity  of  the  years 
of  the  bluff  diggings.  Main  street,  running  towards 


the  river,  had  the  best  buildings  and  largest  stores, 
some  of  which  would  do  credit  to  a  city.  Among 
these  were  those  of  J.  W.  D.  Palmer  &  Co.,  John 
Cook,  William  Cook,  Holman  &  Co.,  Nye  &  Co.  The 
building  of  the  Cooks  was  removed  to  Buena  Vista 
some  five  o.r  six  years  ago  and  the  place  mined  out 
by  Chinamen.  Palmer  &  Co.  were  at  the  foot  of  the 
street  nearest  the  river.  Chinatown,  also  a  large 
settlement,  was  between  Main  street  and  the  river. 
From  Palmer's  present  store  to  the  bluff  was  a  solid 
line  of  buildings.  The  bluff  was  also  laid  off  into 
streets  and  was  considerably  built  up,  as  was  the  hill 
north  of  the  town.  In  its  best  days  Lancha  Plana 
had  perhaps  a  thousand  inhabitants.  During  this 
period  many  shafts  were  sunk  in  the  hills  around 
Lancha  Plana.  A  line  of  holes  were  sunk  north 
ward  towards  the  Boston  ranch  to  connect  with  the 
French  Camp  lead.  In  some  places  considerable 
gold  was  found,  and  the  blue  clay  above  the  gravel 
led  the  miners  to  think  they  had  discovered  the  Blue 
Lead.  The  blue  clay  was  eventually  found  to  indi 
cate  coal.  Many  of  the  prospectors  sunk  through 
the  half-charred,  half-decayed  piles  of  drift-wood  and 
encountered  noxious  gases,  destructive  to  life.  In 
one  of  these  shafts  near  the  big  reservoir,  a  man,  on 
going  down,  was  overcome  and  fell  insensible  to  .the 
bottom  of  the  shaft.  Men  had  been  crushed  by  fall 
ing  banks  of  earth  and  had  met  death  in  various 
ways,  but  the  fire-damp  was  a  new  fiend,  and  when  it 
was  known  that  a  man  was  killed  with  it,  and  that 
his  body  could  not  be  recovered,  the  whole  popula 
tion  left  their  work  forthe  scene  of  the  accident. 

The  shaft  was  about  one  hundred  feet  deep,  and 
the  pile  of  dirty,  black,  decayed  vegetable  material, 
with  a  disagreeable  smell,  indicated  too  well  the 
nature  of  the  gas  which  had  destroyed  the  man's 
life.  Dr.  Tillson,  a  druggist,  asserted  that  he  could 
saturate  a  handkerchief  with  a  liquid  that  would 
render  the  gas  innocuous.  Thus  assured,  a  man  vol 
unteered  to  go  down  slung  in  a  rope,  so  that  in  case 
of  being  overcome,  he  could  be  hauled  out  before 
fatal  results  should  happen.  He  succeeded  in  fasten 
ing  a  rope  to  the  body,  and  it  was  hoisted  to  the 
surface.  Life  was  of  course  extinct,  as  the  body  had 
been  in  the  shaft  some  hours. 

A  tunnel  was  run  under  Alum  peak  all  the  way  in 
a  coal  formation.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Packard 
ran  a  tunnel  into  the  hill  in  which  the  Waddell  broth 
ers  afterwards  developed  a  coal  mine.  The  nature 
of  this  deposit  is  fully  treated  in  the  chapter  on 
coal.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that  probably  Lancha 
Plana  has  the  largest  and  best  deposit  in  the  county. 

Lancha  Plana  had  its  largest  population  about 
1860.  At  this  time  the  Dispatch,  now  of  Jackson, 
was  running  here  under  the  charge  of  Heckendorn  & 
Payne,  and  was  quite  a  lively  paper.  From  1865 
the  town  gradually  decayed.  The  population  left 
after  the  working  out  of  the  bluffs;  the  houses  fell 
to  ruins  or  were  removed,  and  for  many  years  the 
voting  population  has  been  less  than  one  hundred. 


198 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


The  vines  and  trees  make  a  neai'ly  successful  effort 
to  cover  up  the  scars  caused  by  mining. 

Among  the  first  to  develop  the  fruit  business,  w.ere 
A.  F.  Northrup  and  Captain  Kid.  The  former  had 
an  orchard  on  the  flat,  where  Mat  Murray's  claim 
now  is,  early  as  1859.  In  1861,  it  became  quite  a 
place  of  resort,  and  was  the  source  of  much  profit. 
The  extraordinary  productiveness  of  the  land,  as 
well  as  the  excellent  quality  of  the  fruit  raised, 
induced  a  great  many  to  embark  in  that  business. 
For  some  miles  down  the  river  as  well  as  at  Lancha 
Plana,  fruit  has  for  many  years  formed  a  heavy 
item  in  the  production.  Kientz,  Lucas,  Foster,  De- 
Bolt,  Northrup,  Goodings,  Van  Zant,  Bamert  and 
others,  have  places  noted  for  fine  fruit.  • 

PUT'S  BAR. 

This  was  discovered  in  1853  by  Putnam,  now  resid 
ing  at  lone.  It  was  a  "wage-claim,"  never  having 
been  very  rich,  though  in  1855  to  1860  it  had  several 
hundred  miners,  mostly  Chinamen.  In  an  early  day 
it  was  found  to  be  good  for  raising  watermelons,  in 
fact,  a  "bonanza."  Old  Man  Borden,  as  he  was  called, 
would  bring  them  into  market  on  the  Fourth  of  July 
and  get  a  great  price  for  them.  This  was  weeks 
earlier  than  lone  valley  could  do  it,  and  eventually 
the  river  melons  monopolized  the  market.  A  large 
vineyard  was  planted  by  Palmer  and  Woolsey  below 
Put's  Bar,  but  owing  to  the  depression  in  the  wine 
business,  it  was  mostly  dug  up  some  years  since. 
Table  grapes  have  been  found  to  be  the  most  profita 
ble.  The  quantity  of  ground  suited  either  to  the 
wine  or  table  grape,  is  unlimited. 

OVERFLOWS. 

Lancha  Plana  and  vicinity  have  suffered  some  from 
overflows.  In  1861-62  the  Mokelumne  river  rose 
nearly  thirty  feet,  sweeping  off  the  bridge  between 
Lancha  Plana  and  Poverty  Bar  and  burying  up  the 
fine  peach  orchard  owned  by  A.  F.  Northrup.  The 
river  took  a  "shear"  against  Poverty  Bar,  on  the 
opposite  side,  and  wore  away  nearly  all  the  ground 
on  which  the  town  stood.  Stores,  dwellings,  and 
barns,  one  after  another,  would  be  undermined  and 
tumble  into  the  stream,  taking  passage  for  the  tulcs 
around  Stockton.  The  town  never  recovered  from 
the  blow.  Lancha  being  on  higher  ground,  escaped. 

THE    BONITA   AFFAIR. 

This  occurrence  was  on  the  south  side  of  the  river, 
and,  consequently,  in  Calaveras  county;  but,  as  the 
people  engaged  in  it  were  from  both  sides,  it  is  prop 
erly  a  matter  of  record  in  this  book.  In  1852,  during 
the  flush  times  in  the  vicinity  of  Lancha  Plana,  the 
miners  received  notice  that  a  greaser  was  to  be  hung; 
and  a  large  number  of  men,  perhaps  a  thousand,  soon 
came  together.  The  crime  of  which  the  Mexican 
boy  was  said  to  be  guilty  was  of  unmitigated  atroc 
ity.  A  Portuguese  family  in  the  vicinity  had  a  beau 
tiful  little  girl,  four  or  five  years  of  age,  named 
Bonita,  who  was  a  general  favorite  with  the  miners. 


Every  one  had  a  kind  word  for  her,  which  she  repaid 
with  loving  smiles.  One  day  it  was  announced  that 
she  was  lost.  A  general  search  was  instituted,  and 
the  hills,  ravines,  thickets,  and  old  shafts,  in  the 
neighborhood,  were  thoroughly  searched.  The 
worst  fears  with  regard  to  her  were  realized.  After 
some  hours'  search  she  was  found  in  a  thicket,  insen 
sible,  with  every  appearance  of  having  been  outi'aged. 
Some  way,  suspicion  was  fastened  on  a  Mexican 
boy  of  twenty  or  such  a  matter,  who  had  formerly 
been  in  the  employ  of  the  father  of  the  child,  fie 
had  been  seen  fondling  the  child  but  a  short  time 
before  her  disappearance.  Suspicion  soon  turned  to 
accusation,  and  that  to  conviction,  for  the  crime 
was  of  such  a  character  that  few  men  could  remain 
cool  enough  to  listen  to  reason.  There  was  sense  of 
justice  enough  to  give  the  form  of  a  trial,  and  a  jury 
of  twelve  men  was  selected,  ostensibly  to  try  the 
accused,  but  really  to  confirm  the  popular  verdict  of 
guilty.  Only  a  portion  of  the  names  can  be  recol 
lected  :  A.  Norton  and  Jefferson  Tarr,  of  Amador 
county;  Alfred  Small,  Captain  Allen,  and  Captain 
Knowlton,  residences  unknown;  and  B.  S.  E.  Will 
iams,  now  in  the  employ  of  the  Central  Pacific 
Railroad  at  Oakland.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Beaty 
volunteered  to  act  as  counsel  for  the  accused. 
The  jury  sat  around  a  miner's  table,  under  a  large 
tree,  the  spectators  crowding  around  and  interfer 
ing  very  much  with  the  comfort  and  deliberations  of 
the  jury.  The  "  Steubenville  boys  "  were  anxious  to 
commence  the  hanging,  and  impatiently  waited  the 
taking  of  the  testimony,  and  the  deliberations  of 
the  jury.  The  voluntary  attorney,  Beaty,  proceeded 
to  cross- question  the  witnesses  after  the  usual  man 
ner  of  lawyers.  One  of  the  "Steubenville  boys"  backed 
up  and  took  what  they  call  the  rump  lock  on  him, 
i.  e.,  took  him  by  the  seat  of  his  broadcloth  pants 
and  dragged  him,  squirming  and  kicking,  out  of  the 
court,  leaving  a  vacancy  in  the  covering  of  his  rear 
part  which  compelled  a  hauling  off  to  repair  damages. 
This  rough  though  comical  treatment  of  the  law 
yer  was  not  unacceptable  to  the  jury,  who  were  per 
fectly  competent  to  question  the  witnesses  for  them 
selves,  and  had  been  rather  annoyed  by  his  officious 
conduct. 

As  the  trial  proceeded,  it  appeared  that  thei-e  was 
no  evidence  to  prove  the  connection  of  the  boy  with 
the  outrage;  that  he  was  asleep  on  a  porch  during  the 
time  of  the  absence  of  Bonita,  though  he  joined  in 
the  hunt  after  the  alarm  was  raised,  and  they 
brought. in  a  verdict  of  "not  guilty."  This  was  not 
what  the  crowd  had  come  for.  They  had  come  to 
see  a  h'anging  and  meant  to  see  it  too,  especially  the 
Steubenville  boys.  One  of  their  number  had  been 
killed  by  a  Mexican,  not  long  before,  in  an  affray  in 
a  dance  house,  and  they  were  ready  to  hang  all 
greasers  on  the  slightest  excuse.  The  crowd  soon 
began  to  boil.  The  larger  part  had  been  partaking 
freely  of  whisky,  and  were  in  no  mood  to  listen 
to  reason  or  be  thwarted.  Some  of  the  jurors 


LANCHA  PLANA  AND  VICINITY. 


199 


(who,  by  the  way,  had  early  become  alarmed  at  the 
quantities  of  whisky  which  had  been  drunk,  and 
resolved  to  drink  nothing  and  were  consequently 
sober),  were  roughly  handled.  Captain  Knowlton 
was  knocked  down  for  asserting  the  innocence  of 
the  boy.  It  was  now  evident  that  a  first-class  riot 
was  impending.  It  was  hundreds  maddened  with 
whisky  against  dozens  only  of  sober  men.  The 
sober  men  stood  around  the  intended  victim,  and 
protested  against  the  hanging.  A  proposition  was 
made  to  give  him  a  new  examination  before  Dr. 
Brusie,  the  Justice  at  Winters'  Bar.  The  doctor  was 
a  man  high  in  the  esteem  of  the  community.  This 
brought  a  few  more  men  to  the  side  of  the  jurymen. 
Taking  advantage  of  an  opening  in  the  crowd,  the 
boy  was  hustled  into  a  wagon  and  hurried  away  to 
Winters'  Bar,  and  an  examination  commenced;  but 
the  crowd  soon  came  up,  more  violent  than  before. 
Though  the  evidence  against  the  boy  amounted  to 
nothing,  it  was  evident  to  the  Justice  that  the  only 
chance  to  save  his  life  was  to  send  him  to  jail.  A 
powerful  man  by  the  name  of  Cunningham  was 
deputized  to  take  charge  of  him.  It  was  now  getting 
nearly  night,  and  the  rioters  feared  they  were  about 
to  lose  their  prey.  Some  dozen  or  more,  among 
whom  was  Tom  Love,  resolved  to  drag  him  out  and 
shoot  him,  and  with  drawn  pistols  rushed  into  the 
crowd.  The  boy  retreated  behind  the  burly  form  of 
Dr.  Brusio,  who  was  thus  placed  in  an  interesting 
situation.  He  was  thoroughly  aroused  by  this  time. 
Shaking  his  fist  in  the  faces  of  the  rioters,  he  shouted: 
"I  will  have  you  all  arrested  for  this."  Though  so 
many  pistols  were  pointed  towards  him  in  the  effort 
to  cover  the  boy,  the  mob  had  no  intention  of  kill 
ing  him.  They  rather  admired  his  pluck,  knowing 
him  to  be  in  the  line  of  his  duty,  and  furthermore, 
to  have  injured  him  would  have  arrayed  the  whole 
country  against  them.  Two  of  the  mob  succeeded  in 
getting  the  boy,  and  were  leading  him  out,  a  man  on 
each  side,  when  the  drawn  pistols  pointing  towards 
them  caused  one  of  the  men  to  let  go  the  boy,  who 
immediately  swung  to  the  rear  of  the  other  man  who 
was  holding  him,  crying  to  Manuel,  the  father  of  the 
girl:  "Shoot  him!  shoot  him!"  At  this  point  of  the 
affair,  Williams,  who  had  from  the  first  to  the  last 
used  every  eftbrt  to  save  the  boy's  life,  shoved  him 
into  the  crowd,  so  that  to  shoot  would  endanger  the 
life  of  the  rioters,  as  well  as  others.  Cunningham 
now  tried  to  get  the  boy  away.  A  scuffle  ensued  and 
Cunningham  was  thrown  to  the  ground.  While  the 
attention  of  the  crowrd  was  engaged,  two  men, 
Williams  being  one,  rushed  the  boy  over  the  bank  of 
the  river,  which  here  was  ten  or  twelve  feet  high, 
got  him  out  of  sight,  and  conducted  him  to  a  store 
owned  by  a  man  by  the  name  of  Waters,  who  con 
cealed  him  in  a  back  room.  When  the  row  over 
,  Cunningham  had  subsided,  and  the  would-be  exe 
cutioners  had  time  to  look  around,  the  intended 
victim  was  gone.  It  was  now  moonlight  and  a 
search  was  made.  Dr.  Brusie  bad  deputized  Waters 


to  take  the  boy  away  to  Mokelumne  Hill,  which  he 
intended  to  do  the  next  morning;  but  a  party  of 
the  rioters  getting  on  his  trail,  and  shortly  after 
ward  entering  his  store,  he  took  the  boy  out  through 
a  rear  entrance  and  safely  made  his  way  with  him  to 
Mokelumne  Hill,  where  he  was  detained  until  the 
session  of  a  Grand  Jury,  when,  no  evidence  appear-" 
ing  against  him,  he  was  set  at  liberty. 

INDIAN   WAR. 

This  affair  occurred  in  the  Summer  of  1859.  A 
large  number  of  Indians,  variously  estimated  at  from 
three  to  six  hundred,  had  been  holding  a  fandango 
or  war  dance,  on  the  hill  north  of  the  town.  Some 
were  from  the  northern  part  of  the  county,  some 
from  Calaveras,  and  quite  a  large  number  from 
Tuolumne.  The  festivities  were  mostly  over,  and 
many  of  the  Indians  had  gone.  An  American,  not 
much  above  an  Indian  in  appearance,  and,  probably, 
far  below  one  in  character,  claimed  a  horse  which 
one  of  the  Indians  had  in  his  possession.  The  Indian 
declined  giving  it  up,  alleging  that  he  had  bought 
it  of  the  white  man,  which,  on  inquiry,  afterwards 
proved  to  be  true,  or,  at  least,  had  won  it  in  a  game 
of  cards.  The  white  man  employed  Miles  Hunts 
man,  the  Constable,  to  get  the  horse  for  him.  It 
does  not  seem  that  the  Constable  had  any  writ  to 
replevy  the  horse,  or  that  he  even  made  a  demand 
for  it,  but  went  as  an  individual,  took  the  horse  and 
was  leading  him  off,  when  the  Indians  commenced 
shooting  arrows  at  him,  and  the  claimant  of  the 
horse.  Huntsman  returned  the  fire  with  his  revolver, 
which  he  emptied  of  the  six  shots,  and  then  retreated; 
by  this  time  all  the  Indians  were  after  him  in  full 
cry,  the  arrows  flying  in  clouds.  He  fell,  pierced 
by  several  arrows,  not  far  from  the  junction  of  the 
Winters  and  Lancha  Plana  road.  When  it  was 
learned  in  the  town  that  Miles  was  killed,  every 
one  that  could  raise  a  fire-arm  started  in  the  pur 
suit  of  the  Indians,  who  commenced  dispersing  with 
all  possible  rapidity.  The  Jackson  valley  Indians, 
who  had  always  been  peaceably  inclined,  claimed 
protection  at  the  houses  of  some  who  had  employed 
them  for  washing,  and  other  purposes,  and  would 
not  join  in  the  stampede,  and  probably  saved  their 
lives  by  so  doing.  Some  of  the  Indians  remaining 
near  the  camp  were  pursued,  and  one  was  shot  near 
Waddell's  ranch;  he  died  game,  shooting  his  arrows 
after  he  was  shot  through  and  through,  and  unable 
to  stand  on  his  feet.  Great  numbers  had  forded  the 
river,  and  others  had  crossed  by  the  bridge.  These 
were  also  pursued,  and  as  a  great  many  shots  were 
heard,  it  was  supposed  that  numbers  had  been  killed. 

Exaggerated  stories  prevailed  that  day  and  even, 
ing  with  regard  to  the  number  slain,  but  careful 
inquiry  limits  the  casualties  to  two  Indians  slain — 
one  at  Waddell's  ranch,  and  one  near  Campo  Seco, 
who  was  shot  by  a  sailor  who  was  pursuing  him, 
and  who  got  shot  in  turn  by  the  Indian — and  one 
Indian's  leg  broken  by  a  ball  from  the  revolver  of 
Huntsman  in  the  beginning  of  the  fight,  and  the 


200 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU,  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


two  white  men  mentioned,  though  many  valiant  (?) 
men  boasted  of  having  slain  scores.  One  Wallace, 
a  Canadian  (we  hope  he  was  no  descendant  of  Sir 
William),  was  found  shooting  at  a  squaw  and  some 
little  children,  who,  when  overtaken  in  the  pursuit, 
sat  down  and  buried  their  faces  in  their  laps,  the 
Indian  token  of  submission,  which,  however,  did  not 
prevent  the  valorous  man  from  emptying  his  revolver 
on  them.  Their  escape  was  due  to  his  nervous  feel 
ings,  or  their  being  in  a  hollow  below  him,  which 
caused  him  to  over  shoot.  He  was  stopped  in  his 
shooting  by  Tom  Love,  who,  though  on  the  war 
path  against  the  Indians,  had  no  heart  for  shooting 
squaws.  The  wounded  Indian  was  taken  to  the 
office  of  Drs.  Boarman  and  Schoneman,  and  his  leg 
amputated,  some  squaws  acting  as  nurses.  He 
recovered,  and  has  become  a  famous  beggar,  in  fact 
a  nuisance,  thrusting  his  wooden  leg  forward  every 
where  as  a  reason  for  charity.  It  has  been  to  him 
quite  a  fortune. 

MIDNIGHT   SCARE. 

While  the  extravagant  reports  of  numbers  slain 
were  still  believed,  a  report  got  into  circulation  that 
three  hundred  Tuolumne  Indians  were  nearing  Lan- 

O 

cha  Plana  with  a  determination  to  avenge  the 
slaughter  of  the  Indians;  the  place  was  to  be  wiped 
out.  It  was  impossible  to  learn  the  origin  of  the 
rumor,  but  it  was  believed,  and  runners  were  sent  to 
all  the  houses  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  and  the 
people  all  brought  in.  The  stone  stores  were  con 
sidered  as  the  best  for  a  defense,  and  as  many  as 
could  be  were  quartered  in  these  buildings.  All  the 
arms  were  collected,  and  put  in  the  best  condition. 
A  military  company  was  formed,  and  R.  W.  Palmer, 
who  claimed  «ome  knowledge  of  military  affairs,  was 
put  in  command,  Dr.  Tillson  being  second  officer. 
The  men  were  drilled  to  charge  and  retreat,  to  act 
as  skirmishers  or  advanced  pickets,  and  were 
marched  and  countermarched  until  it  was  thought 
they  would  do  to  trust  as  soldiers.  Their  arms  were 
then  inspected,  and  the  amount  and  quality  of  the 
ammunition  ascertained.  Some  of  the  arms  were 
woefully  deficient.  Tim  Conway  had  a  little  pistol, 
but  it  had  no  lock. 

"What  do  you  expect  to  do  with  that?"  says 
Captain  Palmer. 

"Oh,  be  jabers!  won'tlmakeit  hot  for  the  In 
dians  when  1  touch  it  off  with  a  match  ?" 

He  thought  he  was  "good  for  one  Indian,  any 
how."  Guards  were  stationed  at  the  different  .cross 
ings  of  the  river,  and  at  all  points  where  there  was  a 
probability  of  being  attacked.  Instructions  were 
given  to  the  women  and  children  to  put  out  the 
lights  and  lie  flat  on  the  floor,  when  the  shooting 
commenced — a  proposition  that  some  of  the  more 
nervous  were  in  favor  of  putting  into  practice  at  once. 
Mrs.  Boarman,  who  seemed  to  have  some  of  her 
husband's  coolness,  or  which  is  better  some  of  her 
own,  remarked  that,  "  We  might  as  well  sit  up  until 
the  Indians  come."  Dr.  Tillson,  who  was  but  recently 


married,  made  his  wife  a  very  affecting  good-bye. 
"  My  dear  wife,  my  country  calls,  and  I  must  obey. 
I  trust  that  we  may  meet  again.  Good-bye,  my 
dear."  It  is  said  that  she  urged  him  to  take  a  frying- 
pan  to  hold  before  his  face  when  the  arrows  began  to 
fly.  She  was  very  proud  of  the  Doctor's  handsome 
face,  and  did  not  want  it  disfigured.  The  popula 
tion  did  not  all  muster  at  the  drum-beat  to  defend 
the  town.  John  Sprague,  who  owned  a  livery  stable, 
got  out  a  buggy  and  team,  took  his  wife  and  chil 
dren,  and  started  as  fast  as  horse  flesh  could  go,  and 
did  not  stop  until  he  reached  Stockton,  alarming  the 
whole  country  on  the  way.  At  Poverty  Bar,  as 
Milton  said  of  Satan  after  he  awoke  from  his  sleepy 
drench, 
"  He  called  so  loud  that  all  the  hollow  depths  of  Hell  resounded. " 

"  Turn    out!     Turn   out,    for   God's  sake!     The  In 
dians  are  murdering  everybody  at  Lancha  Plana/' 

Bill  Morrow  got  out  his  team  and  buggy,  and  went 
after  the  Wheeler  girls,  and  ran  away  with  them, 
hardly  giving  them  time  to  dress.  •  At  Comanche, 
Sprague  gave  the  alarm  also,  and  for  awhile  confusion 
reigned  there.  Morning  came  at  last,  but  no  Indians, 
though  during  the  day  the  Tuolumne  chief,  a  vener 
able  and  dignified  Indian,  came  back  to  inquire  into 
the  shooting,  which  had  taken  place  after  he  had 
left  the  fandango.  He  said  that  if  any  of  his  young 
men  were  guilty,  they  should  be  surrendered  for 
punishment,  and  two  or  three  days  afterwards,  a 
couple  of  young  Indians  were  sent  up,  securely  tied, 
for  the  Lancha  folks  to  do  with  as  they  thought 
best.  The  panic  was  over,  and  the  two  Indians  were 
sent  to  Jackson  for  trial;  but  no  evidence  against 
them  appearing,  they  were  set  at  liberty,  and  thus 
ended  the  Indian  war.  At  this  day  it  is  impossible 
to  form  any  correct  conclusion  as  to  the  cause  of  the 
alarm,  or  whether  there  was  any  cause  at  all.  It 
seems  so  much  like  a  burlesque  that  we  are  some 
times  ready  to  conclude  that  it  was  a  huge  Irish  joke, 
the  Irish  element  being  in  the  ascendency  in  the 
town  at  that  time.  If  any  race  of  people  could  have 
a  bit  of  fun  out  of  such  a  matter,  it  would  be  the 
Irish.  Captain  Palmer,  who  lives  at  Jackson,  upon 
being  questioned  as  to  the  three  hundred  Indians 
marching  upon  Lancha  Plana,  says,  "  Certainly; 
they  would  have  attacked  the  town  if  we  had  not 
prepared  to  defend  it."  But  who  saw  them? 

ORIGIN    OP    PANICS. 

Lest  some  of  our  friends  might  undervalue  them 
selves  while  remembering  these  events,  it  may  be 
well  enough  to  make  an  extract  from  Washington 
Irving's  "Life  of  Washington,"  page  196,  volume  I:— 

"  In  the  meantime  the  panic  and  contusion  in 
creased.  On  Sunday  an  express  hurried  into  town 
breathless  with  haste  and  terror.  The  Indians,  he 
^aid,  were  but  twelve  miles  off ;  they  had  attacked 
the  house  of  Isaac  Julian;  the  inhabitants  were  fly 
ing  for  their  lives.  Washington  immediately  ordered 
the  town  guards  to  be  strengthened  ;  armed  some 
recruits  who  had  just  arrived,  and  sent  out  two 


R ES  I  DEN1CE  «'  J  DSTOLCKEN 
V/'Oi.CANO  AMADOR  CttCAL 


RESIDENCE  AND  RANCH  OF  J.E.  PETTITT. 
PLYMOUTH,  AMADOR    C?  CAL- 


OF  THE 

tJNlVERSITYJ 


LANCHA  PLANA  AND  VICINITY. 


201 


scouts  to  reconnoiter  the  enemy.  It  was  a  sleepless 
night  at  Winchester.  Horror  increased  with  the 
dawn  ;  before  the  men  could  be  paraded,  a  second 
express  arrived,  ten  times  more  terrified  than  the 
former.  The  Indians  were  within  four  miles  of  town, 
killing  and  destroying  all  before  them.  He  had 
heard  the  constant  firing  of  the  savages,  and  the 
shrieks  of  the  victims.  The  terror  of  Winchester 
now  passed  all  bounds.  Washington  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  about  forty  men,  militia  and  recruits, 
and  pushed  for  the  scene  of  carnage. 

"The  result  is  almost  too  ludicrous  for  record.  The 
whole  cause  of  the  alarm  proved  to  be  three  drunken 
troopers,  carousing,  hallooing,  uttering  the  most 
unheard-of  imprecations,  and  ever  and  anon  firing 
off  their  pistols.  Washington  interrupted  them  in 
the  midst  of  their  revel  and  blasphemy,  and  con 
ducted  them  prisoners  to  town." 

This  was  in  Virginia,  and  among  the  countrymen 
and  neighbors  of  Washington. 

THE    BUTLER   CLAIM 

Was  situated  at  the  foot  of  the  deep  gorge  which 
came  out  of  the  mountains,  and  was  first  owned  by 
a  party  of  negroes,  hence  was  called  the  "Nigger 
Claim."  The  river  was  dammed  and  turned  as  usual 
in  river  claims.  The  channel  was  straight  and 
smooth  and  offered  no  holding-place  for  the  gold, 
and  all  of  the  party  except  Butler  left  the  claim. 
The  following  year  Butler  borrowed  five  or  six  hun 
dred  dollars  of  Uncle  Pompey,  another  colored  man, 
and  opened  the  claim  a  little  lower  down  in  a  bend. 
It  proved  the  richest  piece  of  ground  ever  found  in 
the  vicinity,  or  even  in  the  two  counties,  being  a 
mass  of  gravel  six  or  eight  feet  deep,  literally  lousy 
with  gold.  A  day's  work  with  a  rocker  would  pro 
duce  ten,  twenty,  thirty,  and  even  fifty  thousand 
dollars.  Fred  Westmoreland,  a  cool  and  sensible 
person,  not  liable  to  be  excited,  says  he  frequently 
saw  a  milk  pan,  the  ordinary  gold  pan,  heaping  full 
for  a  day's  work,  so  full  that  it  could  not  be  lifted  by 
the  rim  without  tearing  in  pieces.  Some  of  the  dirt, 
not  so  rich,  was  washed  in  a  long  torn.  According 
to  Tom  Love  a  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  dust  could 
be  seen  following  the  dirt  along  the  sluice-box,  the 
hands  who  were  tending  it  stealing  the  dust  by  the 
handful,  A  face  or  breast  was  worked  on  the  bed  of 
gravel,  and  the  gold  showed  from  the  top  to  the  bot 
tom,  a  distance  of  six  or  eight  feet.  At  the  bottom 
the  pure  dust  could  be  gathered  with  a  spoon.  When 
it  was  known  how  immensely  rich  it  was,  a  number 
of  men  were  anxious  to  have  a  share.  The  former 
partners  of  Butler  were  hunted  up  and  induced  to 
sell  interests  in  the  claim.  A  number  of  suits  were 
commenced  against  Butler,  and  some  half-dozen  or 
more  lawyers  engaged  to  share  the  proceeds  if 
successful.  A  receiver  was  appointed  to  take  charge 
of  the  claim  pending  the  suits.  Eobert  Bennet, 
known  as  Bob  Bennet,  a  well-known  citizen  of  Lan- 
cha  Plana,  was  once  appointed  custodian  for  a  day. 
In  a  few  panfuls  of  dirt  he  obtained  dust  to  the 
amount  of  two  thousand  two  hundred  dollars,  which, 

"  Damned  fool  that  1  was,  I  turned  over  to  the  court. 
26 


Everybody  was  taking  and  keeping  all  they  could 
get."  It  was  too  much  for  the  old  man.  He  was 
taken  sick  with  fever  and  shortly  died.  It  was 
known  by  his  friends  that  he  had  some  eighty  thou 
sand  dollars  on  deposit  at  Mokelumne  Hill,  as  much 
more  at  Sacramento,  and  also  immense  sums  buried 
in  unknown  spots.  The  Public  Administrator  took 
possession  of  the  property  and  there  was  not  enough 
found  to  pay  a  few  small  outstanding  debts. 

TOWNERVILLE, 

Or  "Hotel  de  Twelve,"  as  it  was  sometimes  called,  was 
the  place  of  operations  of  a  man  by  the  name  of  Tow- 
ner,  who  was  sent  up  by  the  San  Francisco  Philhar 
monic  Society,  during  the  copper  excitement,  to  make 
a  fortune  for  each  member  of  the  society.  He  did  not 
manifest  much  knowledge  of  mineral  veins,  but 
showed  uncommon  skill  in  manipulating  stocks  and 
mines  for  his  own  pocket,  the  vouchers,  when  exam 
ined,  always  showing  a  margin  for  his  benefit. 
This  camp  was  composed  largely  of  the  Irish  ele 
ment,  and  true  to  their  reputation,  fun  was  the  gen 
eral  order.  When  the  officer,  appointed  in  1863 
to  enroll  the  able-bodied  men  in  the  county,  made 
his  appearance  in  the  camp,  a  general  scampering  to 
the  chaparral  thickets  took  place.  Scarce  a  man 
was  to  be  seen.  Several  families  of  children  were 
running  about,  but  they  were  so  well  instructed  that 
they  did  not  know  their  names.  The  officer  ques 
tioned  a  woman  who  had  six  little  bright-eyed  ras 
cals  running  around,  as  to  her  husband's  name.  "I 
have  naw  husband."  The  officer  ventured  to  remark 
that  the  circumstances  of  such  a  large  family  with 
out  a  husband  was  rather  unusual.  "  Oi,  there's 
mony  a  woman  has  childer  without  a  husband."  A 
demand  was  then  made  of  the  superintendent  for 
the  pay-roll,  which,  after  quite  an  elaborate  argu 
ment,  was  shown,  which  afforded  part  of  the 
requisite  data.  When  this  had  been  given  up  most 
of  the  men  came  back  to  their  work.  A  general 
jollification  took  place,  the  men  seeming  to  be  well 
satisfied  with  having  bothered  the  officer  for  an  hour 
or  two.  After  taking  dinner  with  them,  every  lux 
ury  the  camp  afforded  being  put  upon  the  table,  he 
left  with  mutual  good  feeling.  Soon  after  he  was 
gone  the  last  of  the  absconding  men  came  in.  Now 
was  their  time  for  fun.  He  had  evaded  the  draft; 
he  was  to  be  fined  five  hundred  dollars  and  sent  to 
Alcatraz  to  carry  sand  bags  for  a  year.  A  reward 
was  to  be  offered  for  his  apprehension.  A  file  of 
soldiers  was  to  be  sent  after  him  and  much  more  to 
the  same  effect.  He  might  yet  overtake  the  officer  and 
get  his  name  put  on.  Pat  started  like  a  shot  out  of 
a  gun;  he  scaled  the  side  of  the  mountain  like  a 
deer,  and  two  miles  away  from  the  camp  overtook 
the  officer,  only  to  be-  informed  that  he  had  been 
hoaxed;  that  his  name  was  alreadj7  on  the  roll. 
Another  person  in  the  vicinity,  a  first-class  wag, 
bothered  the  officer  considerably  by  putting  on  a 
new  face  every  time  they  met,  invariably  getting  the 
laugh  on  him. 


202 


HISTORY  OF  AMAtJOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


CAMP   OPERA. 

This  was  a  small  town  or  camp  at  the  foot-hills 
in  the  south-western  part  of  the  county,  and  had 
at  first  a  population  of  only  twenty-five  or  thirty, 
mostly  Mexicans,  who  worked  with  batayas,  there 
being  but  little  water.  When  the  Lancaster  ditch 
was  brought  in  in  1853,  the  population  swelled  to  sev 
eral  hundred.  Camp  Opera  was  known  as  a  rough 
place,  being  a  resort  for  desperate  whites  as  well 
as  Mexicans.  It  is  said  that  Joaquin  made  it  a 
stopping  place  in  his  frequent  excursions.  The  first 
trading  post  was  kept  by  a  white  man  from  Mexico, 
by  the  name  of  Kemp,  and  Ike  Mansfield.  Kemp 
was  charged  with  stealing  some  specimens  of  gold, 
and  was  hung  up  by  the  miners,  who,  however,  let 
him  down  before  life  was  extinct,  and  let  him  go 
on  condition  that  he  should  leave  the  country,  which 
he  did.  Patrick  Sculley  had  a  trading  post  after 
wards,  and  trusted  out  nearly  his  whole  stock  of 
provisions  to  the  men,  who  were  throwing  up  dirt 
for  Winter  washing.  The  rains  not  coming  accord 
ing  to  expectation,  he  was  compelled  to  take  the 
piles  of  dirt  for  pay,  and  realized  very  little  for  his 
goods.  Near  Camp  Opera  is  a  small  graveyard, 
said  to  have  been  peopled  with  victims  to  whisky. 
Several  cabins  were  said  to  have  sent  their  whole 
number  of  occupants  to  this  settlement.  In  1857, 
the  place  maintained  several  stores,  a  dozen  or  more 
saloons,  and  two  dance  houses,  and  was  considered 
a  lively  place.  It  gradually  went  down,  and  now 
only  a  few  men  make  a  living,  where  hundreds  for 
merly  took  out  the  means  for  riot  and  extravagance. 
The  ground  in  places  was  quite  rich  with  coarse 
gold,  which  was  found  in  gravel  underlying  the 
coal  formation,  though  it  had,  in  many  places,  been 
swept  out  towards  the  valley  by  an  over- wash. 

FRENCH    CAMP. 

This  place  is  a  mile  or  two  south  of  Camp  Opera, 
and  is  much  like  it  in  character.  It  has  had  rather 
more  extensive  gravel  claims,  however,  which  are 
probably  a  relic  of  the  wash  of  Mokelumne  river  in 
pre-glacial  times.  It  was  occupied  by  a  party  of 
Frenchmen  in  an  early  day,  hence  the  name,  though 
afterwards  mined  mostly  by  Mexicans  and  Chilenos. 
Some  coarse  gold  was  found  here.  The  country  is 
threaded  by  small  quartz  veins,  which  are  supposed 
to  have  helped  to  enrich  the  ravines  and  flats.  In 
1854,  a  barid  of  Yaqui  Indians,  numbering  forty  or 
more,  mined  here.  They  were  wild,  savage  looking 
fellows,  but  lived  peaceably  with  the  other  miners. 
They  were  fond  of  whisky  and  cards.  In  1854,  an 
old  man  named  Finley,  who  drove  an  ox-team  to 
Sacramento,  and  frequently  carried  considerable 
gold-dust,  was  set  upon  by  a  Mexican,  who  drew  a 
long  knife  and  rushed  upon  him.  Finley  having  no 
arms,  ran  away,  taking  to  the  brush.  The  Mexican 
came  near  enough  to  strike  at  him,  slitting  his  coat 
and  shirt  open,  without  hurting  him,  however.  He 
made  his  way  into  Jone  after  dark,  and  recovered 


his  team  the  following  day.  About  the  year  1856, 
Joe  Septen,  an  Italian,  traced  the  gravel  range 
under  the  hills,  finding  a  rich  deposit,  taking  out, 
sometimes,  several  thousand  dollars  a  week.  Many 
theories  were  advanced  as  to  the  source  of  the  gold. 
Some  maintained  that  a  great  river  formerly  run 
along  the  foot-hills,  that  it  could  be  found  by  sink 
ing  deep  holes  in  the  hills  in  the  vicinity.  A  hun 
dred  deep  shafts  and  numerous  tunnels  attest  the 
enterprise  of  the  miners.  Some  of  the  holes  were 
four  hundred  feet  deep.  One  company  struck  boldly 
to  the  west  with  a  tunnel  in  the  descending  strata, 
and  struck  a  vein  of  coal,  without  knowing  what  it 
was,  however.  The  only  paying  place  fell  into  the 
hands  of  James  Moore  and  Thomas  Barnet,  who 
mined  it  successfully  for  nearly  twenty  years.  It 
is  now  generally  considered  that  these  gravel  deposits 
are  the  relics  of  a  sea-shore  line,  which  may  be 
traced  the  entire  length  of  Amador  county.  Scarcely 
a  sign  of  the  camp  remains,  and  the  country  is  mostly 
used  for  grazing. 

COPPER  CENTER. 

This  was  quite  a  lively  camp  during  the  copper 
excitement  in  1863,  having  several  stores,  saloons, 
and  hotels,  and  any  amount  of  prospective  million 
aires.  The  "Star  of  the  West,"  a  company  in  which 
Chas.  Meader  had  an  interest,  was  made  the  basis 
of  considerable  stock  speculation.  It  never  proved 
to  be  good,  although  drifting  on  the  vein  might 
have  revealed  paying  ore.  The  '-Bull  Run,"  a  claim 
on  the  high  hill  east  of  the  town,  had  a  narrow  vein 
of  black  oxides  of  copper  from  the  top  down,  but  it 
was  never  a  source  of  profit.  A  windmill  on  this 
hill  was  a  conspicuous  object  for  miles  around.  The 
hill  is  interesting  to  the  geologist,  having  on  its 
summit  a  bed  of  volcanic  boulders,  a  relic  of  the 
vast  plain  existing  previous  to  the  glacial  erosion. 
The  site  of  Copper  Center  is  now  part  of  the  ranch 
of  J.  Q.  Horton,  two  or  three  miles  east  of  Jackson 
valley. 


CHAPTER    XXXII 1. 
VOLCANO   AND   VICINITY. 

As  it^  Looked  in  '49 — Georgia  Claim— Sharp  Mining  Broker— 
Bod.  Stowell  —  Agriculture  —  Society  —  A  Philosopher  — 
Hydraulic  Mining — Nature  of  the  Gravel  Deposits— China 
Gulch — Volcano  Tunnel — Former  Project  of  Lowering  the 
Outlet — Fires — Largest  Fire — Fire  of  1865 — Year  of  Fires- 
Burning  of  Hanford's  Store — Miners'  Joke — Nocturnal 
Visitor — Murder  of  Beck  man — Lynch  Law — Stage  Robber- 
its — Miners'  Library  Association — Dramatic  Societies — 
Russel's  Hill — Fort  John — Upper  Rancheria — Aqueduct 
City — Contreras — Ashland — Grizzly  Hill  —  Wheeler  Dig 
gings— Plattsburg — How  Named — Hunt's  Gulch— Spanish 
Gulch — Whisky  Slide — Large  Crystal  Caves. 

YOLCANO  is  situated  on  Sutter  creek,  twelve  miles 
above  the  town  of  Sutter  Creek,  and  about  twelve 
miles  north-east  from  the  county  seat.  This  place 
seems  to  have  been  discovered  in  1848,  as  a  party  of 
Stevenson's  soldiers  were  here  about  the  time  that 
another  party  was  mining  on  the  Mokelumne  river. 
They  built  two  huts  on  Soldiers'  gulch,  so  named  on 


VOLCANO  AND  VICINITY. 


203 


that  account,  near  the  place  afterward  occupied  by 
Hale's  sash  factory.  The  party  of  Mexicans,  who 
were  first  in  the  camp  in  the  Spring  of  '49,  found  two 
dead  bodies  in  the  huts,  and  buried  them  on  what 
was  afterward  called  graveyard  hill.  How  these 
came  to  their  death,  or  what  became  of  the  balance 
of  the  party,  is  not  known.  Colonel  Stevenson,  who 
resides  at  San  Francisco,  full  of  memories  of  that 
day,  though  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-one,  has 
no  knowledge  of  any  of  his  men  ever  having  mined 
there.  The  huts,  two  in  number,  formed  by  set 
ting  poles  endwise  in  the  ground  in  the  shape  of 
an  A,  the  whole  being  covered  with  dirt,  were  stand 
ing  during  the  Summer  of  '49,  but  were  torn  down 
as  the  immigration  came  in.  It  is  difficult  to  ascer 
tain  who  came  first  in  '49.  The  first  wagon  was 
driven  in  by  William  Wiley,  now  living  on  a  ranch 
six  miles  north-east  from  Jackson,  at  the  foot  of 
tanyard  hill.  He  was  of  a  party  of  eight,  from 
Dayton  near  Ottawa,  Illinois,  consisting  of  John 
Green  and  his  sons,  Joseph  and  Jesse,  Erick  Erick- 
son,  Torkle  Erickson,  Charles  Ewebanks,  and  Jack 
son  Beam.  They  had  been  camping  on  Sutter  creek 
near  the  present  town,  and  represent  that  place  at 
that  time  as  entirely  vacant;  not  a  man,  not  a  hole 
even  sunk  there,  though  the  works  of  General 
Sutter  and  his  party,  who  mined  there  in  1848, 
might  have  escaped  their  attention  or  have  been  for 
gotten. 

At  that  time,  there  were  no  houses  in  Volcano, 
except  the  huts  built  by  the  soldiers.  Soon  after  the 
arrival  of  the  Green  party,  Jacob  Cook  and  party 
also  came  in  with  a  wagon,  and  the  numbers  aug 
mented  until  by  Winter  there  were  about  one  hun 
dred  persons.  Some  of  Green's  party  had  preceded 
the  main  body,  and  staked  off  claims  where  the 
Cross  &  Gordon  claim  and  Georgia  claim  were  after 
ward  located. 

A   VIEW    OF   VOLCANO 

As  it  then  was,  would  make  a  great  contrast  with 
the  present  appearance.  Standing  on  the  point  at 
the  junction  of  Soldiers'  gulch  with  Sutter  creek, 
toward  the  east  was  a  flat,  terminating  near  the 
Griesbach  ranch,  covered  with  tall  grass,  as  high  as 
the  backs  of  the  animals  feeding  on  it.  Large  white 
oaks,  with  branches  drooping  nearly  to  the  ground, 
were  scattered  over  the  grassy  plain,  giving  it  the 
appearance  of  a  cultivated  and  well  cared  for  park. 
The  clear  water  of  the  creek  meandered  along  the 
meadow,  rippling  over  the  quartz  gravel,  warming 
in  the  sun  on  a  sandy  beach,  or  cooling  itself  in  a 
deep  hole  under  a  shady  bank,  where  the  mountain 
trout  of  pounds  in  weight  lurked  for  the  coming  of 
the  unwary  insect.  The  gray  limestone  formed  a 
pleasing  contrast  to  the  dark  green  of  the  pines, 
which  waved  from  all  the  hills  around.  A  spring  of 
the  purest  and  coldest  of  water,  large  enough  to 
turn  a  mill,  well  remembered  by  all  the  residents 
down  to  1856,  bubbled  out  of  the  rock,  on  which  the 
Masonic  Hall  was  built,  near  the  junction  of  Sutter 


creek  with  the  south  branch.  For  untold  ages  the 
Indian  had  gathered  acorns  and  pine-nuts,  or 
captured  the  deer  and  other  game  with  which  the 
hills  abounded.  But  there  was  gold  in  the  hills,  gold 
in  the  flat,  in  the  gulches,  everywhere;  gold  that 
opens  the  roads  to  influence,  power,  and  happiness. 
The  grassy  plains  have  been  torn  up,  the  rich  soil 
sluiced  through  the  canon,  and  are  but  unsightly  piles 
of  rock,  holes  of  mud  and  stagnant  water.  The  hills, 
robbed  of  their  graceful  pines,  are  furrowed  into  deep 
gullies,  while  the  clear,  limpid  waters  of  the  creek, 
turned  from  the  channel  and  carried  into  the  sur 
rounding  hills,  are  laden  with  mud,  sand,  and  gravel, 
carrying  destruction  to  the  farms  in  the  valley  below. 
Such  was  and  such  is  Volcano.  It  is  not  intended  to 
find  fault  with  the  work  done — it  is  probably  well; 
for  until  the  great  balance  sheet  is  made  out,  who 
shall  say  that  the  activity,  the  commercial  life,  the 
enlarging  of  man's  powers  by  these  operations,  may 
not  more  than  compensate  the  apparent  destruction. 
The  Illinois  party,  Green  &  Co.,  went  to 
work  on  the  ground  staked  off.  The  surface  was  a 
reddish  clay,  evidently  a  wash  from  the  hill  to  the 
west.  About  eight  feet  from  the  surface  they  came 
to  the  gravel,  which  was  so  rich  that  they  could 
pick  out  gold  with  the  fingers.  They  carried  the 
dirt  to  the  creek,  some  two  hundred  yards  away,  in 
buckets,  and  washed  it  in  a  rocker.  They  made 
about  a  hundred  dollars  a  day  to  the  man,  some  of 
which  was  coarse  gold,  one  piece  being  worth  over 
nine  hundred  dollars.  At  a  depth  of  fifteen  feet 
they  struck  a  yellow  clay,  so  tough  that  they  could 
not  wash  it,  and  abandoned  the  claim  as  worked 
out.  The  same  place  was  worked  continually  for 
thirty  years.  Probably  a  million  of  dollars  in  all 
was  taken  put  of  it,  or  in  the  immediate  vicinity. 
Some  years  after  it  was  known  as  the  Cross  and  Gor 
don  claim.  They  had  a  pump,  worked  by  several 
horses,  to  keep  the  water  out.  It  is  said  that  they 
divided  thirty  thousand  dollars  profits  at  the  end  ot 
a  year.  It  was  afterwards  known  as  the 

GEORGIA    CLAIM. 

There  were  sixteen  shares  in  this  company,  and  the 
stock  was  rated  as  high  as  three  thousand  dollars  per 
share.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the  men  carried  away 
as  high  as  thirty  thousand  dollars  each.  Various 
devices  were  used  to  get  rid  of  the  water.  One  engi 
neer,  of  questionable  ability,  induced  them  to  put  in  a 
pendulum  pump,  with  which  one  man  could  do  as 
much  as  several  by  the  ordinary  method.  A  gallows 
fifty  feet  high  was  erected,  and  a  pine  log  hung  in  it 
as  a  pendulum.  Two  stout  men  could  scarcely  keep 
the  thing  swinging  with  no  machinery  or  pump 
attached  to  it,  and  the  machine  was  consigned  to  the 
tomb  of  all  attempts  to  manufacture  power  out  of 
nothing.  A  stout  fellow  was  hired,  for  four  dollars, 
to  keep  the  water  down  during  the  night,  which  he 
did  and  had  time  to  spare  to  dance  away  his  wages 
at  fifty  cents  a  round,  at  a  dance  house  in  the  vicin 
ity.  He  afterwards  found  his  way  to  the  State 


204 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


prison  for  the  theft  of  a  watch,  valued  at  fifty  dol 
lars,  at  a  time  that  stealing  fifty  dollars  was  a  cap 
ital  offense.  It  may  be  also  mentioned  that  this 
same  fellow  belonged  to  an  organization  that  had 
agreed  to  lick  any  man  that  would  work  for  less 
than  four  dollars  a  day.  The  claim  was  afterwards 
kept  dry  by  a  steam  engine  and  pump.  Once,  in  a 
storm,  the  water  got  the  better  of  the  engine,  and 
rose  several  feet  above  all  the  works,  leaving  only 
the  smoke-stack  above  the  water.  John  Goodwin, 
a  waggish  fellow,  proposed  that  a  man  should  take 
some  kindling  and  wood  and  dive  with  it  down  to 
the  furnace,  and  start  a  fire.  The  plan  was  not 
adopted. 

To  return  to  '49.  About  the  first  of  October  two 
houses  were  built,  one  near  the  Odd  Fellows'  Hall, 
there  being  a  spring  in  that  vicinity,  and  also  a 
brush  and  pole  shanty,  covered  with  dirt,  not  far 
away.  Besides  the  Green  company,  there  were 
Dr.  Kelsey,  afterwards  President  of  the  First 
National  Bank,  Stockton,  also  Treasurer  of  San 
Joaquin  county,  who  was  afterwards  found  dead  in 
a  boat  on  the  slough;  Bunnel,  from  Ohio;  Ballard,  of 
Illinois;  Kelley,  from  Ohio;  Jacob  Cook,  now  living 
at  Pine  Grove; -Henry  Hester;  Jim  Gould,  now  at 
Jackson;  Philip  Kyle,  now  of  San  Joaquin  county; 
Mills,  P.  Fellinsbee,  McDowell,  Rod.  Stowell,  and 
other  names  not  remembered,  making  a  population 
of  about  fifty.  Most  of  the  mining  was  in  Soldiers' 
gulch,  the  dirt  being  carried  to  the  creek  for  wash 
ing.  A  number  of  men  made  hand-barrows,  on 
which  they  carried  the  dirt.  Finally  a  cart  was 
rigged  up,  and,  with  a  yoke  of  cattle  to  draw  it, 
readily  rented  for  eight  dollars  per  day. 

Cook  &  Co.,  got  a  barrel  of  syrup,  one  of  whisky, 
and  one  of  vinegar,  from  Sacramento,  and  started 
the  first  store.  Syrup  was  worth  five  dollars  per 
gallon,  vinegar  the  same,  and  whisky  was  fifty  cents 
a  drink.  They  also  kept  a  few  boarders,  at  twenty- 
one  dollars  per  week. 

The  Indians  worked  in  Indian  gulch,  hence  its 
name.  A  Missonrinn  jumped  an  Indian's  hole,  throw 
ing  out  his  tools.  The  Indians  came  around  and 
ordered  him  out.  Upon  his  refusing  to  leave,  they 
drew  their  bows,  and  prepared  to  enforce  the  com 
mand.  He  ran  away,  going  to  Soldiers'  gulch,  where 
a  party  was  raised  to  pursue  and  chastise  the 
Indians.  When  the  party  came  in  sight,  the  Indians 
ran,  and  the  whites  fired  at  them,  Rod.  Stowell,  a 
Texas  ranger,  killing  one.  They  followed  .them 
towards  Russel  hill,  occasionally  getting  sight  of 
them  and  firing,  though  no  more  were  killed.  The 
following  day,  one  of  a  party  of  three  or  four  men, 
traveling  from  Jackson  to  Volcano,  stopped  to  let 
his  horse  eat  grass  at  the  flat  where  Armstrong 
afterwards  built  a  saw-mill.  When  the  others  of 
the  party  had  got  out  of  sight,  the  Indians  fell  upon 
him  and  killed  him;  stripping  off  his  clothes,  they 
partially  concealed  the  body  by  laying  it  by  the 
side  of  a  log,  and  burying  it  with  brush.  Being 


missed,  search  was  made,  and  his  body  discovered, 
the  Indians  having  left  one  foot  sticking  out.  He 
was  buried  at  the  graveyard  hill.  This  murder 
was  supposed  to  have  been  in  retaliation  for  the  kill 
ing  of  the  Indian  by  Stowell. 

On  the  approach  of  Winter,  Green's  party,  with 
others,  numbering  about  twenty  in  all,  built  a  log 
cabin  containing  several  compartments,  making  it 
compact  to  avoid  attacks  of  the  Indians,  who  were 
evincing  some  signs  of  hostility,  stealing  all  the  stock 
they  could.  They  got  it  all  except  a  mule,  which 
was  saved  by  locking  a  chain,  fastened  to  a  log  by 
a  staple  and  ring,  around  its  neck.  There  was  only 
one  house  between  Yolcano  and  Jackson,  and  that 
was  on  the  top  of  tanyard  hill.  Two  of  the  men 
in  the  big  cabin  died  of  scurvy  during  the  Winter. 
Captain  Updegraff  had  a  cabin  near  the  Consolation 
or  present  Union  House. 

The  rains  commenced  in  the  latter  part  of  October. 
Green's  party  sunk  a  hole  in  Clapboard  gulch  at  the 
beginning  of  the  rainy  season,  and  got  two  ounces 
to  the  pan,  but  were  obliged  to  abandon  the  place  on 
account  of  water.  They  afterwards  mined  in  the 
heads  of  the  gulches,  and  by  the  first  of  January 
had  accumulated  about  seventy-five  pounds  of  dust, 
worth  about  sixteen  thousand  dollars,  when  they 
abandoned  the  camp  as  worked  out.  It  may  be  here 
remarked  that  that  was  the  saying  when  the  writer 
came  in  1850.  It  was  said  in  1848  that  the  middle 
of  a  few  little  ravines  paid  a  spade  wide  and  no  more. 
In  1853,  when  the  writer  came  to  Yolcano,  Fred 
Wallace,  one  of  the  lucky  miners,  said  the  camp  was 
worked  out,  and  Jacob  Cook,  now  of  Pine  Grove, 
says  that  in  '49  they  would  have  abandoned  Yolcano 
if  their  cattle  had  not  been  too  poor  to  draw  their 
wagon  up  the  hill. 

During  the  Winter,  Rod.  Stowell,  a  Texas  ranger, 
killed  Sheldon,  a  Missourian,  by  stabbing  him  with  a 
long  knife.  The  statements  concerning  this  transac 
tion  are  very  conflicting.  Stowell  claimed  that  on 
entering  the  cabin,  which  was  a  kind  of  public  house, 
Sheldon  shut  and  locked  the  doors,  making  him 
(Stowell)  a  prisoner,  and  then  drew  a  knife  to  kill 
him,  and  that  he  acted  in  pure  self-defense.  Jim 
Gould,  an  eye-witness,  states  the  house  was  not 
closed;  that  Sheldon  drew  a  small  knife  and  jocu 
larly  told  Stowell  he  was  going  to  kill  him  ;  that  the 
killing  of  Sheldon  was  uncalled  for  and  wanton.  It 
may  be  observed  that  the  habit  of  retributive  justice 
was  gradually  adopted  by  early  miners  as  a  kind  of 
necessity,  and  had  not  grown  into  a  practice  at  this 
time,  or  Stowell  might  have  fared  hard  at  the  hands 
of  the  miners,  who  were  much  shocked  at  the  affair. 

In  the  Spring  and  Summer  many  additions  were 
made  to  the  population.  Mann,  afterwards  of  Jack-' 
son,  opened  a  restaurant — meals  one  dollar.  The 
Hanfords  opened  a  store,  with  W.  I.  Morgan  as  man 
ager,  which  stock  was  afterwards  increased  until  it 
was  the  largest  in  the  county.  The  Fourth  of  July 
was  celebrated  by  the  reading  of  the  Declaration  by 


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VOLCANO  AND  VICINITY. 


205 


McDowell,  who  afterwards  resided  at  Juckson.  Mann 
got  up  the  dinner  for  five  dollars  a  head.  A  family 
camped  near  Grass  Valley  about  this  time,  and  many 
of  the  miners  walked  out,  a  distance  of  three  or  four 
miles,  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  a  woman. 

In  the  Summer  of  1850,  Billy  Eogers,  Sheriff  of 
El  Dorado,  passed  through  Volcano  with  his  party 
of  men  with  whom  he  had  been  hunting  Indians  in 
the  mountains.  They  purchased  some  beef,  some 
where  in  the  vicinity,  of  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Ehodes,  who,  dissatisfied  with  the  payment,  followed 
Rogers'  party  into  Volcano.  Meeting  Skaggs,  one  of 
the  party,  in  a  saloon  kept  by  Ingalls,  a  dispute 
ensued,  during  which  Ehodes  shot  Skaggs  in  the 
wrist,  but  while  cocking  his  pistol  for  another  shot, 
Skaggs  fired,  killing  Ehodes.  As  the  matter  was 
evidently  in  self-defense,  nothing  was  done  about  it. 
F.  M.  Whitmore,  still  resident  in  Volcano,  and  James 
L.  Halsted,  afterwards  member  of  the  Legislature 
from  Santa  Cruz  county,  came  early  in  1850. 

The  graveyard  was  fenced  in  during  the  Summer 
with  shakes  taken  from  the  roof  of  the  Green  cabin, 
which,  it  seems,  had  been  abandoned  by  the  owners 
when  they  left  the  camp  in  January.  Volcano 
had  a  kind  of  sleepy  existence  during  the  Summer 
of  1850.  It  was  evidently  waiting  for  an  infusion  of 
more  active  blood  into  the  population.  There  was 
some  carting  to  the  creek,  and  Captain  Graham  and 
Biggs  were  enterprising  enough  to  rig  up  a  water- 
power  to  run  rockers.  It  was  a  wheel,  of  the  sim 
plest  construction,  turned  by  water  carried  to  it  in 
spouts  or  troughs  chopped  out  of  logs.  It  would 
keep  five  or  six  rockers  on  the  move,  the  charge 
being  sixteen  dollars  per  day,  each.  This  was  thought 
to  be  a  great  stride  in  mining  improvements. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1850,  many  persons  came  in 
by  the  plains,  and  Volcano  began  to  assume  the 
appearance  of  a  permanent  settlement.  The  Jeromes, 
three  in  number,  one  of  whom  is  still  in  Volcano, 
came  this  season.  Jerome,  Hansen  &  Smith  opened 
a  store  with  a  respectable  stock  of  goods.  The  first 
religious  service  in  the  town  was  in  a  building  of 
theirs,  by  Mr.  Davidson  of  the  ministers'  company 
at  Amador,  being  the  same  Davidson  who  afterwards 
built  the  church  now  going  to  ruins  on  the  hill. 
Henry  Jones'  family  was  the  first  to  settle  here.  He 
was  a  shrewd,  sharp  man,  with  one  eye  half  shut; 
this  half-closed  eye,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people, 
being  gifted  with  the  remarkable  quality  of  seeing 
"  clean  through  everything."  Two  little  children 
(girls)  always  looked  neat  as  dolls.  When  they  got 
a  speck  of  dust  on  their  clothes,  she  would  wash  and 
spank  them,  and  put  on  clean  dresses.  Mrs.  Jones  had 
a  mania  for  neatness,  and  her  puncheon  floor  would 
not  soil  a  lavender  kid.  She  met  a  man  calling  to  see 
Mr.  Jones,  with:  "Don't  come  in  here  with  your 
dirty  feet."  The  red  dust  certainly  was  very 
annoying  to  a  neat  housekeeper.  At  the  opening  of  a 
saloon  in  1851,  the  good-natured,  but  rough  miners 
cut  a  hole  in  the  lining  of  the  roof,  chucked  the 


owner  up  through,  and  kept  him  there  until  he 
came  to  terms. 

At  the  election  this  year,  when  Joe  Douglass  and 
Colonel  Collyer  were  the  candidates,  the  friends  of 
the  former  voted  a  rancheria  of  Indians. 

During  .the  Winter,  portions  of  the  graveyard 
were  found  to  be  rich,  and  the  gulches  were  worked 
much  deeper.  It  now  began  to  be  suspected,  or 
rather  learned,  that  the  deposits  of  gold  were  enor 
mously  large,  and  that  they  extended  to  great 
depths.  Henry  Jones,  L.  McLaine,  Fred  Wallace, 

Dr.  M.  K.  Boucher,  Doctor  Yeager,  Ike  West, 

Thomas,  Ellec  Hayes,  and  others,  had  claims  in 
Soldiers'  gulch  that  were  enormously  rich.  A  cart 
load  of  dir.t  would  have  two  hundred  and  fifty  dol 
lars  in  it.  Sometimes  a  pan  of  dirt  would  contain 
five  hundred  dollars.  Men  who  never  in  their  lives 
had  a  hundred  dollars,  would  make  a  thousand 
dollars  a  day.  A  company  of  Texans  would  make 
a  hundred  dollars  each  in  a  day,  and  gamble  it  away 
every  night,  and  come  to  their  claim  in  the  morning 
broke.  This  was  their  way  of  having  a  good  time, 
and  gambling  saloons  came  in  for  a  large  share  of 
the  profits.  Clapboard  gulch  also  paid  good  wages; 
though  not  so  rich  as  Soldiers'  gulch,  the  pay-dirt 
was  easier  washed  and  near  the  surface.  Indian 
gulch  was  also  found  to  be  rich,  especially  at  the 
head.  The  Welch  claim  had  a  mound  of  dirt  a  few 
feet  across  that  had  more  than  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars  in  it.  Some  of  the  gold  was  found  in  a  tough 
clay  that  defied  washing  by  any  ordinary  method. 
Boiling  was  found  to  disintegrate  the  clay,  and 
boilers  were  erected  in  many  places  to  steam  it  so 
that  it  would  come  to  pieces.  It  was  observed  that 
when  left  in  the  sun  to  dry  hard,  the  clay  would  fall 
to  pieces,  and  drying  yards  were  established  where 
the  rich  dirt  was  dried  and  pounded. 

A   SHARP   MINING   BROKER. 

A  sharp  trade  was  driven  in  claims,  a  thousand 
dollars  being  frequently  paid  for  a  piece  of  ground 
thirty  feet  square.  Moore  Lerty  was  particularly 
successful  in  selling  claims.  His  operations  were 
bold,  and  perhaps  original.  He  would  open  a  claim 
in  a  good  vicinity,  down  to  good-looking  dirt,  and 
then  would  load  an  old  musket  with  gold-dust,  and 
shoot  the  ground  full  of  gold.  It  is  said  that  he  has 
been  known  to  punish  a  claim  with  two  or  three 
hundred  dollars  in  this  way.  If  he  did  not  sell  the 
claim,  he  could  wash  the  dirt,  and  recover  the  dust. 
He  sold  a  claim  for  one  thousand  dollars  in  this  way 
to  Henry  Jones,  notably  the  sharpest  man  in  Vol 
cano.  Jones  tried  the  claim  for  a  day  or  two  before 
purchasing,  it  is  said,  even  going  into  the  hole  at 
night  to  get  the  dirt,  so  as  to  be  sure  that  he  was 
not  imposed  on.  The  dirt  was  all  rich,  so  he  bought 
it.  The  fun  of  the  matter  was  in  the  fact  that  the 
place  proved  to  be  really  rich,  one  of  the  best  in  the 
camp.  Another  salted  claim,  in  China  gulch,  also 
proved  good,  but  several  ®f  his  swindles  coming  to 
light,  he  fled  before  the  wrath  that  began  to  mani- 


206 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


fost  itself,  and  left  the  country.  A  number  of  houses 
of  respectable  appearance  were  built  in  1851,  among 
which  were  the  Volcano  Hotel,  by  G.  W.  (remmil; 
the  National,  by  Dr.  Flint,  of  Flint,  Bixby  &  Co.; 
the  Philadelphia  House,  by  Downs,  and  some 
others.  The  last  two  were  standing  until  a  few 
years  since,  a  relic  of  pioneer  days. 

STOWELL   TO   THE   FRONT   AGAIN. 

Dr.  Flint,  since  an  extensive  stock  raiser  in  some 
of  the  southern  counties,  under  the  name  of  Flint, 
Bixby  &  Co.,  went  into  the  mountains  on  the  line 
of  the  emigrant  road,  and  purchased  stock.  In 
driving  it  down  to  Volcano  some  of  it  escaped,  and 
was  taken  up  by  some  miners  at  Fort  Ann,  who 
advertised  the  cattle  as  well  as  they  were  able  at 
that  time,  as  estrays.  They  refused  to  give  them 
up  to  Flint  on  the  proof  of  ownership  which  he 
presented,  and  a  lawyer  advised  him  to  avoid  the 
preliminary  costs  of  a  suit,  a  hundred  dollars  or 
more,  by  taking  the  cattle  by  force,  so  as  to  compel 
them  to  initiate  the  lawsuit  if  they  wanted  one. 
Flint  took  Rod.  Stowell  along  as  the  force  element; 
but  force  was  something  that  both  sides  could  appeal 
to,  and  a  row  ensued,  Rod.  getting  a  ball  which 
made  a  cripple  of  him  for  life;  and  the  two  miners, 
wounds  which  were  thought  by  the  physician  to  be 
mortal.  Stowell  was  arrested,  and  found  guilty  of 
murder  by  a  jury  of  miners,  and  a  resolution  was 
passed  to  hang  him  when  either  of  the  victims  should 
die,  and  a  guard  was  set  to  watch  him.  Unex 
pectedly,  the  two  miners  recovered,  and  Stowell 
escaped  hanging,  more  on  account  of  the  pleadings 
of  his  mother  than  any  good-will  the  people  bore 
him,  for  his  name  had  become  offensive.  Clark, 
then  Sheriff  of  Calaveras  county,  was  present,  but 
did  not  attempt  to  rescue  the  prisoner. 

AGRICULTURE. 

It  could  not  be  expected  that  such  a  piece  of 
ground  as  the  Volcano  flat  should  remain  idle.  In 
1851,  it  was  taken  up  for  ranches  by  several  parties. 
James  L.  Halstead  and  Thomas  Bryant  took  up  the 
lower  part  next  to  the  town,  and  Van  Metre,  and 
another  man,  the  upper  part.  Halstead  and  Bryant 
raised  potatoes  in  1851,  both  on  the  main  stream  and 
on  the  south  branch.  In  1852,  Henrj7  Jones  became 
the  owner  of  the  upper  ranch,  and  several  acres  of 
potatoes  were  planted.  The  soil  produced  enor 
mously.  According  to  Jones,  who  testified  to  it 
under  oath,  in  a  suit  for  the  restitution  of  water 
which  the  miners  had  directed  from  his.  ranch,  the 
yield  was  seven  hundred  and  fifty  bushels  to  the 
acre.  He  had  ten  thousand  hills  which  would  aver 
age  ten  pounds  to  the  hill,  worth  ten  cents  per 
pound.  Tomatoes,  and  all  kinds  of  vegetables, 
flourished  with  unknown  luxuriance,  the  produce 
selling  at  enormous  prices.  Halstead  would  make 
twenty  dollars  per  day  carrying  vegetables  around 
in  a  sack.  Wash.  Lewis  at  this  time  was  a  partner 
in  the  ranch.  In  1853,  an  enormous  crop  of  potatoes 


was  raised,  in  fact,  twice  the  amou«t  required  for  the 
consumption  of  the  place.  Jones  succeeded  in  quietly 
disposing  of  his  while  holding  out  that  he  would  not 
sell  for  less  than  a  certain  rate.  Most  of  the  others, 
stored  in  some  cabins,  were  ruined  by  a  hard  frost, 
and  potatoes  were  a  white  elephant.  Prices  for 
vegetables  in  the  early  years  were,  for  green  corn, 
one  dollar  per  dozen;  cucumbers,  fifty  cents;  toma 
toes,  ten  cents  per  pound,  as  also  were  beans  (green), 
carrots,  beets, turnips, parsnips,  and  cabbage;  water 
melons,  fifty  cents  to  one  dollar  each;  figs,  peaches, 
and  pears,  twenty-five  cents  each,  the  last  being 
imported  from  Lower  California.  An  Oregon  apple, 
in  the  Winter,  was  worth  one  dollar  as  late  as  1857. 

SOCIETY. 

In  1852,  Colonel  Madeira,  John  Turner,  Captain 
Richards,  Story,  Else,  Oaf,  Addison,  Shultis,  Wash. 
Lewis,  Joe  Lewis,  Downs,  Hartram,  and  Stevenson, 
settled  in  the  place,  and  there  began  to  be  society. 
It  was  now  possible  to  get  up  a  respectable  dance  by 
pressing  into  service  all — mothers  as  well  as  children. 
Mrs.  Henly,  a  woman  who  cooked  at  the  Volcano 
Hotel,  and  Mr.  Hunt  were  married  in  1851,  this 
being  the  first  wedding  in  the  town.  The  next  was 
Halstead  and  a  sister  of  the  Lewis  brothers,  soon 
after  crossing  the  plains;  the  next,  John  James  and 
a  daughter  of  Else. 

Perhaps  few  towns  could  boast  of  as  much  talent 
lying  around  loose  as  Volcano.  On  the  flat,  back  of 
the  town,  was  a  number  of  cabins  where  a  cluster  of 
intellectual  lights  daily  discussed  and  solved  all  the 
abstruse  questions  since  modestly  treated  upon  by 
Spencer,  Huxley,  Tyndal  and  others.  Tom  Boucher 
had  edited  a  magazine  in  Cincinnati,  and  disliked  to 
come  to  shoveling  the  tough  mud  in  which  gold  was 
found  in  Volcano.  Some  half  a  dozen  more  of  the 
same  kind  felt  and  thought  the  same  way.  The 
days  were  too  hot  for  work,  but  the  cool  evenings 
were  conducive  to  profound  thoughts,  so  they  wore 
their  old  broadcloth  into  dirty  gloss,  read  all  the 
books  and  newspapers  that  could  be  found,  and 
trusted  to  heaven,  or  the  generosity  of  the  boys,  for 
a  square  meal.  This  constellation  of  stars  of  the 
first  magnitude  finally  became  scattered.  The 
country  was  not  advanced  enough  in  1853,  to  sustain 
such  a  society.  • 

This  does  not  finish  the  subject,  however.  There 
were  others  who  adapted  themselves  to  the  circum 
stances.  Ellec  Hayes,  who  worked  on  the  grave 
yard  hill,  was  a  West  Pointer,  and  afterward  a 
brigadier-general,  and  was  killed  in  the  battles  of 
the  Wilderness.  Sempronius  Boyd  was  afterward  a 
Union  general,  and  also  member  of  Congress.  Rufus 
Boyd  also  became  a  member  of  Congress.  James  T. 
Farley  commenced  his  career  in  this  place,  his  first 
cases  being  before  Justice  Stevens.  Halstead,  who 
carried  vegetables  on  his  back  over  the  town,  is  now 
a  distinguished  lawyer  in  Santa  Cruz,  having  filled 
many  positions  of  honor  and  profit.  S.  J.  K.  Handy, 


VOLCANO  AND  VICINITY. 


207 


Judge  Black,  Moses  Tebbs,  Judge  .Reynolds,  all  men 
of  note,  were  residents  of  Volcano  in  early  days,  and 
have  made  their  mark  in  the  world.  J.  W.  Porter, 
now  a  lawyer  at  Jackson,  sunk  the  deepest  hole  for 
gravel  ever  seen  about  Volcano,  and  perhaps,  in  the 
county.  He  was  as  fond  of  going  to  the  bottom  of 
things  while  mining  as  when  searching  out  his  law 
points,  and  started  a  shaft  on  the  clay  between  the 
limestone  and  slate  at  the  head  of  Soldiers'  gulch. 
He  went  down  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  striking 
the  limestone  at  the  bottom,  finding  gold  all  the  way. 
Morris  M.  Estee,  one  of  the  foremost  lawyers  in  San 
Francisco,  was  a  boy  here  in  1855,  just  commencing 
the  study  of  law.  M.  \V.  Gordon,  since  member  of 
the  Legislature,  and  several  times  County  Judge, 
and  always,  from  the  necessity  of  things,  a  foremost 
man,  could  be  seen  thirty  years  since  swinging  the 
pick  as  lustily  as  any  of  the  miners. 

There  were  some  prominent  physicians,  also  Dr. 
Ayer,  now  of  San  Francisco,  mined  in  Humbug 
gulch  in  an  early  day.  Dr.  Morgan,  afterward  of 
Sacramento,  mined  in  the  Soldiers'  gulch,  and  also 
on  the  south  branch.  He  was  a  wag  of  the  first 
water,  and  generally  kept  some  good  thing  in  the 
way  of  fun  traveling  about  the  camp.  He  gave 
"  Shirt-tail  Bend  "  its  felicitous  name.  It  is  related 
of  him  that  he  once  sold  a  good  claim  for  a  very  in 
significant  sum.  When  it  proved  a  big  thing,  he  was 
so  mortified  that  he  took  himself  out  one  side  and 
chastised  himself  with  a  big  hickory,  exclaiming, 
between  the  blows,  "•  Take  that  you  d — n  fool;  sell  a 
good  claim  for  nothing,  will  you  ?  "  M.  K.  Boucher, 
a  brother  to  Tom,  the  magazine  writer,  was  a  man 
of  thorough  knowledge  in  his  profession,  and  of 
varied  reading  in  general  science.  Dr.  Ives,  an 
eminent  physician,  helped  for  years  to  make  the 
waters  of  Sutter  creek  a  stream  of  mud  and  sand. 
In  the  chaos  of  social  elements  these  men  threw 
away  the  university  gown  and  donned  the  hickory 
shirt  and  canvas  pants  of  the  miner.  Some,  dis 
couraged  by  the  apparent  worthlessness  of  their 
scientific  training  in  the  hurly  burly  of  this  kind  of 
life,  sunk  and  never  recovered,  dying  in  poverty  and 
obscurity;  others,  gathering  wisdom  from  the  rough 
experience,  arose  mightier  than  before,  and  pushed 
their  way  to  eminence.  With  such  elements,  it  is  not 
strange  that  the  old-time  laws  of  ethics  and  religion 
should  be  swept  away  like  cobwebs,  as  unsuitable  for 
the  new  circumstances,  and  new  ones  established,  or 
at  least  tried.  We,  who  look  at  the  comparatively 
orderly  days  of  1881,  can  scarcely  form  an  idea  of 
the  chaos  of  thirty  years  since. 

A    PHILOSOPHER. 

Volcano  was  famous,  in  some  places  at  least,  for 
other  things  than  its  gold.  In  1855  a  resident  wrote 
and  published  a  work  on  natural  philosophy,  which 
was  sent  over  all  the  world,  copies  of  it  going  to 
the  sovereigns  of  Europe,  the  Pope  of  Eome,  and 
also  to  the  principal  scientific  and  literary  men 
of  both  continents.  The  work  was  entitled,  "  An 


Examiner  into  the  Laws  of  Nature,"  and  was  writ 
ten  "  principally  for  those  who  had  not  examined 
much  into  the  laws  of  Nature,  and  who  had  not 
made  a  variety  of  galvanic  and  other  experiments, 
and  more  especially  for  the  benefit  of  children."  It 
was  so  clear  and  pellucid  in  argument,  so  simple 
and  grand  in  expression,  that  children,  undoubtedly, 
could  appreciate  it  as  well  as  older  persons.  A  few 
extracts  from  the  work  will  give  an  idea  of  the 
majestic  sweep  of  thought  which  characterized  the 
work  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 

"  From  examining  into  the  external  organization 
surrounding  the  surface  of  the  earth,  we  find  there 
are  fixed  laws  created  within  the  physical  organiza 
tion  to  bring  on  periods  of  changes.  Said  changes 
appear  approaching  towards  perfection.  By  track 
ing  some  of  said  changes  to  the  present  period,  we 
learn  that  all  animated  nature  has  undergone 
changes.  From  said  changes  said  cause,  so  ex 
isting  in  and  among  men,  has  been  so  changed 
from  time  to  time  that  it  is  difficult  for  one  to  become 
acquainted  with  said  cause.  Man  can  only  become 
acquainted  with  said  existing  poisonous  cause  in  and 
among  men,  in  all  its  branches,  from  tracing  said 
effects  from  causes  up  to  the  present  period,  as  before 
said.  *  *  *  I  believe  a  general  knowledge 
of  said  cause,  so  existing  in  and  among  men,  that 
man  will  greatly  diminish  said  cause,  so  existing  in 
and  among  men ;  and  the  effects  that  must  follow  and 
from  so  diminishing  said  poison,  must  be  beneficial 
results  flowing  therefrom.  *  *  *  So  of  the 
growth  of  wheat :  When  said  grains  become  com 
posed  in  said  heads  and  perfected,  said  two  statutes, 
male  and  female,  remained  in  said  grains  until  the 
next  planting  time,  if  said  grains  did  not  become  de 
composed  from  some  cause.  When  said  wheat  stalks 
and  head  were  perfected,  the  affinity  which  com 
posed  said  stalks  and  head,  through  said  liquid  for 
mation,  and  holds  said  stalks  together  in  forms  and 
shapes,  and  said  stalks  were  strong  and  tough,  the 
power  of  affinity  existed  in  said  stalks  and  heads. 
What  effect  followed  said  wheat  stalks,  heads,  and 
grains?  When  said  liquid  circulation  within  said 
stalks  and  heads  ceased  circulating,  the  power  of 
affinity  commenced  decreasing,  and  said  stalks  com 
menced  losing  their  power  and  strength  gradually, 
as  said  power  continued  diminishing  within;  and  by 
the  time  said  power  had  ceased  holding  said  stalks 
together  in  form  and  shape,  said  parcels  within  had 
composed  said  stalks,  and  occupied  the  same  position 
in  parcels  as  they  did  when  said  formation  com 
menced.  Said  grains,  when  perfected  and  become 
hard  and  somewhat  solid,  said  power  of  affinity 
existed  the  greatest  in  some  grains,  and  if  left  sub 
ject  to  said  law,  undergoes  the  same  process  as  said 
stalks  did." 

The  author  in  this  lucid  way,  described  the  forma 
tion  of  the  earth,  seas,  and  mineral  lodes;  the 
decomposition  of  the  "said  water  into  said  seas 
into  the  fine  parcels  they  occupied  previous  to  the 
formation  of  said  seas,"  thus  forestalling  this  book 
by  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century!  His  biogra 
phy  written  by  himself  is  : — 

"  The  author  of  this  work  is  in  and  about  five  feet 
and  five  inches  tall;  possessed  of  dark  brownish  hair 
and  eyes;  a  projecting  forehead  over  his  eyes; 
rather  flat  on  the  top  of  his  head;  and  has  been 
subject  to  a  crook  in  one  of  his  fingers  on  his  right 


208 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


hand,  the  second  finger  from  the  thumb,  at  the  first 
joint  from  the  nail,  crooking  towards  the  thumb; 
and  weighs  in  and  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds. 

"  My  mother  did  inform  me  that  1  was  born  in 
Northampton  county,  and  State  of  Pennsylvania. 
February  18,  1807.  And  it  was  my  parents'  lot  to  be 
poor,  and  to  become  a  subject  to  the  support  of  a 
large  family,  and  I  being  the  youngest  of  the 
family,  and  through  said  cause  I  did  not  receive 
a  proper  education  in  my  youthful  days.  All  the 
schooling  I  did  receive  at  different  periods,  did  not 
receive  one  year.  Notwithstanding,  in  the  con 
struction,  form,  and  shape  of  my  physical  organiza 
tion,  was  constructed  organs  possessed  of  power  to 
create  natural  impressions  in  my  mind;  although 
said  organs  was  merety  excited  into  action  in  my 
youthful  days  owing  to  said  cause.  *  *  *  * 

"  I  had  a  little  money  left.  I  did  deposit  said 
money  into  a  banking  house,  and  took  a  check  from 
said  banking  house;  and  I  put  said  check  into  a 
letter,  and  I  put  said  letter  into  the  post-office  to  be 
sent  home  to  my  friends.  The  next  day  it  was  re 
ported  through  the  city  that  said  banking  house  had 
failed.  From  said  report,  I  became  aware  that  said 
money  could  not  reach  the  Atlantic  States.  I  was 
grieved  for  a  few  days  with  sorrows,  but  on  meditat 
ing  I  became  at  once  aware,  if  I  did  continue  fret 
ting  and  grieving  for  said  disappointments,  that  I 
should  soon  destroy  my  mind,  and  I  must  remain 
hopeless  of  doing  anything  for  myself  or  my  friends. 
I  at  once  canie  to  a  conclusion,  as  I  thought  that  1  was 
born  so  unlucky;  and  if  I  was  born  so  unlucky  there 
must  be  a  sure  cause  for  it.  But  why  was  it  so,  or 
what  cause  existed  in  me  that  made  me  so  unlucky  ? 
but  said  cause  thereof  I  could  not  tell." 

He  labored  in  the  mines  three  years  with  poor 
success. 

"  In  December,  1854,  I  became  so  reduced  in  means 
that  1  had  but  one  suit  of  clothes,  which  I  had  on  my 
body.  My  clothes  became  subject  to  lice,  and  I  had 
to  suffer  the  torments  of  said  lice  for  five  days,  before 
1  could  possibly  raise  means  to  buy  clean  clothes; 
and  became  hungry  and  did  go  into  a  house  and  ask 
for  something  to  eat,  and  told  them  that  I  had  no 
money  to  pay  for  it." 

FORMATION   AND   COMPOSITION    OF   THE    EARTH. 

"In  describing  the  organization  of  the  earth  I 
shall  first  commence  on  her  surface,  and  then  pene 
trate  into  her  internal  parts.  First,  the  earth  has  an 
outside  crust  or  shell,  extending  from  her  surface 
towards  her  center,  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand 
miles,  more  or  less,  which  forms  a  roundish  arch 
within  her.  Said  outside  crust  or  shell  is  of  a  nature 
like  the  bark  of  trees,  and  like  oyster  shells,  and 
like  rocks  found  on  her  surface.  Said  crust  or  shell 
is  the  hardest  and  most  porous  on  and  near  her  sur 
face,  like  trees  are  the  most  solid  on  and  in  their 
center.  Oyster  shells  possess  the  same  nature.  *  * 
It  is  often  difficult  by  looking  small  children  in  the 
face,  to  tell  whether  they  are  males  or  females;  the 
greatest  distinction  on\y  develops  itself  in  and  about 
the  time  they  mature.  The  moon  is  possessed  of  the 
same  organization  as  the  earth.  The  moon  has  a 
current  of  air  round  his  or  her  body,  but  said  air 
does  not  as  yet  carry  vapor,  for  this  reason  :  The 
moon  is  not  as  yet  matured  to  his  or  her  full  size;  and 
if  the  moon  is  a  female  her  surface  cannot  produce 
vegetation  as  yet.  The  sea  is  the  stomach  of  the 
moon  the  same  as  the  sea  is  the  stomach  of  the  earth, 


and  in  its  organization  collects  matter  of  space  in 
parcels  possessed  of  all  the  different  qualities  and 
properties  required  to  compose  every  separate  and 
different  internal  and  external  organ  of  the  moon,  in 
the  same  order  that  animals  and  men  receive  into 
their  stomachs  liquid  and  all  the  vegetable  ingre 
dients  for  their  entire  organization.  The  different 
organs  in  said  organization  separate  the  different 
properties  required  to  compose  the  different  parts  of 
the  body,  although  all  are  mixed  up  at  once  in  the 
stomach." 

The  Professor,  by  means  of  electricity,  was  able 
to  detect  all  the  phases  of  character. 

"I  happened  to  be  at  a  hotel  where  a  number  of 
men  had  collected,  and,  by  looking  at  said  men  in 
their  faces,  I  soon  saw  that  said  men  were  possessed 
of  different  temperaments;  and  1  looked  at  one  man, 
and  thought,  owing  to  his  organization,  that  his 
body  must  contain  too  much  electricity,  and  not 
enough  of  caloric,  and  that  his  head  must  contain 
too  much  caloric,  and  not  enough  electricity.  I 
asked  said  man  if  he  was  not  a  subject  of  exciting 
uneasiness  at  spells,  and  if  he  did  not  become  a  sub 
ject  of  blues  or  horrors  during  said  exciting  days? 
He  said,  yes.  I  asked  him  if  said  blues  did  not  come 
on  him,  and  he  did  not  know  how.  He  said,  yes. 
Knowing  the  days  of  said  periods,  I  referred  him 
back  to  said  days,  and  asked  him  if  he  was  subject 
of  said  blues  during  said  days?  Ho  said,  yes.  Know 
ing  the  days  of  said  negative  period  which  followed, 
I  asked  him  how  he  i'elt  bad  in  said  days.  He  said 
he  had  in  a  manner  become  relieved  of  said  blues." 

The  Knickerbocker  Magazine,  replied:  "Fervently 
appealed  to  as  an  organ  of  Eastern  scientific  opinion 
(?)  to  make  known  the  views  of  Professor  Horn,  we 
have  yielded  to  the  request.  Our  own  views  are 
respectfully  requested.  We  give  them  freely.  We 
do  not  believe  there  is  at  this  moment  on  the  globe 
a  really  scientific  philosopher  who  can,  in  any  respect, 
compare  with  Professor  Horn."  What  the  Pope, 
Queen  Yictoria,  and  the  other  dignitaries  of  Europe 
thought  of  it,  is  not  known. 

EIGHTEEN    HUNDRED   AND    FIFTY-THREE. 

This  season  witnessed  the  infusion  of  new  energy 
into  mining  operations.  It  was  found  that  many 
of  the  hills  and  flats,  like  Union  flat,  Mahala  flat, 
and  the  hills  along  the  junction  of  the  limestone  and 
slate,  had  gold  in  paying  quantities.  Extensive 
canals  were  surveyed,  and  mining  was  put  on  a  new 
basis.  The  Jackson  Ditch  Company  was  organized 
by  J.  C.  Ham,  Alonzo  Platt,  and,  soon  after,  the 
Volcano  Canal  Company,  by  J.  C.  Shipman,  B.  F. 
Wheeler,  M.  W.  Gordon,  William  Roberts,  J.  T.  Far 
ley,  W.  A.  Eliason,  and  others.  The  waters  of  the 
different  forks  of  Sutter  creek  were  carried  on  to 
the  hills  and  flats  adjoining,  and  ground-sluicing 
inaugurated.  Largo  masses  of  earth  were  now 
moved  in  a  very  short  time.  Slickens  was  born  in 
the  Winter  of  1853-54,  though  few  persons  had  at 
that  time  any  serious  idea  of  the  future  growth  of 
the  monster,  else  he  had  been  strangled  then  and 
there.  On  the  south  branch,  near  the  foot  of  Hum- 
l»ug  gulch,  was  a  nice  little  garden  of  an  acre  or  two 


FOREST    LIVERY  STABLE. 

THOMPSON  DAVIS  &  MERWIM  LEACH,  PROPS.,  PLYMOUTH.  AMADOR  C?  CAL, 


FOREST  HOUSE. 

T.VY.EASTONI,  OWNER  &  PROP  ?    PLYMOUTH,  AMADDR  C°  CAL. 


ITM.  m*ITTOIt   *  «»V.  ». 


VOLCANO  AND  VICINITY. 


209 


only  in  extent;  but  the  soil  was  rich,  and  produced 
an  abundance  of  vegetables.  An  immigrant,  by  the 
name  of  Payne,  gave  all  he  had,  about  eight  hundred 
dollars,  for  this  little  place.  The  miners  carried  a 
stream  of  water  into  the  head  of  the  gulch,  which 
was  but  a  mile  in  length,  with  a  fall  of  three  or  four 
hundred  feet,  and  moved  a  hundred  thousand  cubic 
yards  of  earth  down  the  gulch,  which  ran  a  stream 
of  mud,  which,  in  a  short  time,  buried  the  ranch 
several  feet  deep  with  the  slickens,  leaving  only  the 
roofs  of  the  buildings  above  the  ground.  The  min 
ing  law,  the  only  one  in  force  then,  gave  him  no 
remedy,  and  he  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the  destruc 
tion.  The  impetus  given  to  mining  gave  a  cor 
responding  growth  to  the  town;  and  brick,  stone 
and  grout  (cement),  buildings  went  up  in  a  short 
time. 

INTRODUCTION   OP    HYDRAULIC    MINING. 

Some  attempts  were  made  in  the  Winter  of  1853-54, 
but  the  idea  was  not  fully  developed.  The  invention 
or  use  of  hydraulic  pressure  in  mining,  is  generally 
accredited  to  Matthewson,  of  Mokelumne  Hill.  It 
is  uncertain  who  first  used  it  in  Amador  county. 
Some  persons  claim  it  for  N.  W.  Spaulding,  near 
Clinton.  In  the  Winter  of  1853-54,  tin  pipes  were 
used  as  nozzles,  with  a  pressure  of  twenty  to  thirty 
feet.  It  was  thought  impossible  to  use  a  hundred 
feet  pressure,  but  experiments  quickly  taught  the 
miners  that  no  practical  limit  was  probable;  and 
we  soon  find  the  fall  increased  to  seventy-five,  one 
hundred,  and  even  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  The 
hose  began  to  be  made  of  the  heaviest  canvas,  with 
two  or  three  thicknesses.  With  a  pressure  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  feet,  the  toughest  clays 
around  the  camp  would  melt  away  like  snow  before 
a  driving  wind,  and  more  gold  was  saved  than  before. 
Experience  suggested  improvements,  and  the  way 
was  pointed  out  which  led  to  the  Monitor,  through 
which  five  hundred  inches  are  hurled  with  force  suffi 
cient  to  move  rocks  tons  in  weight. 

At  first  it  was  customary  to  build  pen-stocks  on 
high  and  costly  frames,  which,  not  only  encumbered 
the  ground,  but  were  liable  to  blow  down,  or  fall,  by 
the  moving  or  sliding  of  the  ground,  near  large 
excavations.  It  was  learned  that  all  the  pressure 
was  utilized  by  laying  the  hose  on  the  ground,  along 
the  slope  of  the  hill.  Mason  &  Foster  were  the 
first  to  use  iron  pipe  for  hydraulic  purposes.  This 
was  five  and  a  quarter  inches  in  diameter,  and  some 
thing  over  two  hundred  feet  long,  which,  with  can 
vas  hose  at  the  head,  gave  a  pressure  of  nearly  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet.  This  was  sufficient  to  burst 
copper-riveted,  four-inch,  leather  hose,  and  force 
twenty  inches  of  water,  miners'  measurement,  through 
an  inch  nozzle.  Some  difficulty  was  experienced  in 
providing  for  the  expansion  and  contraction  of  the 
pipe.  In  a  hot  day  the  pipe  would  expand  several 
inches;  a  stream  of  cold  water  turned  in  would  sud 
denly  contract  it,  and,  of  course,  cause  a  break.  This 
was  remedied  by  making  flexible  joints,  and  in  a  few 
27 


weeks  the  "  new  notion,"  as  it  was  termed,  became  a 
starting-point  for  other  improvements.  The  pipe, 
constructed  in  March,  1856,  is  still  in  use. 

THE  NATURE    OF    THE    GRAVEL    DEPOSITS 

Began  to  be  studied.  The  fact  that  gulches  cross 
ing  limestone  ranges  were  generally  rich  below  such 
junction,  was  observed,  though  the  reasons  were  then, 
and  are  even  now,  little  understood;  a  subsequent 
conclusion,  that  the  hills  adjoining  must  be  rich, 
caused  many  good  claims  to  be  opened.  The  Mason 
&  Foster  claim  was  of  this  character.  The  point 
of  rocks  near  the  foot  of  the  Boardman  hill,  was  as 
unlikely  a  place  to  find  gold,  except  for  the  theory 
referred  to,  as  one  could  well  find;  yet  the  ground 
payed  in  places  from  the  top  down  forty  or  fifty 
feet.  There  appeared  to  have  been  several  channels 
worn  through  the  rocks  by  a  former  river,  a  subse 
quent  flow  diagonally  across  the  first  channels  sup 
plying  the  gold,  which  was  much  rounded.  As  no 
quartz  veins  are  found  in  the  vicinity,  the  gravel 
containing  the  gold  must  have  been  moved  from  a 
considerable  distance.  The  same  deposit  was  traced 
for  some  miles  along  the  limestone  towards  the  Mo 
kelumne  river.  It  is  now  believed  by  many  intelli 
gent  miners  that  these  deposits  are  lateral  moraines 
of  the  glacier  period,  the  location  being,  to  some 
extent,  the  consequence  of  the  usual  friable  nature 
of  the  slates  along  the  junction  of  the  limestones, 
which  favored  the  cutting  of  a  channel  on  that  line. 

IN   CHINA   GULCH. 

The  Chapline  boys,  Story  &  Co.,  A.  J.  Holmes, 
now  owner  of  the  Northern  Belle  mine  in  Nevada, 
had  good  claims  in  China  gulch,  on  the  same  range. 
The  south  branch,  which  ran  parallel  with  this 
range  and  touching  it  occasionally,  was  also  im 
mensely  rich,  though  the  gold  was  distributed 
through  gravel  in  places  sixty  or  seventy  feet  deep. 
Some  places,  like  the  Green  claim  in  Soldiers'  gulch, 
seemed  to  have  no  bottom,  but  kept  on  paying,  though 
no  gold  was  found  on  the  bed-rock — soft  mud  "  and 
nothing  more."  S.  B.  Boardman  worked  a  channel 
up  through  the  South  Branch  flat,  striking  many 
rich  pockets.  This  was  a  potato  field  in  1853. 

The  main  branch  of  Sutter  creek  where  Halsted, 
Bryant,  and  Henry  W.  Jones  had  their  ranches, 
was  also  immensely  rich  in  places.  The  Italians 
mostly  worked  this,  some  of  whom  carried  away 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  each.  Eed  gulch,  for 
merly  called  Hines  gulch,  along  the  eastern  side  of 
the  limestone,  has  also  been  rich.  Eecently  large 
machinery  was  fitted  up  on  this  place  to  run  dirt  up 
an  inclined  plane  to  a  dump  box,  but  the  great  ex 
pense  of  raising  the  dirt,  and  the  amount  of  water 
to  contend  with,  induced  the  proprietors,  Moyle  & 
Co.,  to  change  their  plan  of  working. 

VOLCANO    TUNNEL. 

A  joint-stock  company  was  formed,  nearly  all  the 
ground  on  the  flat  on  the  south  branch  as  well  as 
on  the  main  creek  purchased,  and  a  tunnel  started. 


210 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


This  was  a  bold  project;  its  length  is  two  thousand 
three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  and  strikes  the  flat  forty- 
two  feet  lower  than  the  present  outlet.  The  opening 
or  dimensions  are  eight  feet  square,  with  a  grade  of 
two  inches  to  the  rod.  In  other  days  this  would 
have  been  impi'acticable,  but  with  the  aid  of  modern 
machinery  it  has  been  comparatively  easy.  The 
compressor  drill  will  strike  two  hundred  and  fifty 
times  a  minute,  and  requires  but  one  man  to  manage 
it.  It  takes  but  little  room,  makes  no  mistakes,  and 
though  apparently  spiteful,  is  more  subject  to  control 
than  horse,  mule  or  man  power.  The  tunnel  was 
commenced  four  years  since,  working  from  both  ends; 
the  workmen  met  about  the  first  of  January,  1881. 
The  work  is  estimated  to  have  cost  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Like  all  projects  of  this  kind  it 
has  its  prophets  of  good  and  evil.  It  will  take  a  year 
or  more  to  carry  the  works  up  to  Red  gulch,  where 
the  heaviest  pay  is  expected.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  investment  may  pay. 

FORMER   PROJECTS    FOR   LOWERING   THE    OUTLET. 

In  1854  J.  W.  Bicknell,  William  Grubb,  Odell, 
Davis,  and  Harmon,  ran  a  bed-rock  flume  up  the 
Volcano  canon.  The  intention  was  to  make  only  a 
straight  channel  for  a  flume  and  make  the  pay  out 
of  the  waste  from  the  claims  above.  This  did  not 
pay,  and  in  1857  Thomas  and  John  Goodwin,  Cap 
tain  Richards,  McGrath,  and  others,  commenced 
blasting  up  through  with  the  intention  of  lowering 
the  outlet  fifteen  feet.  The  work  was  more  expen 
sive  than  was  calculated,  on  account  of  the  hardness 
of  the  rock,  which  would  require  a  fresh  drill  every 
inch;  and  the  work  was  abandoned  by  the  company, 
and  was  finished  by  Goiian  for  the  Amador  Canal 
Company,  to  aid  the  sale  of  water.  The  channel 
was  narrow  and  rough,  and  did  not  have  the  carry 
ing  capacity  to  convey  the  water  in  a  rise,  and  it  was 
found  impracticable  to  keep  it  open,  and  was  aban 
doned. 

About  the  same  time  that  the  last  project  was 
started,  Judge  Black,  a  lawyer  of  Volcano,  organized 
a  company  to  tunnel  through  the  canon,  mitch  like 
the  present  tunnel  project,  making  a  shorter  tunnel 
with  less  depth  for  outlet.  A  few  hundred  dollars 
exhausted  the  resources  of  the  projectors,  who,  not 
being  practical  miners,  could  not  obtain  the  con 
fidence  of  capitalists,  and  the  project  was  soon 
abandoned. 

The  largest  population  was  in  1855,  the  place  cast 
ing  nearly  one  thousand  two  hundred  votes  .in  that 
season.  The  population  was  by  no  means  permanent, 
having  been  attracted  to  the  place  by  the  reports  of 
rich  mines  that  would  pay  down  an  indefinite  depth. 
It  remained  at  about  that  figure  until  the  Table 
Mountain  excitement  in  Tuolumne  county,  in  1856. 
That  drew  away  a  great  many,  and  the  Frazer  River 
boom  a  year  or  two  later,  drew  off  a  still  greater 
number.  Notwithstanding  some  discoveries  in  quartz 
and  many  good  claims  which  continued  to  pay,  the 
place  showed  a  steady  decrease  in  population  until 


about  1876,  when,  in  consequence  of  some  important 
discoveries  in  quartz,  notably  the  Hanford  and  Downs 
mine,  the  Golden  Gate  and  the  Pioneer,  a  reaction 
set  in.  Volcano  may  now  be  reckoned  as  a  promis 
ing  town  again.  Some  new  buildings  are  being 
erected  and  old  ones  repaired  and  enlarged. 

FIRES. 

Volcano  has  had  rather  a  large  share  of  destruc 
tion  in  this  way.  The  first  large  fire  occurred  in 
August,  1853,  commencing  in  the  Eureka  Hotel, 
kept  by  Myers.  This  occurred  near  midnight.  The 
house  had  just  been  built,  was  a  two-story  building, 
costing  perhaps  five  or  six  thousand  dollars.  There 
was  no  bell  or  other  means  of  arousing  the  people, 
and  the  first  alarm  was  the  shooting  of  revolvers 
like  fire-crackers,  the  progress  of  the  fire  being  so 
rapid  that  the  boarders  had  not  time  to  remove  their 
personal  property.  The  building  being  of  a  light 
and  combustible  material,  was  soon  consumed.  The 
flumes  spread  north  towards  the  National  Hotel, 
and  south  towards  the  creek,  consuming  several 
buildings,  Myers  and  Duke  (the  latter  owning  the 
store  at  the  junction  of  the  old  streets,  near  the 
present  St.  George,  which  is  on  the  site  of  the  old 
Eureka,)  being  the  principal  losers.  But  for  the 
fact  that  there  was  a  deep  hole  of  water  in  the  vicin 
ity,  the  whole  town  would  have  burned.  A  line  of 
buckets  was  quickly  formed  and  a  stream  of  water 
poured  upon  the  adjacent  buildings,  and  the  fire 
stayed. 

THE  LARGEST  FIRE 

Occurred  in  November,  1859.  This  commenced  in  a 
bakery  on  the  corner  of  Consolation  and  Main 
streets,  about  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The 
buildings  were  very  dry,  no  rain  having  yet  fallen. 
The  hook  and  ladder  company,  the  only  organized 
fire  company,  attempted  to  arrest  it  by  pulling  down 
buildings,  but  without  success,  as  the  ruins  could 
not  be  dragged  out  of  the  way  in  time  to  keep  them 
from  taking  fire,  and  the  buildings  down  the  street 
as  far  asThurston's  store  were  all  consumed.  Dur 
ing  the  eafly  part  of  the  fire  it  progressed  towards 
the  lower  end  of  town  against  a  gentle  breeze  from 
the  south-east;  but  the  wind  soon  freshened  and 
drove  it  back  on  its  first  course,  burning  the  build 
ings  on  the  back  streets  that  had  been  saved  in  its 
first  movement.  The  Mahoney  Hall  and  the  build 
ings  north  of  Consolation  street  were  saved  by 
covering  them  with  wet  blankets.  There  is  no 
recorded  list  of  losses  obtainable,  but  the  following 
are  among  some  of  the  larger  ones,  the  aggregate 
being  about  sixty  thousand  dollars  : — 

Henry   Fredericks $  3,000 

J.  Goldswortby. 2,000 

Else  Estate 1,000 

Ballurd's  National  House  (built  in  1851).  2,000 

Gerhard  Spohn  &  Co 3,000 

Fridonburg's  Saloon   and  Bakery 4,000 

B.    F.  George's  Empire  Hotel  (formerly 

Eureka) _  10,000 


VOLCANO  AND  VICINITY. 


211 


The  losses  numbered  about  twenty-five,  the  build 
ings  being  partially  insured.  It  was  late  in  the 
season,  but  by  the  first  of  January  most  of  the 
burned  district  was  rebuilt.  The  goods  saved  were 
stored  in  Clute's  and  Handford's  stores  until  new 
ones  were  built.  The  town  quickly  recovered  from 

this  fire. 

FIRE  OF  1862. 

This  occurred  in  October,  and  commenced  in  the 
St.  George  Hotel  (formerly  Empire,  Eureka),  in  the 
kitchen  roof,  burning  the  whole  block  on  which  it 
stood.  The  fire  was  arrested  by  tearing  down  Je 
rome's  livery  stable. 
Partial  list  of  losses: — 

B.  F.  George $10,000 

Fridenburg's  Saloon 4,000 

G.  Spohn  &  Co 3,000 

FIRE   OF    1865. 

This  commenced  in  a  building  north  of  Hanford's 
store,  burning  all  on  that  side  as  far  as  Whiting's 
shop;  all  the  wooden  buildings  across  the  street, 
including  the  old  Volcano  Hotel,  built  by  Gemmil 
in  1851,  several  residences,  also  several  China  stores. 
This  part  of  the  town  was  the  first  built,  and  con 
tained  many  old  landmarks,  such  as  Mahoney  Hall, 
Philadelphia  House,*  etc.  Aggregate  losses,  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars. 

LOYAL    FLAG. 

Mahony  Hall  had  been  used  as  an  armory  by  the 
Volcano  Blues,  an  intensely  loyal  company.  The 
flag  was  flying  when  the  building  took  fire,  and  in 
the  hurry  and  confusion  was  overlooked  when  they 
were  compelled  to  leave  the  building,  much  to  the 
regret  of  the  Blues.  The-  old  flag  refused  to  burn 
or  to  fall,  and  waved  in  triumph  until  the  tall  flag 
staff  burned  off,  when  it  fell  beyond  the  fire,  and 
was  saved  by  the  boys,  who  made  a  rush  for  it. 

YEAR   OF    FIRES. 

The  year  1868  was  called  the  year  of  fires,  no  less 
than  five  having  occurred.  Most  of  the  buildings 
burned  had  been  insured  when  property  was  high, 
and  the  town  prosperous.  When  the  town  began 
to  decline,  and  property  depreciate,  the  amount  for 
which  the  buildings  were  insured  was  often  greater 
than  any  sum  for  which  they  could  be  sold;  hence 
a  suspicion  that  the  fires  were  not  altogether  acci 
dental.  The  locality  of  the  next  fire  was  a  matter 
of  speculation  based  on  the  notoriously  high  insur 
ance.  The  first  fire  was  in  Fabian's  store,  near  the 
post-office,  burning  all  on  that  side  of  the  street 
to  Hanford's  store,  six  or  eight  buildings  being 
destroyed.  By  extraordinary  efforts  of  .Robert 
Stewart,  Q.  Mason,  Pettis  Williams,  and  Isaac  Whit 
ney,  who  stood  on  Goldsmith's  saloon  and  kept  it 
wet,  the  fire  was  prevented  from  crossing  the  street. 
Some  of  these  men  fought  the  fire  so  closely  that 

*The  writer  had  a  residence  for  some  time  in  one  of  these 
hotels  in  1853,  and  begs  leave  to  say  if  they  were  as  densely 
populated  as  in  that  day,  the  destruction  of  life  was  inevitably 
enormous. 


their  clothes  were  charred  on  them.  The  losses 
were  about  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  Two  or  three 
weeks  after,  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  the  fire  broke 
out  in  a  saloon  and  bakery,  on  the  corner  of  Consola 
tion  and  Main  streets,  owned  by  George  Schaffer, 
burning  all  on  that  side  down  to  Burleson's  store. 
The  flames  reached  over  the  store,  setting  fire  to 
the  next  building,  but  by  courageous  efforts  the  fire 
was  stayed  at  that  point.  Losses,  about  six  thou 
sand  dollars.  The  next  fire  was  in  the  bend  south 
of  the  creek,  burning  Sorrocco's  store,  with  the  con 
tents.  Loss,  about  twelve  thousand  dollars.  The 
next,  two  weeks  after,  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night, 
commenced  in  the  stable  belonging  to  Nicolas  & 
Wendal,  butchers,  communicating  to  Fridenburg's 
saloon  and  bakery,  and  Mrs.  Hemlin's  dwelling- 
house.  Losses,  about  eight  thousand  dollars,  all 
insured.  Fulton's  dwelling-house  was  burned  the 
same  season.  The  fire  commenced  in  the  night,  and 
was  quelled,  as  it  was  thought,  but  soon  after  the 
house  was  found  to  be  again  in  flames,  and  was  soon 
destroyed. 

HANFORD'S  STORE. 

One  of  the  oldest  and  most  expensive  structures 
in  town  was  burned  in  1872.  A  kerosene  lamp  fell 
into  the  hatchway  of  the  cellar,  about  nine  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  breaking  in  pieces  and  setting  fire  to 
the  goods  in  the  vicinity.  The  flames  were  extin 
guished  and  no  further  trouble  was  apprehended,  but 
the  fire  had  unexpectedly  communicated  to  the 
extensive  stock  of  liquors,  and  flames  were  soon 
bursting  out  all  over  the  cellar.  A  few  minutes' 
attempt  to  put  out  the  flames  showed  the  doom  of  the 
building,  and  the  hatchway  was  closed  down,  and  as 
many  goods  removed  as  was  possible,  about  four  thou 
sand  dollars  being  saved.  The  removal  of  the  goods, 
by  as  many  as  could  work,  was  kept  up  until  the  floor 
commenced  sinking,  when  all  hands  were  ordered 
out  and  the  doors  closed.  Soon  after  this  the  liquors, 
being  raised  to  a  boiling  point  by  the  great  heat  in 
the  cellar,  exploded,  blowing  out  the  rear  of  the  store 
and  raising  the  floors  and  roof  a  few  feet,  which  fell 
in  as  they  settled  back,  and  the  work  of  destruction 
was  completed  in  a  few  minutes. 

As  there  are  some  reports  in  circulation  to  the 
effect  that  this  fire  was  contemplated  to  get  the 
insurance,  the  author  has  taken  some  trouble  in 
getting  the  true  history  of  the  matter.  The  stories 
that  the  goods  had  been  secretly  removed  and  empty 
boxes  substituted;  that  the  cords  on  which  the  lamps 
were  suspended  had  been  arranged  so  as  to  burn  off; 
that  a  train  of  combustibles  had  been  laid  so  as  to 
connect  with  the  inflammable  liquors,  may  be  true, 
but  considered  in  connection  with  the  known  facts, 
that  ten  thousand  dollars  had  recently  been  added  to 
the  stock;  that  Hanford  seriously  risked  his  life  in 
saving  the  goods,  being  almost  dragged  out  of  the 
building  after  the  floor  had  commenced  sinking; 
that  he  left  his  watch  and  many  valuable  relics  in  his 
desk,  which  were  destroyed,  they  seemed  so  improb- 


212 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


able  that  the  insurance  companies  did  not  consider 
them  worth  notice. 

The  careful  reader  will  notice  that  the  site  of  the 
present  St.  George,  owned  by  A.  Petty,  has  been 
burned  over  three  times,  as  well  as  the  ground 
adjoining  on  the  north.  The  first  hotel,  the  Eureka, 
was  burned  in  August,  1853;  the  second,  by  the  same 
name,  B.  F.  George  proprietor,  in  1859;  it  was  next 
called  the  Empire,  with  the  same  proprietor,  and  was 
burned  in  1862.  B.  F.  George  seemed  to  rise  with 
the  necessities  of  the  occasion  and  twice  raised  it 
over  the  ashes,  each  time  better  than  before.  It  still 
lives,  perhaps  the  best  hotel  in  the  county. 

MINER'S  JOKE. 

In  an  early  day,  Major  Shipman,  a  favorite  of  the 
public  and  several  times  a  County  Clerk  and  other 
wise  honored  with  office,  was  mining  in  a  tunnel  in 
Volcano.  One  day  he  was  rather  unfortunate,  a 
piece  of  steel  from  his  pick  breaking  off  and  cutting 
him  severely  over  the  eye.  The  wound  was  more 
frightful  than  dangerous,  and  it  occurred  to  him  to 
sell  some  of  his  friends.  He  first  called  on  the  Good 
win  boys.  They  were  alarmed  at  his  appearance, 
the  blood  running  freely  over  his  face,  and  inquired 
how  he  got  hurt.  He  told  them  he  had  a  difficulty 
with  a  man  by  the  name  of  Steel,  whom  he  found  in 
his  tunnel;  further  inquiry  elicited  the  fact  that  the 
man  was  still  in  the  tunnel,  and  was  likely  to  stay 
there  until  he  was  brought  out.  They  thought  it  a 
matter  of  prudence  to  take  the  body  out  of  the  tun 
nel,  for  if  found  there  it  might  make  trouble  when 
the  miners  found  it  out,  and  actually  started  off  to 
remove  the  body,  but  returned  when  they  found 
they  were  sold.  They  went  to  Jim  Farley,  known 
to  be  a  warm  friend  of  the  Major's,  and  told  him 
that  Shipman  had  got  into  a  serious  difficulty.  Far 
ley  immediately  responded,  and  advised  Shipman  to 
leave  the  country,  as  the  miners  might  lynch  him  if 
they  got  enraged,  "  if,  as  you  say,  every  miner  in 
the  camp  is  a  friend  of  Steel's."  "Have  you  any 
money?"  says  Farley.  "  None  to  speak  of,"  replies 
Shipman.  "  Well,"  says  Farley,  "  I  have  but  little. 
I  can  get  you  two  hundred  dollars  and  a  horse,  and 
the  sooner  you  are  off  the  better."  The  Major's 
heart  began  to  relent  at  the  part  he  was  playing,  as 
Jim  seemed  to  be  quite  alarmed,  and  the  Major  was 
obliged  to  explain.  "  Few  and  short  were  the 
prayers  "  Parley  said,  as  he  turned  on  his  heel.  "  Oh, 
h 1!" — nothing  more. 

PLEASANT  NOCTURNAL    VISITOR. 

Some  time  in  the  fifties,  a  showman,  traveling  with 
a  tame  bear,  gave  an  exhibition  at  Mahoney  Hall. 
During  the  following  night,  the  bear  escaped  from 
its  keepers,  and  started  out  in  search  of  adventures. 
The  rear  part  of  the  hall  opened  on  the  roofs  and 
balconies  of  several  buildings,  and  the  bear  made 
his  way  into  a  chamber  occupied  by  a  shoemaker,  by 
the  name  of  Poole,  an  odd,  irascible  character,  who 
had  been  made  the  butt  of  many  practical  jokes. 


When  he  felt  the  bed-clothing  being  dragged  off,  he 
thought  the  boys  were  at  their  old  tricks  again.  He 
made  a  grab  for  the  intruder,  and  was  lucky  enough 
to  catch  him  by  the  scalp.  .  The  supposed  boy  mak 
ing  no  resistance,  Poole's  courage  rose  to  the  occa 
sion,  and  he  determined  to  light  a  match,  and  see 
who  had  so  often  disturbed  his  slumbers.  Now, 
Poole  was  considered  the  ugliest  man  in  all  those 
parts,  his  face,  according  to  judges  of  physiognomy, 
indicating  a  decided  progression,  or  divergence, 
towards  the  catfish  type  of  animals.  When  the 
German  match  flashed  into  a  bright  flame,  revealing 
the  parties  to  each  other,  their  astonishment  was 
mutual.  If  Poole  was  terrified,  so  was  the  bear, 
which  gave  a  horrible  howl,  and  tumbled  out  of  the 
window  with  all  possible  dispatch. 

MURDER   OF    BECKMAN    IN    1853. 

This  was  attended  with  such  unmitigated  atrocities 
that  the  community  was  thoroughly  aroused.  Beck- 
man,  a  German,  kept  a  store  nearly  in  front  of 
Mahoney  Hall,  and  by  his  straightforward  character 
had  won  the  good  opinion  of  all  his  acquaintances. 
One  morning  he  did  not  open  the  store  as  usual.  On 
examining  the  premises  the  rear  door  was  found 
partly  open,  though  not  broken,  and  Beckman  in  his 
bunk  alive,  but  speechless  and  insensible  from  a  ter 
rible  cut  with  an  ax,  which  had  cleft  his  skull;  the 
bloody  ax,  the  broken  safe  or  chest,  in  which  he 
was  known  to  keep  his  money,  and  other  circum 
stances,  revealing  the  details  and  motives  of  the 
murder.  It  was  ascertained  that  Chris,  a  German, 
mining  on  Mokelumne  river  in  company  with  Harry 
Fox,  an  Englishman,  had  been  in  the  habit  of  sleep 
ing  in  the  store  on  his  occasional  visits  to  the  town; 
that  he  had  been  there  at  a  late  hour  the  previous 
evening.  Other  circumstances  also  pointed  towards 
Chris  and  Harry  as  the  criminals. 

After  a  fruitless  search  for  several  days  it  was 
learned  that  they  had  left  the  State  by  the  emigrant 
road.  They  were  afterwards  recognized  on  a  Nica 
ragua  steamer  by  an  eastern  bound  passenger,  who 
had  them  apprehended  and  sent  to  California  by  a 
return  vessel.  On  their  way  up,  Chris  threw  himself 
overboard  and  was  drowned.  Fox  was  carried  to 
Mokelumne  Hill,  and  placed  in  jail  to  await  his  trial. 
He  soon  after  escaped,  the  ten  thousand  dollars  of 
which  Beckman  was  robbed,  being,  possibly,  a  fac 
tor^in  the  matter.  The  fugitives  had  made  their 
way  towards  the  East  as  far  as  Salt  Lake,  where, 
fancying  they  were  pursued,  they  turned  towards 
Mexico,  and  made  their  way  towards  where  they 
were  arrested. 

LYNCH  LAW. 

The  only  execution  in  Volcano  under  this  code 
occurred  in  November,  1854.  A  young  man  from 
Arkansas,  by  the  name  of  Messer,  had,  during  the 
Summer,  evinced  a  very  bloodthirsty  spirit,  evi 
dently  desirous  of  "  getting  away  with  his  man"  as 
soon  as  convenient.  He  wore  a  knife  in  a  conspicu- 


RESIDENCE  BRANCH  OF  J.H.HOLMAN,  NEAR  PLYMOUTH,  AMADORC?CAL. 


RESIDENCE  AND  RANCH  OF  S.C.WHEELER, 
NEAR  PLYMOUTH,  AMADDR  C?GAL. 


VOLCANO  AND  VICINITY. 


213 


ous  manner,  and  often  boasted  of  his  ability  to  cut 
his  way  with  it.  He  had  already  crippled  for  life  a 
young  man  by  the  name  of  Byrne,  in  a  trifling  dis 
pute  over  a  game  of  cards,  and,  when  the  final 
offense  was  committed,  there  was  no  sympathy  for 
him. 

In  the  Autumn  of  that  year  a  family  by  the  name 
of  McAllister  had  located  in  the  town.  The  father 
and  mother  were  ignorant,  uncultivated  people,  and 
felt  rather  flattered  than  otherwise  with  the  numer 
ous  visits  to  their  house,  the  chief  attraction  being  a 
girl  of  perhaps  fourteen  years.  One  evening,  Messer 
and  his  three  or  four  companions  were  refused 
admission.  By  listening  at  the  door  they  had  ascer 
tained  that  several  men  were  already  in  the  house, 
and  Messer's  companions  urged  him  to  clean  them 
out,  promising  to  "  back  him  up."  The  door  was 
fastened  on  the  inside  with  a  pin  inserted  in  the  door 
post,  a  usual  method  of  securing  doors  in  new 
countries.  Messer,  familiar  with  this  kind  of  lock, 
succeeded  in  prj'ing  the  pin  out  with  the  point  of  his 
knife,  and,  opening  the  door,  entered  with  his  com 
panions.  The  old  man  expostulated  with  him,  begged 
that  he  would  make  no  disturbance,  and  it  seemed, 
put  his  hand  on  Messer's  shoulder,  though  with 
out  using  any  force,  or  trying  to  eject  him.  Messer 
drew  his  ever-ready  knife,  and,  with  a  back-handed 
thrust,  plunged  it  into  the  old  man's  bowels,  com 
pletely  severing  the  liver  from  the  body.  The 
wound  was  of  course  fatal,  the  pallor  of  death  com 
ing  over  his  features  in  an  instant.  This  seemed  to 
have  satisfied  Messer  and  his  companions,  who  left 
immediately.  Several  young  men  in  the  house 
witnessed  the  affair,  which  was  so  sudden  and  unex 
pected  that  they  could  offer  no  resistance.  They 
were,  apparently,  too  astonished  to  raise  an  alarm, 
and  could  hardly  give  a  coherent  account  of  the  mur 
der.  Mrs.  McAllister  raised  the  neighbors  byyelling 

at  the  top  of  her  voice:  " , jiminy,  send  for 

a  doctor!  "  with  a  persistency  that  under  less  serious 
circumstances  would  have  been  quite  laughable. 

A  general  pursuit  of  the  parties  commenced,  and 
Messer  was  apprehended  in  a  short  time  and  taken 
past  the  scene  of  the  murder.  He  was  now  bellowing 
like  a  baby,  his  courage  having  failed  at  the  sight  of 
danger.  The  crowd  passed  over  the  bridge  toward 
the  town.  At  the  Miners'  restaurant  they  halted  a 
moment.  In  answer  to  the  question — "  What  shall 
we  do  with  him?"  the  cry  was  "Hang  him!  hang 
him!  "  A  proposition  was  made  to  do  something  for 
the  widow,  but  no  response  was  made.  Up  through 
the  main  street,  every  house  helping  to  swell  the 
stream,  no  voices,  no  sound  but  the  dull  tramp, 
tramp  of  hundreds  of  feet,  the  crowd  made  their 
way.  At  Consolation  street  they  turned  toward  the 
Methodist  church.  Up  that  street,  no  one  knew 
whither,  to  the  foot  of  the  hill,  thence  to  the  left, 
halting  in  a  ravine  to  the  north  of  the  church  where 
there  was  a  leaning  oak  tree,  the  top  of  which  was 
broken  off  twenty  or  thirty  feet  from  the  ground. 


There  was  no  consultation,  no  form  of  a  trial;  every 
thing  seemed  to  be  done  by  common  consent.  Here 
an  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made,  by  Constable 
Scott,  to  arrest  the  lynching.  Messer  seemed  to 
have  partially  recovered  his  self-command,  gave 
some  directions  as  to  the  disposal  of  his  property, 
and  the  payment  of  a  few  dollars  he  was  owing  in  the 
town.  His  last  words  were  to  this  effect:  "  If  I  was 
right  in  killing  him,  God  will  forgive  me;  if  I  am 
wrong,  I  hope  God  will  punish  him,"  evidently 
referring  to  himself.  There  was  so  little  noise  that 
persons  sleeping  in  houses  a  little  way  off  heard 
nothing  of  the  affair,  and  were  much  astonished, 
when  they  awoke  in  the  morning,  at  seeing  a  dead 
man  hanging  so  near  them.  There  was  no  frantic 
excitement  or  rage,  usually  manifested  on  such  occa 
sions.  The  hanging  seemed  a  foregone  conclusion 
from  the  start. 

Had  this  murder  been  committed  by  an  influential 
man  a  quarter  of  a  century  later,  a  plea  of  hereditary 
insanity  would  probably  have  saved  him  from  execu 
tion  or  any  other  serious  punishment.  Messer  was 
not  insane ;  he  was  simply  acting  his  ideal  of  man 
hood.  He  had  been  educated  in  that  way ;  was 
taught  that  a  gentleman  must  "get  away  with  his 
man."  Though  the  murder  was  of  the  most  atro 
cious  character,  without  the  motive  of  anger,  revenge 
or  lust,  purely  wanton,  some  might  say  thoughtless, 
he  placed  himself  on  trial  before  bis  God.  "  If  I  was 
right  in  killing  him  God  will  forgive  me.  If  I  was 
wrong  I  hope  he  will  punish  me." 

Men  ought  not  to  be  punished  for  acting  up  to  their 
instincts  or  convictions.  Crime  is  the  result  of  moral 
and  physical  infirmities,  modified  by  education  and 
circumstances,  and  to  a  great  extent,  is  inevitable. 
Punishment  is  an  absurdity,  an  impossibility.  It 
does  not  restore  the  victim  to  his  family  or  to  society. 
The  right  to  take  the  life  of  a  criminal  must  rest  on 
the  broader  ground  of  self-protection;  that  whether 
from  choice  or  necessity,  his  further  existence  is  not 
consistent  with  the  security  of  life  and  property,  and 
must  cease.  The  present  insecurity  of  life  does  not 
result  so  much  from  the  want  of  law  as  from  its  refine 
ments.  The  upper,  not  the  lower  classes,  are  now 
setting  law  at  defiance. 

Substantial  justice  had  been  done  without  the 
forms  or  delays  of  the  law.  No  friends  claiming  the 
body  for  burial,  it  was  taken  by  the  doctors  and 
skeletonized,  some  of  the  attending  circumstances 
being  revolting.  Portions  of  the  body  were  said  to 
have  been  devoured  by  hogs,  which  had  discovered 
the  pool  of  water  into  which  the  remains  were  placed 
to  disintegrate  the  flesh  from  the  bones.  The  skel 
eton  was  used  to  illustrate  public  lectures  on  anatomy 
and  physiology.  All  the  circumstances  were  such  as 
to  strike  those  criminally  inclined  with  terror,  if  such 
a  thing  were  possible.  Mark  the  result.  Among  the 
most  prominent  of  the  volunteer  executioners  were 
Dr.  Goodwin,  who  was  shot  in  a  row  at  Snelling's 
ranch,  Si  Maynard,  who  was  hanged  by  a  mob  for 


214 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


stealing  cattle,  and  Johnson,  who  was  hanged  in 
Sierra  county  for  murder.  Mansur,  who  assisted,  died 
shortly  afterwards  of  consumption.  These  results 
are  not  related  as  retributive  justice,  but  to  show  the 
frequent  inutility  of  lynch  law  as  a  means  of  reform, 
or  deterring  others  from  committing  crime.  It  often 
happens  that  in  new  countries  like  California  crime 
precedes  the  organization  of  courts,  compelling  the 
community  to  fall  back  on  the  first  principles  of  gov 
ernment,  by  organizing  in  self-defense;  but  when  it  is 
necessary  to  anticipate  courts,  or  supplement  their 
inefficient  authority  by  "Judge  Lynch's"  code,  it 
should  be  done  by  those  whose  motives  in  undertak 
ing  it  are  unquestionable  ;  who  look  upon  the  pro 
ceeding  as  a  deplorable  necessity,  rather  than  as  an 
act  of  vengeance. 

STAGE    ROBBERIES. 

This  place^has  become  noted  for  the  stage  rob 
beries  occurring  in  the  vicinity.  The  hill  was  usually 
selected  for  the  operation,  the  early  morning  hour  at 
which  the  stage  started  for  Sacramento  also  favoring 
the  robbers.  The  largest  robbery  occurred  May  1, 
1872.  A  suspicion  that  an  attack  was  contemplated 
caused  the  agent  of  the  express  company  to  send 
through  a  corresponding  weight  of  rocks  for  several 
days,  which  went  without  disturbance.  One  morn 
ing  the  bullion,  worth  about  ten  thousand  dollars, 
was  started.  It  was  thought  that  no  one  had  a 
knowledge  of  the  affair,  but  when  near  the  top  of 
the  hill  the  driver,  Dick  Hipkins,  was  confronted  by 
two  masked  men  with  revolvers,  who  ordered  him  to 
dismount,  which  he  did.  One  of  the  men  mounted 
the  box,  took  the  lines  and  drove  the  team  a  short 
distance  into  the  timber  where  the  horses  were 
unhitched  from  the  coach.  The  men  then  proceeded 
to  detach  the  treasure  box  from  the  wagon,  after 
which  it  was  broken  open  with  an  ax.  After  having 
taken  out  the  treasure,  the  robbers  told  Hipkins  to 
proceed  on  his  way,  the  robbers  taking  the  road  to 
Volcano.  John  N.  Boardman  was  arrested  for  the 
robbery,  tried  and  acquitted.  Several  prominent  men 
were  suspected,  but  no  other  arrests  were  made. 
The  express  agency  was  disestablished  and  the  ship 
pers  of  dust  have  experienced  much  inconvenience  in 
consequence. 

MINERS'  LIBRARY  ASSOCIATION. 

Such  a  gathering  of  professional  and  literary  men 
was  sure  to  ripen  into  action.  Some  attempts  were 
made  by  Robert  Beth  as  early  as  1850  to  bring 
about  a  public  library.  Some  of  the  merchants 
bought  a  stock  of  novels  and  light  reading,  which 
was  loaned  at  ten  cents  a  volume.  The  first  organ 
ized  effort  to  get  reading  matter  was  in  the  Autumn 
of  1854,  when  the  "  Miners'  Library  Association  " 
was  formed,  with  admission  fees  of  one  dollar,  and 
monthly  dues  of  twenty-five  cents.  Weekly  meet 
ings  were  held  to  discuss  social,  political,  and  scien 
tific  questions.  Such  talent  as  was  obtainable  was 
engaged  for  occasional  lectures.  The  Baptist  church, 
the  building  now  going  to  ruin,  was  frequently  filled 


with  attentive  and  interested  hearers.  When  a 
hundred  dollars  had  been  accumulated  a  list  of  books 
was  ordered,  and  a  respectable  nucleus  of  a  library 
formed.  The  institution  ran  smoothly  for  three  or 
four  months,  when,  a  series  of  revival  meetings,  held 
at  the  Methodist  church,  drew  away  the  audience. 
The  society  made  the  mistake  of  neglecting  to 
incorporate,  and  when  the  weekly  meetings  began  to 
lose  their  interest,  a  rumor  got  into  circulation  that 
the  society  was  broken  up,  whereupon  a  grab  was 
made  for  the  books,  and  the  Library  Association 
dissolved  in  a  day  or  two,  never  to  recover,  as  there 
was  no  power  to  compel  restitution  of  books.  Among 
the  founders  of  this  society,  were  John  King,  R.  C. 
Jacobs,  I.  W.  Whitney,  Robert  Stewart,  Henry  C. 
Foster,  Charles,  William,  and  Bartholomew  Chapline, 
James  Whitesides,  J.  D.  Mason  and  others. 

DRAMATIC   SOCIETIES. 

The  Volcano  Thespian  Society  was  formed  in  the 
Winter  of  1854-55.  Many  of  the  promoters  of  the 
defunct  Library  Association,  threw  their  energies 
into  this  institution,  and  for  a  few  months  gave  occa 
sional  exhibitions.  u  The  Golden  Farmer "  was 
played,  with  James  Whitesides  for  the  farmer;  R.  C. 
Jacobs,  for  Elizabeth;  Dr.  Gibson,  now  of  Stock 
ton,  for  Jimmy  Twitcher;  other  parts  forgotten. 
James  Rile  was  scene-painter.  He  was  mining  in 
Humbug  gulch,  and  gave  the  society  the  benefit  of 
his  skill  as  a  scenic  painter,  which  was  considerable, 
whenever  a  man  was  put  in  his  place  in  the  mine. 
Two  young  boys,  by  the  name  of  Geo.  Y.  and  Louis 
Miller,  now  stalwart,  bearded  men  in  San  Francisco, 
made  two  handsome  actresses.  This  institution  gave 
the  school  a  benefit  or  two,  ran  a  few  months  until 
the  evenings  got  too  short  for  work,  and  collapsed. 
A  wandering  theatrical  party  afterwards  borrowed 
the  small  property,  and  left  without  remembering  to 
return  it. 

About  the  time  this  society  started,  another  put  in 
appearance.  The  second  one  embraced  some  musical 
talent,  and  played  for  a  few  times;  once  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Baptist  church.  For,  the  "  benefit  of 
the  Baptist  church,"  became  a  by-word;  the  gam 
blers  opened  their  games  for  the  "  benefit  of  the 

Baptist  church." 

RUSSELL'S  HILL. 

This  is  a  gravel  deposit  on  the  line  of  the  Volcano 
ridge,  and  probably  belongs  to  the  same  range  as 
Upper  Rancheria.  It  was  left  in  the  great  glacial 
erosion  which  cut  out  the  valleys  north  of  Volcano. 
It  was  good  for  an  ounce  a  da}7  in  early  time. 

FORT  JOHN 

Is  a  limestone  deposit  similar  to  Volcano,  which 
place  it  bid  fair  to  rival  in  1850.  Two  or  three  men 
(names  forgotten)  who  first  mined  here  in  '49,  were 
killed  by  the  Indians.  P.  Y.  Cool,  Thomas  Rickey, 
and  James,  his  son,  mined  here  in  1850,  previous  to 
working  quartz  in  Amador.  They  were  instru 
mental  in  building  a  church  and  school-house,  per- 


VOLCANO  AND  VICINITY. 


215 


haps  the  first  in  the  county.  The  deposits  were 
neither  extensive  nor  rich,  and  the  place  soon  fell  in 
the  rear.  In  1856  it  contained  a  little  one-horse 
store,  with  a  dozen  or  more  miners,  who  were  said 
by  those  who  visited  the  place,  to  be  always  waiting 
for  water  to  come  or  go  down,  amusing  themselves 
in  the  meantime  with  bean-poker. 

In  1850  several  hundred  miners  made  good  pay  on 
the  flat;  now  one  man,  who  has  been  there  all  these 
long  years,  is  the  sole  inhabitant.  He  seems  to  have 
staid  to  point  out  the  site  of  the  former  town,  and 
relate  to  occasional  visitors  the  glories  of  the  ancient 
days.  He  remembers  where  and  when  every  event 
of  note  transpired. 

UPPER  RANCHERIA. 

This  is  a  continuation  of  the  Eussell's  hill  lead, 
some  of  the  gravel  running  under  the  deep  lava  bed 
in  the  vicinity.  In  1856  to  1860  there  were  fifty  or 
sixty  miners  here.  Some  fine  structures,  built  of  the 
indurated  lava,  from  the  adjoining  hills,  are  still  stand 
ing,  relics  of  the  former  glory  of  the  town.  The  place 
is  famous  as  the  former  residence  of  Jacob  Emmin- 
ger,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  who  sentenced  a  China 
man  to  jail  for  life  for  stealing  chickens.  Upon 
being  questioned  about  the  matter,  Jake  denied  the 
impeachment,  but  finally  justified  the  matter  by  say 
ing,  "If  I  had  not  done  so  the  crowd  would  have 
hung  the  poor  fellow."  Sam  Loree  now  keeps  a 
lonely  watch  over  the  site  of  the  ancient  town. 

AQUEDUCT    CITY 

Is  at  the  head  of  Grass  valley,  which  was  taken  up 
in  1850  by  James  Dolan,  as  a  ranch.  It  was  after 
wards  sold  to  Thompson  and  Perrin,  who  fenced  it 
and  cut  the  grass  for  hay,  which  was  worth  sixty- 
five  to  one  hundred  dollars  per  ton.  Mines  were 
discovered  near  the  head  of  the  valley  in  1850.  It 
was  first  worked  by  a  party  of  four  or  five,  Braden 
&  Co.,  who  made  a  secret  of  the  discovery,  but  not 
long,  for  one  morning  James  Henry  and  party 
appeared  and  staked  off  claims.  The  new  comers 
had  not  yet  built  cabins,  and  when  the  rain  came, 
in  September,  they  were  sleeping  in  blankets  on  the 
ground.  They  got  up  and  sat  out  the  night  astride 
of  a  log,  with  the  blankets  over  their  heads.  There 
was  no  more  rain  of  any  account  until  Spring.  The 
Huet  claim  was  the  richest  in  the  camp.  French 
gulch,  coming  into  the  valley  near  Ham's  Hotel,  was 
very  rich.  One  man  carried  away  fifty  thousand 
dollars  from  it.  Sleeper,  Lucas,  and  Bisbee  (Bob, 
now  of  Sutter  Creek),  had  claims  that  would  pay  an 
ounce  each  for  two  or  three  hours'  work.  When 
they  had  made  this,  the  day's  work  was  finished,  and 
they  put  on  white  shirts  and  mounted  their  horses 
for  a  ride  to  Jackson,  or  some  other  town. 

The  water  by  the  Ham  ditch  passed  the  Mokelumne 
divide  at  this  place.  An  aqueduct  one  hundred  and 
thirty  feet  high,  carrying  the  water  to  the  next 
ridge,  gave  name  to  the  place,  which,  about  the  time 
of  the  coming  of  the  water,  had  several  hundred 


inhabitants,  three  hotels,  two  livery  stables,  three 
stores  for  general  merchandise,  one  drug  store, 
besides  numerous  saloons.  The  first  store  was  kept 
by  Henry,  Graham  &  Biggs. 

The  old  residents  of  the  place  remember  the  sen 
sation  created  by  the  two  tall  Bell  sisters,  who  rode 
like  centaurs,  whenever  they  appeared  on  horse 
back.  The  livery  stables  had  several  pairs  of  fine 
saddle  horses,  which  were  much  in  quest  at  that 
time.  Dr.  Crawford  and  the  Johnston  brothers  had 
a  saw-mill  there,  with  quite  a  history.  It  was  for 
merly  located  in  El  Dorado  county;  some  kind  of 
attachment  being  laid  on  it,  or  expected,  it  was 
determined  to  move  it  into  Amador  county.  The 
removal  had  to  be  done  between  Saturday  night  and 
Sunday  morning,  to  prevent  a  legal  process  for 
injunction.  The  engineer,  Underwood,  afterwards 
of  Amador,  ran  the  mill  as  usual,  but  had  loosened 
every  bolt  and  nut  possible,  and,  when  twelve  o'clock 
came,  the  mill  was  shut  down,  dismembered  and 
loaded  on  a  wagon,  within  an  hour,  the  boilers  hot, 
and  the  furnace  fires  still  glowing.  Sunday  morn 
ing  found  the  place  deserted,  which  caused  the 
remark  that  Dr.  Crawford,  who  planned  the  elope 
ment,  carried  off  a  saw-mill  while  it  was  running. 
Before  midnight  it  was  in  Amador  county,  beyond 
the  reach  of  attachment. 

The  gulches  were  soon  worked  out,  and  the  hill 
diggings  did  not  prove  rich  or  permanent.  The 
place  now  has  a  few  families,  one  store,  and  one 
hotel.  Captain  Ham,  the  engineer  and  financier  of 
the  Ham  ditch,  resides  here.  Forty  years  of  active 
life  has  not  dulled  his  capacity  for  gigantic  projects, 
one  of  his  especial  favorites  being  a  canal  which 
would  transport  the  entire  amount  of  wood  and 
lumber  in  the  Sierras  to  San  Francisco. 

POTATO    DIET. 

In  the  Winter  of  1852-53,  Major  Shipman,  Albert 
and  Carter  Land,  had  been  prospecting  a  quartz 
vein  near  Grass  Valley,  boarding  at  Thompson  & 
Perrin's,  at  twenty-one  dollars  per  week.  When 
the  roads  got  so  bad  that  they  could  not  get  pro 
visions  at  all,  Thompson  &  Perrin  were  obliged 
to  close  their  house.  The  Major  had  cultivated  a 
small  patch  in  potatoes  the  Summer  before,  and  the 
party  now  started  in  on  roast  potatoes.  Jim  Henry, 
Ike  Eastman,  Jake  Cook,  and  other  boys  at  Grass 
Valley,  being  out  of  provisions  also,  were  invited  in. 
and  they  all  lived  like  kings  on  roast  potatoes  until 
the  storm  was  over,  and  the  roads  got  so  that  better 
food  could  be  obtained. 

CONTRERAS. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  a  party  of  Mexicans,  led 
by  Pablo  Contreras,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  man 
of  much  education  and  influence,  was  mining  at  this 
place,  which  was  a  few  miles  east  from  Volcano. 
There  were  numerous  small  veins  of  quartz,  from 
three  inches  to  eighteen  inches  in  width.  They  were 
pocket  veins,  a  thousand  dollars  being  often  found  in 


216 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


a  small  space.  A  largo  number  of  arastras  were 
running,  three  of  them  by  water-power.  There 
were  several  veins  in  the  vicinity  which  were  worked 
by  larger  companies.  The  Belding  vein,  worked  by 
C.  C.  Belding  of  Sutter  Creek,  changed  owners 
several  times,  at  twenty  thousand  dollars.  The 
Thierkauf  vein  was  also  rich,  some  good  crushings 
being  made.  The  wall  rocks  were  mostly  granite, 
and  the  veins  were  soon  exhausted.  The  system 
belongs  to  the  West  Point  range,  the  Mace  veins 
being  a  continuation  of  the  same.  The  gold  in  some 
of  these  veins  is  so  fine  as  to  be  unappreciable  by  the 
ordinary  processes  of  working.  Careful  panning  of 
the  decayed  quartz  will  sometimes  show  a  thousand 
microscopic  specks  of  gold,  as  fine  as  bronze,  which 
will  float  off  on  the  water.  Tavernier,  the  noted 
caricaturist  and  painter,  operated  here  for  a  while. 
Contreras  had  a  family  of  very  pretty  and  virtuous 
girls,  who  fascinated  a  score  of  young  Americans, 
some  of  whom  followed  the  family  back  to  Mexico. 
The  place  had  three  or  four  hundred  inhabitants  at 
one  time,  and  was  worked  for  some  years.  Very 
little  work  is  being  done  at  present. 

ASHLAND,  GRIZZLY    HILL,  AND    WHEELER'S    DIGGINGS. 

These  are  names  of  once  flourishing  mining  camps, 
to  the  northward  of  the  quartz  veins  last  mentioned, 
on  the  different  branches  of  Sutter  creek.     Ashland 
was    worked   by   Colonel  Bicknell   and  party.      It 
sometimes    paid    as  high  as    two  ounces   per    day. 
Wheeler's  diggings,  on  the  north  fork,  were  not  quite 
so    rich,    but  furnished    remunerative    employment 
some  years  for  quite  a  number  of  men.     In    1869, 
Mr.  H.  Parlin,  James  Hall,  and  -     -  Halsey,  experi 
enced  miners,  traced  the  pay  into  the  hills  or  ridges 
between  the  hills,  and  in  1876,  succeeded  in  carrying 
a  stream  of  water  on  to  the  hill,  developing  prob-    j 
ably  the  best  paying  gravel  mines  in  the  county  at   ' 
the  present  time.     James  Hall,  the  present  owner,   i 
has  a  tract  of  twenty  acres,  which   will   probably 
put  him  in   easy   circumstances  for   life.     A   ditch    i 
from  the  middle   fork  of  Sutter  creek,  which  runs   ! 
nearly  the  whole  season,  supplies  him   with  water;   j 
the  elevation  above  the  hill  gives  plenty  of  fall  for   | 
tailings,  and  the  quantity  of  ground,  twenty  acres,   ! 
ensures  a  life-long  and  profitable  job. 

The  deposit  seems  of  an  alluvial  character,  the 
stream  running  transversely  to  the  present  streams. 
The  pebbles  are  little  rounded,  the  boulders  of  curi 
ous  looking  quartz,  seen  in  many  places  lying  near  ! 
the  veins  of  which  they  were  once  a  part,  showing 
that  the  stream  or  river  was  inbignificant,  running 
at  a  small  depression. 

PLATSBURG, 

Or  Prospect  hill,  one  of  the  places  that  was,  the  former 
site  being  overgrown  with  pine  trees,  so  thick  as  to 
deter  even  a  rabbit  from  attempting  to  explore  it, 
was  in  the  vicinity  of  Foster's  ranch,  Hunt's  gulch. 
Spanish  gulch,  and  Whisky  flat  or  Karney's  diggings, 
belonging  to  the  same  cluster  of  gold  deposits. 


Plattsburg  has  strong  indications  of  being  the  bed 
of  a  river,  the  boulders  being  large  and  well  rounded. 
When  discovered  it  was  a  flat  of  a  few  acres  in  ex 
tent,  having  four  or  five  feet  of  gravel  under  two 
or  three  feet  of  red  soil.  In  1854  and  '55,  it  had  forty 
or  fifty  miners,  but  was  soon  worked  out  and  deserted. 
When  the  place  was  discovered,  Colonel  Platt  and 
Judge  Gale,  two  lawyers,  intent  on  immortalizing 
their  names,  played  a  game  of  euchre  to  see  whether 
it  should  be  called  Plattsburg  or  Galesburg;  the  for 
mer  winning,  and  giving  it  his  name. 

HUNT'S  GULCH 

Heads  on  the  Platsburg  hill,  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Hunt  working  it  at  an  early  day.  One  day  when 
Hunt  was  in  Jackson  he  was  informed  by  Evans,  the 
gentlemanly  proprietor  of  the  Louisiana  House, 
that  a  lady  in  the  parlor  wished  to  see  him.  As  he 
was  young  and  rather  good  looking,  the  request  was 
not  surprising,  and  he  responded  with  alacrity.  The 
lady  had  arrived  that  morning  from  the  East,  on  her 
way  to  her  husband,  whose  name  was  Steven  Hunt, 
of  Volcano.  On  inquiring  for  him  she  was  much 
pleased  to  learn  that  he  was  in  the  house  at  the 
time.  Evans  was  not  aware  that  Hunt  had  no  wife, 
and  thought  to  give  him  an  agreeable  surprise.  She 
clasped  her  arms  around  Hunt's  neck,  kissed  him, 
and  sunk  her  face,  bathed  with  tears  of  joy,  into 
his  bosom,  as  any  faithful  wife  would  naturally  do 
after  a  separation  of  years.  After  reposing  there  a 
moment  she  took  a  second  and  better  look  at  his  face 
and  starting  back  with  a  look  of  about  equal  parts 
of  alarm  and  indignation,  exclaimed,  "You  are  not 
my  husband!"  "  No,"  says  he,  "unfortunately  for 
me,  I  am  not."  A  little  inquiry  elicited  the  fact  that 
the  true  Steven  Hunt  was  in  Volcano,  unconscious  of 
the  proximity  of  his  wife.  As  the  interested  parties 
were  sensible  persons,  there  was  no  shooting  or  other 
display  of  foolishness. 

Spanish  gulch  emptied  into  the  south  branch  near 
Hunt's  gulch.  It  was  worked  in  1850  by  James  L. 
Halstead,  who  has  been  referred  to  before.  It  was 
said  to  be  good  at  first  but  was  abandoned  in  a  year 
or  two. 

Whisky  Slide,  where  Andy  Karney  and  Charlie 
Ackerly  made  a  raise,  was  a  flat  near  Spanish  gulch, 
and  probably  was  once  the  channel.  It  was  good 
for  an  ounce  a  day.  It  was  discovered  about  1855 
by  a  rather  ludicrous  accident.  The  lucky  discov 
erers  were  in  the  habit  of  returning  to  their  cabin 
late  at  night  and  in  an  inebriated  condition.  On  one 
of  these  trips  one  of  the  party  tumbled  into  a  pros 
pect  hole.  It  was  not  deep  enough  to  seriously 
injure  him,  but  too  deep  for  him  to  climb  out  without 
aid.  While  the  others  were  gone  for  ropes  and  a 
light,  he  took  a  notion  to  try  some  dirt  from  the  bot 
tom,  and  refused  to  come  out  until  they  gave  him  the 
means  of  getting  a  pan  of  dirt.  When  it  was  washed 
the  next  morning  it  proved  to  be  rich,  and  was  the 
starting-point  for  several  fortunes. 


RESIDENCE, HOTEL  AND  RANCH  OF  M*,8  MARGARET  FOSTER, 
AMADOR  WAGON  ROAD,  6  MILES  FROM  VOLCANO.  AMADDR,  C.°  GAL. 


RANCH  AND  RESIDENCE  OF  CHARLES  BAMERT, 

NEAR  MDKELUMNE  RIVER,  T.PN92.AMADDR.CSCAL. 


VOLCANO  AND  VICINITY. 


217 


CRYSTALS. 

Fine  specimens  of  crystallized  quartz,  of  a  smoky 
color  by  transmitted  light,  and  black  by  reflected 
light,  are  found  near  Volcano.  Mr.  Williams,  near 
Peter  Den tzler'a  house,  has  some  fine  specimens  five 
or  six  inches  in  diameter.  Some  of  these  show  the 
lines  of  deposit  and  are  valuable  for  illustrating  the 
processes  of  crystallization. 
CAVES. 

There  are  many  caves  around  Volcano.  Several 
of  the  smaller  ones  were  discovered  at  an  early  day, 
but  the  large  one  was  not  explored  until  1834.  This 
is  supposed  to  underlie  the  hill  south  of  Stony  Point. 
E.  Sannnis.  with  a  party,  is  believed  to  have  been 
the  first  to  enter  it.  The  opening,  about  eighteen 
inches  across,  is  near  the  top  of  the  hill,  and 
descends  rather  precipitously  to  the  water  level,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  below,  the  distance  on  the 
slope  being  about  two  hundred.  The  first  thorough 
exploration  was  made  in  the  Summer  of  1854  by  a 
parly  of  which  the  writer  was  one,  the  previous 
explorers  having  gone  down  but  a  short  distance. 
The  long  rope  was  fastened  to  the  rock  at  the  sur 
face,  and  the  coil  thrown  forward  and  downward 
into  the  darkness.  Several  pounds  of  candles  were 
taken  along  and  placed  in  the  soft  clay,  which 
formed  the  sloping  floor  of  the  cavern.  The  ad 
vanced  man  of  the  party,  not  having  a  realizing 
sense  of  the  abyss  yawning  below  him,  stood  without 
fear  on  the  steep  slope,  where  a  slip  of  the  foot 
would  have  sent  him  sliding  to  the  bottom.  As  the 
descent  progressed  and  the  cave  became  lighted  up, 
a  vaulted  chamber,  large  enough  to  contain  the 
largest  trees,  came  to  view.  Stalactites,  or  rather 
crystals  of  rhomboidal  spar,  sparklud  like  diamonds 
all  over  the  roof.  As  the  size  of  the  cavern,  and  the 
depth  and  almost  perpendicular  descent,  became 
apparent  by  the  lighted  candles  a  hundred  feet- 
below,  all  except  the  advanced  portion  of  the  party 
beat  a  retreat,  the  descent  looking  too  dangerous. 
The  courage  of  the  first  to  descend  was  rather  a 
matter  of  unconsciousness  of  danger,  than  a  knowl 
edge  of  the  situation  and  a  willingness  to  face  it,  as, 
when  coming  up,  the  at  first  fearless  persons  clung 
with  a  nervous  feeling  to  the  rope,  nor  dared  to  take 
a  full  breath  until  they  were  well  on  their  feet  on  the 
ground  above.  About  one  hundred  feet  from  the 
surface  a  small  space  was  found  which  was  compara 
tively  level,  affording  a  resting-place.  From  this 
place  the  cavern  seemed  to  branch  off  in  several 
directions;  towards  the  north  was  a  narrow  fissure, 
or  nearly  vertical  opening,  corresponding  in  pitch 
and  direction  to  the  lines  of  cleavage  of  the  country 
rock,  and  might  have  been,  under  other  and  more 
favorable  circumstances,  the  location  of  a  quartz  vein ; 
in  fact,  the  capping  or  roof  of  this  fissure  is  a  kind 
of  jasper  or  ferruginous  quartz.  On  the  south  side 
there  was  a  perpendicular  descent  of  perhaps  twenty 
feet,  and  then  another  comparatively  level  place. 
So  far  the  bottom  or  floor  was  soft  clay,  which, 
28 


apparently,  had  been  washed  in  from  the  surface  of 
the  ground  through  the  opening;  but  they  now 
found  the  true  floor,  which  seemed  of  infinitely 
small  stalagmites,  fine  as  snow,  which  crunched 
under  the  foot  like  frost.  This  formation  was  all 
destroyed  in  a  short  time  by  the  tramping  over  it  of 
numerous  vtsitoi-s.  Some  thirty  or  forty  feet  below 
this  second  flat  or  floor  was  the  lake,  a  pool  of  clear 
water,  sixty  or  eight}"  feet  across,  which  is,  proba 
bly,  the  source  of  supply  for  the  numerous  cool 
springs  in  the  vicinity.  This  last  floor  seemed  to 
rest  on  numerous  pillars  of  rhomboidal  spar,  which 
were  originally  stalactites,  or  pendant  formations 
from  the  roof,  which  had  grown  by  continual  pre 
cipitation  of  calcareous  matter,  until  they  united 
with  the  floor.  Som6  of  these  columns  were  round, 
some  thin  and  slab-like,  the  latter  being  the  prevail 
ing  type.  When  struck  they  would  give  'forth  a 
peculiar  bell-like,  musical  sound,  each  column  having 
a  different  note,  which  reverberated  through  the 
cave  like  the  sounds  of  an  organ  in  a  cathedral. 
One  of  these  columns,  a  thin  slab,  perhaps  three 
feet  wide,  one-fourth  as  thick,  and  fifteen  feet  high, 
had  a  peculiarly  rich  tone.  In  trying  to  see  how 
loud  it  could  be  made  to  sound  it  was  cracked,  and 
its  voice  forever  silenced.  This  act  of  vandalism  has 
been,  and  always  will  be,  a  source  of  regret,  though 
the  other  columns,  in  consequence  of  repeated  ham 
merings  by  subsequent  visitors,  were  soon  silenced 
and  have  given  forth  no  song  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury.  The  side  caves  were  full  of  the  beveled  crys 
tallizations,  which,  when  broken  off,  fell  to  the  bot 
tom  of  the  cave  with  a  tinkling,  jingling  sound,  as  of 
a  hundred  tiny  silver  bells.  The  last-mentioned 
crystals,  though  formed  of  rhomboid  spar,  stood  out 
from  the  walls  in  every  conceivable  direction,  turning 
and  bending  into  many  shapes,  according  to  the  law 
of  obtuse  angles,  prevailing  with  that  variety  of 
crystals.  It  is  thought  by  some  naturalists  that 
they  result  from  vapor  containing  lime,  as  it  is 
impossible  for  them  to  have  been  formed  from  drip 
ping  water,  like  stalactites  or  stalagmites. 

Soon  after  the  discovery  of  the  cave  the  entrance 
was  enlarged,  for  the  purpose  of  putting  a  stairway 
down,  and  making  it  a  place  of  public  resort.  The 
project  was  abandoned,  and  in  a  short  time  the 
numerous  visitors  despoiled  the  cave  of  all  the  spar; 
and  visitors  of  the  present  dny  can  form  no  idea  of 
its  splendor  twenty-five  years  ago.  The  other 
smaller  caves  had  no  curiosities  like  the  large  one. 
It  is  believed  that  the  hill  north  of  Volcano  also 
contains  a  large  cavern,  as  in  many  places  water 
runs  down  that  does  not  again  make  its  appear 
ance  at  the  surface.  The  name  of  Volcano  was 
given  to  the  place,  under  the  impression  that  the 
•  •s  of  chalcedony,  carnelian,  cacholong,  onyx, 
and  jasper,  were  of  volcanic  origin.  Many  beautiful 
specimens  have  been  carried  away,  some  of  which 
were  cut  into  jewelry.  The  composition  is  of  silica, 
lime,  red  oxide  of  iron,  and  perhaps  other  minerals 


218 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


in  minute  quantities,  the  color  varying  from  trans 
lucent  to  milky  white,  or  flesh  color,  as  the  minerals 
named,  predominate  in  the  mixture.  They  have 
no  value  except  as  curiosities.  The  same  formations 
on'  a  smaller  scale,  may  be  found  in  many  other 
places,  especially  in  the  serpentine  range  in  the 
western  portion  of  the  county.  Pebbles  of  various 
kinds  of  agate,  cut  away  from  these  ranges  during 
the  glacial  era,  may  be  found  on  the  plains  west  of 
the  county  line.  They  have  the  same  character 
and  origin  as  the  famous  Pescadero  pebbles  found 
on  the  sea-beach  near  Santa  Cruz. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
NORTH-WESTERN  PART   OF  THE  COUNTY. 

Sutter  Creek — First  Foundry — Knight's  Foundry  and  Machine 
Shop — Planing  Mill — Society  at  Sutter  Creek — Schools  and 
Sohool-Houses — Shipment  of  Gold — Fires — Incorporation — 
Future  Prospects  —  Amador  —  M  inisters  —  Placer  Mines — 
Gold  of  Lower  Kancheria — Oleta — Execution  by  Lynch  Law 
— Killing  of  Carter  by  Doctor  Unkles — Home  Rule — Fatal 
Explosion — Bad  Case  of  Erysipelas — Lynch  Law  Vetoed — 
The  Famous  Safe  Robbery — First  School — Churches — Pres 
ent  Mining  Prospects — Sewell's  Addition — Cosumnes  River 
— Amusing  account  of  Mining  Machinery — Famous  Lynch 
ing  Affair  at  Jamison's  Ranch. 

THOUGH  General  Sutter  and  his  party  mined  here 
in  1848,  there  was  little  done  until  the  discovery  of 
quartz  in  1851.  In  October,  1849,  persons  passing 
through  could  see  no  evidence  of  any  mining.  There 
was  a  small,  cloth  tent  at  the  crossing  of  the  creek, 
owned  by  a  man  by  the  name  of  Jackson,  from 
Oregon,  where  meat,  whisky,  and  some  provisions, 
were  sold.  A  few  miners  gathered  here  on  Sundays 
when  the  weather  did  not  permit  them  to  go  to  Dry- 
town  or  Jackson.  After  the  discovery  of  the  quartz 
mines  on  the  north  side  of  the  creek,  the  gulches 
and  flats  began  to  be  worked.  The  placers  were 
only  moderately  rich.  Perhaps  the  streams  making 
off  of  Tucker  hill  were  as  good  as  any.  A  report  is 
current  that  a  twenty-five  pound  lump  was  found  in 
the  ravine  below  the  Lincoln  &  Mahoney  mills,  but  it 
cannot  be  traced  to  any  reliable  source.  The  gulch 
below  the  Hay  ward  mine  was  only  moderately  rich. 
Indeed,  it  seems  quite  certain  that  a  vein  which  has 
enriched  many  gulches  has  nothing  left  for  milling 
purposes.  Gopher  flat,  above  the  town,  was  worked 
mostly  by  Spaniards,  by  drifting  from  one  hole  to 
another,  only  a  few  feet  below  the  surface.  Some 
times  the  dirt  was  carted  to  Sutter  creek  to  be 
washed.  The  hills  east  of  the  town  are  gravel 
deposits  of  the  pliocene  period.  Though  worked  in 
many  places,  they  were  only  moderately  rich.  They 
are  interesting  as  showing  the  course  of  the  streams 
in  past  ages.  One  may  still  trace  the  directions  by 
the  bodies  of  gravel  left  in  many  places.  The  divide 
between  Amador  and  Sutter  is  full  of  interesting 
points,  showing  a  river  running  towards  the  west 
before  the  close  of  the  volcanic  period.  Four  or  five 
miles  west  of  Sutter  this  stream  seems  to  have  ter 
minated  in  a  precipitous  fall,  boulders  of  many 
tons  in  weight,  some  of  granite  and  others  of  vol 


canic  matter,  being  piled  in  a  confused  mass.  Some 
few  places  along  this  line  have  been  mined  out,  but, 
as  in  nearly  all  the  rivers  of  the  volcanic  period, 
the  irruptions  of  lava  kept  the  stream  from  wearing 
away  the  beds  of  auriferous  slates,  the  sources  of  the 
river  gold.  On  the  south  side  of  Sutter  creek  is  the 
largest  stream  of  volcanic  gravel  in  the  county, 
which  may  be  traced  from  Prospect  Rock  twenty- 
five  miles  east  of  Volcano,  to  some  miles  west  of 
lone,  where  it  spread  out  into  the  ocean.  This  chan 
nel  is  remarkable  as  having  at  one  time  in  the  vol 
canic  period  a  body  of  hot  lava  running  from  the 
summit  to  the  sea.  What  a  sight  for  the  primeval 
man,  which,  according  to  Whitney,  must  have  lived 
here  at  that  time. 

The  mining  here  at  first  was  of  a  primitive  order, 
the  rocker  being  the  main  reliance  for  separating 
the  gold.  In  the  Spring  of  1850,  a  great  improve 
ment  was  introduced.  Jim  Wheeler,  Boz.  Goodrich, 
and  Dick  Moulton,  brought  a  long  torn,  which  was 
first  used  in  the  northern  mines,  from  Sacramento. 
It  was  a  daring  innovation,  and,  like  most  new 
things,  was  unmercifully  ridiculed  by  the  conserva 
tive  portion  of  the  miners.  It  was  only  seven  feet 
long,  and  sixteen  inches  wide.  Small  as  it  was,  it 
effected  a  great  saving  of  labor,  and  was  soon  brought 
into  general  use,  though  a  year  later  it  was  displaced 
by  the  string  of  sluices,  which  enabled  men  to  make 
wages  out  of  still  poorer  dirt.  After  the  discovery 
of  the  quartz  mines,  the  energy  of  the  best  men  of 
the  camp  was  turned  in  that  direction,  and  placer 
mining  became  a  minor  interest.  The  development 
of  quartz  mining,  which  built  up  the  most  flourish 
ing  town  in  Amador  county,  that  annually  sent  a 
million  or  more  of  dollars  into  the  general  circula 
tion,  is  described  in  another  chapter. 

The  first  families  in  the  place  were  those  of  Mcln- 
tyre,  Stewart,  Jones,  Tucker,  Rice,  and  Hanford. 
E.  B.  Mclntyre's  family,  as  well  as  Levi  Hanford's, 
came  in  1852.  Some  of  these  families  were  from  the 
frontier,  and  others  from  the  East,  and  the  Yankees, 
and  the  extreme  southerners  and  westerners,  met 
here  for  the  first  time.  Thirty  years  after,  when 
these  streams  are  flowing  in  the  same  channel,  mar 
riage  and  intermarriage  having  obliterated  nearly 
every  distinction,  the  aversion  which  they  enter 
tained  towards  each  other  has  become  the  subject 
of  much  merriment. 

Mrs.  Mclntyre  tried  to  start  a  Sunday-school,  but 
could  get  only  three  or  four  children  to  attend. 
Mr.  Barlow,  from  Drytown,  acted  as  Superintendent, 
Mr.  Davidson  and  Mr.  Glovei*,  of  the  Amador  quartz 
mines,  preached  occasionally,  as  did  I.  B.  Fish,  who 
was  stationed  at  Mokelumne  Hill.  The  preaching 
was  usually  in  the  school-room;  sometimes  in  an 
unfinished  room  in  Harding's  Hotel.  Money  was 
raised  to  buy  a  Sunday-school  library.  Robert 
McLellan  is  remembered  as  having  donated  five 
dollars.  "Dick's  Works"  were  among  the  books 
bought. 


NORTH-WESTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


219 


The  first  church  was  built  in  1860,  and  dedicated  in 
1863  by  Doctor  Thomas,  who  was  slain  by  the 
Modocs.  This  church  has  been  occupied  by  the 
Methodists  since  that  time. 

Mrs.  Rice,  now  living  'here,  is  remembered  as  the 
iirst  person  who  wore  a  store  bonnet  to  meeting.  This, 
with  blue  silk  gloves  and  some  other  finery  recently 
imported  from  the  East,  was  quite  enough  to  distract 
the  less  fortunate  sisters,  and  turn  their  thoughts 
away  from  holy  things. 

The  first  school  was  taught  by  N.  Harding,  who 
received  seventy-five  dollars  per  month.  This  was 
raised  mostly  by  subscription.  Judge  Carter,  now 
of  lone,  who  happened  to  be  present,  generously 
donated  ten  dollars  toward  it.  Mr.  Harding  sent  one 
child,  Mclntyre  one,  Stewart  two,  Mrs.  Jones  one, 
others  to  the  number  of  twelve  in  all.  Slitter  Creek 
since  has  been  noted  for  its  interest  in  educational 
matters.  E.  B.  Mclntyre  was  the  first  County  Super 
intendent.  He  remembers  that  it  was  extremely 
difficult  to  get  the  trustees  to  report  to  him,  the  law 
permitting  no  appropriation  of  money  without  an 
annual  report  from  the  districts. 

The  first  wedding  was  in  the  boarding-house  of 
the  quartz  mine  (afterwards  the  Lincoln  mine).  The 

bridegroom  was  named Dick;  the  bride  was  a 

girl  living  with  the  family  that  did  the  cooking. 
The  town  boys  honored  them  with  a  serenade  and 
charivari.  Soon  afterwards  Allen  Tibbetts  was  mar 
ried  to  Letitia  Tucker;  and  Dwight  Crandall,  after 
wards  State  Senator,  to  Mar}T  Jones. 

FIRST   FOUNDRY. 

Soon  after  the  commencement  of  quartz  mining, 
the  want  of  a  machine  shop  and  foundry  induced  a 
small  beginning  in  this  way  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
town  near  the  water-mill  of  the  Lincoln  mine.  As 
it  was  a  small  affair  and  did  not  answer  the  purpose, 
it  was  removed  to  the  present  site,  and  enlarged  so 
that  the  smaller  parts  of  the  quartz  mills,  such  as 
dies,  stamps,  etc.,  could  be  cast,  utilizing  the  worn- 
out  castings.  Frank  Tibbetts  was  the  proprietor 
for  many  years.  The  machine  shops  and  melting 
capacity  have  been  enlarged  until  now  almost  any 
required  machinery  can  be  put  up,  the  cupola 
having  a  capacity  of  four  tons.  They  have  several 
large  lathes,  some  of  which  have  a  swing  of  four 
teen  feet.  The  works  are  run  by  water-power. 
Water-wheels  are  a  specialty  with  them.  The  one 
used  by  the  Empire  mill,  at  Plymouth,  made  by  them, 
runs  eighty  stamps,  with  a  head  of  six  hundred  inches 
at  a  pressure  of  sixty  feet.  Dan.  Donnelly  &  Co.  own 
the  works.  Several  of  the  best  mills  in  Amador  and 
the  adjoining  counties,  have  been  constructed  by 
them.  About  one  million  pounds  of  castings  are 
turned  out  annually. 

KNIGHT'S  FOUNDRY  AND  MACHINE  SHOP. 

This  was  established  in  1873  to  construct  water- 
wheels  of  a  peculiar  character,  calculated  to  utilize 
small  heads  of  water  at  a  high  pressure.  Though 


no  new  principle  was  discovered,  the  adaptation  of 
old  ones  to  new  conditions  has  all  the  merit  of  a  dis 
covery.  A  small  wheel,  seven  or  eight  feet  in  diam 
eter,  looking  much  like  a  cart-wheel  with  a  rim  of 
tea-cups,  drives  a  quartz  mill  of  eighty  stamps,  with 
all  the  necessary  shaking  tables  and  amalgamators. 
The  opening  through  which  the  water  strikes  the 
wheel,  contains  only  two  and  a  quarter  square 
inches,  and  the  gate  to  this  is  so  arranged  that  it 
may  be  reduced  to  any  desired  size,  running  half  or 
a  quarter  of  the  stamps,  keeping  the  tube  or  pipe 
from  which  the  power  is  derived,  full,  thus  utilizing 
the  whole  pressure.  The  Amador  mill  is  driven  by 
a  wheel  of  this  kind,  utilizing  the  five  hundred  feet 
fall  from  the  Amador  canal  to  the  mill.  The  wheels 
are  in  use  throughout  this  State,  Nevada,  Arizona, 
and  Utah.  The  works  have  been  enlarged  until  any 
sized  machinery  needed  in  mining"  can  be  con 
structed.  Seven  to  ten  tons  a  week  is  the  usual 
amount  of  melting.  They  have  about  thirty  thou 
sand  dollars  invested  in  the  foundry  and  machine 
shops. 

PLANING   MILL. 

The  Walkmeister  brothers  have  started  a  planing 
mill  near  Sutter  Creek,  where  all  kinds  of  fine  work  is 
done  equal  to  the  best  of  city  work.  The  machinery 
is  driven  by  water-power,  the  water  being  used  again 
by  the  miners  at  Amador. 

SOCIETY  AT   SUTTER   CREEK. 

Though  a  large  portion  of  the  population  is  made 
up  of  a  class  that  is  not  noted  for  refinement  or  cul 
ture,  there  has  always  been  a  nucleus  of  highly 
cultivated  and  refined  people,  as  any  one  would  per 
ceive  who  took  the  pains  to  stroll  around  the  town. 
Among  the  many  families  who  have  in  times  past 
contributed  to  this  result  may  be  mentioned  the  fam 
ilies  Dunlap,  Wildman,  Belding,  Hanford,  Downs, 
Sewart,  Mclntyre,  Keyes  and  Corliss. 
,  There  has  always  been  a  choir  of  good  singers, 
which  lead  the  public  taste  in  the  county,  principally 
through  the  industry  and  devotion  of  E.  F.  Hughes, 
Mrs.  Dudley,  Mrs.  Keyes,  and  others. 

SCHOOLS  AND   SCHOOL-HOUSES. 

This  place  has  always  been  noted  for  the  educa 
tional  interest  manifested ;  not  always  harmonious 
in  its  operation,  but  resulting,  as  it  is  believed,  in  sub 
stantial  success.  The  first  school-house  built,  some 
twenty-five  years  since,  was  burned,  as  it  is  thought, 
by  the  act  of  an  incendiary.  After  a  proper  agita 
tion  of  the  matter  an  election  was  ordered  to 
determine  whether  a  sum  to  build  a  school-house 
should  be  raised  by  a  property  tax.  The  result  was 
a  school-house  costing  perhaps  ten  thousand  dollars, 
the  best  one  in  the  county,  if  not  in  the  mountains. 

THE   SHIPMENT   OF   GOLD 

Through  Wells,  Fargo  and  Co.'s,  express  will  show 
the  relatively  prosperous  years.  No  account  was 
kept  previous  to  1870,  though  the  annual  amounts 


'220 


in  STORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


often  reached   one  million   dollars.     Since  then  the 
amounts  have  been, — 

1871 $412,853 

1872 .    645.1:;.') 

1873..    530,112 

1874 4t;:].5()() 

1879. 


1875 .6517,569 

1876 516,615 

1877  :    517,54* 

1878..  !   449,r>7:> 

.§185,194. 


FIRES. 

Sutter  Creek  has  hud  its  share  of  the  destructive 
element.  The  largest  fire  happened  September  9, 
1865.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  losses  :— 

Antonio  Garbini 8     500 

Bishop  &  Kelly.  600 

Mcllcnry  &  Tibbit  Is  . .      4.000 

C.  E.  Armstrong 4;000 

Nickerson  &  Joy ...   1,200 

J.  Stcinmetz ,.  -   2,000 

E.  W.  Rice .   1,000 

J.  C.  McDonald  ...  .   1,000 

W.  B.  Hubble.  600 

OddFelloAvs 500 

W.  E.  Fifield 3,500 

J.  D.  Dennis..  1.800 

Hay  ward  &  Chamberlain 1.000 

Joseph  King 4.000 

John  B.  Keyes . 500 

Bright  &  Hatch . .  700 

M.  Shields 500 

J.  Cuneo 500 

J.  Devoto 300 

Italian 200 

J.  Mahoney 200 

Mrs.  Armeandes . 250 

C.  Weller..  400 
W.  T.  Wildman  250 

Thomas  Grady  .  .    600 

VV.  Schauffer  600 

D.  Myers .- _ .       800 

1.    N.  Randolph  5,000 

Brinn  &  Newman      4 1,750 

V.  Lutnesky  ...  .        _  500 

M.  Silver 500 

P.  Fagan .. 4,000 

Randolph  &  Warkins. .  1.500 

This  included  all  the  business  portion  of  the  town. 
It  was  soon  rebuilt  better  than  before,  and  enjoyed 
a  greater  prosperity,  in  consequence  of  mining  devel 
opment,  than  ever.  A  smaller  fire  had  occurred 
about  the  first  of  September,  1862,  shortly  after  the 
big  fire  at  .laek>on.  burning  nearly  all  the  buildings 
on  Humbug  hill,  including  WildmaiTs  store,  Bird- 
sail's  store,  Rice's  blacksmith  shop  and  dwelling. 
This  tire  was  :it.  last  stayed  at  the  butcher  shop  at 
the  foot  of  the  hill. 

INCORPORATION. 

Sutter  Creek  incorporated  as  early  as  1856,  under 
the  general  law  for  incorporation.  The  organization 
was  found  to  be  defective  in  many  respects,  and  in 


1873,  it  was  re-incorporated  by  a  special  Act  of  the 
Legislature,  an  election  for  township  officers  being 
ordered, February  12th.  Thegovernment  was  invested 
in  a  Board  of  Trustees  (five  in  number),  Town  Mar 
shal  and  Clerk,  to  be  elected  annually.  The  Trustees 
were  authorized  to  purchase  the  necessary  real  estate 
on  which  to  erect  a  jail,  and  other  necessary  bu; Id- 
ings;  to  assess  taxes  not  exceeding  one  per  cent,  on 
the  whole  taxable  property,  no  assessments,  how 
ever,  to  be  made  on  mines  except  the  improvements 
which  were  above  ground;  to  assess  a  poll-tax  of 
•not  more  than  two  dollars;  to  determine  and  abate 
nuisances;  to  prevent  animals  from  running  at  large; 
to  prevent  and  punish  disorderly  conduct;  to  license 
shows,  theaters,  hawkers,  and  peddlers;  and  to  make 
all  necessary  regulations  not  inconsistent  with  the 
general  law.  The  Mai'shal  was  to  receive  seventy- 
five  dollars  per  year  for  collecting  taxes,  and  to  have 
a  salaiy  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars  per 
month.  The  Town  Recorder  was  to  have  the  juris 
diction  of  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  to  pay  all  fines 
over  to  the  Treasurer,  who  was  to  receive  one-half 
of  one  per  cent,  for  receiving  and  disbursing  money. 
The  Clerk  was  to  receive  no  salary. 

The  effect  of  the  organization  was  found  to  be 
salutary.  A  number  of  hoodlums,  who  had  rendered 
night  hideous  and  the  streets  disagreeable,  dan 
gerous  even,  to  females  especially,  found  themselves 
confronted  with  a  lodging  in  a  calabose,  for  any  dis 
orderly  conduct.  Nuisances  were  now  removed  at 
the  expense  of  the  authors-.  Boys  were  required  to 
be  at  home  at  eight  o'clock,  and  there  was  a  marked 
improvement  in  the  appearance  of  the  town,  espe 
cially  after  night-fall. 

FUTURE    PROSPECTS. 

At  this  writing  (1881),  the  town  is  in  a  depressed 
condition,  owing  to  the  suspension  of  mining  opera 
tions.  It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  Sutter  creek 
js  Ci  worked  out;"  on  the  contrary,  but  little  of  the 
ground  is  even  prospected,  a  few  hundred  feet  of  many 
thousands,  only,  having  been  explored.  No  one 
knows  what  chimneys  of  rich  ore  arc  slumbering 
"just  below,"  waiting  for  the  miner  to  lay  bare  its 
wealth. 

AMADOR, 

Situated  on  the  Mother  Lode,  where  it  is  intc 
sected  by  Amador  creek,  about  seven  miles  north 
Jackson,  was  mined  soon  after  the  discovery  of  gold. 
Some  Oregon  men  built  two  cabins,  and  stayed  dur 
ing  the  Winter.  James  T.  Wheeler  and  lour  others 
built  a  large  double  cabin  in  the  Fall  of  IS  ID.  near 
where  the  Spring  Hill  mill  was  afterwards  built. 
Some  men  from  Virginia  also  built  a  cabin  and  kept 
a  stock  of  goods,  mining  at  the  same  time.  W.  II. 
Mitchell,  William  Lesaw,  J.  A.  Tucker,  Joseph 

Wright.   Silas  Reed, Ashley,  and    Willson.  are 

nanies  remembered  of  the  company  who  wintered 
here  in  1849.  Silas  lieed  was  a  famous  hunter,  and 
kept  the  camp  supplied  with  game. 


••ITu.i'vV-O'-^^.- 


RESIDENCE  OF  FR,  HERMAN.  SUTTER  CREEK,  AMADDR  C°  CAL. 


RESIDENCE  OF  FATHER  P. BERMINGHAM.  BUTTER  CREEK 

AMADOR  C^CAL. 


OFTHE 

UNIVERSITY 


NORTH-WESTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


221 


MINISTERS. 

Mr.  Ashley  was  a  minister  of  striking  appearance, 
wearing  green  spectacles  for  weak  eyes,  slender  in 
form,  helpless  in  appearance,  of  soft  and  humble 
address,  being  one  of  those  who  prefer  laboring 
where  there  is  a  well-furnished  parsonage,  with  a 
membership  of  weak  sisters  who  are  satisfied  with 
milk  and  water  sermons.  Finding  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel  an  up-hill  business  among  the  rough 
miners,  he  turned  to  mining  for  a  living,  but'accord- 
ing  to  the  testimony  of  his  neighbors,  "He  did  not 
have  energy  enough  to  dig  a  hole  in  a  da}*  big 
em 'iigh  to  bury  a  cat."  and  failed  as  a  miner.  Sev 
eral  persons  died  of  cholera  during  the  Fall.  On  one 
occasion  he  was  requested  b\-  some  miners  to  attend 
the  burial  of  a  man,  putting  a  man  and  neighbor 
into  the  ground  without  some  marks  of  respect  not 
having  become  common.  Ashley  refused  to  go,  say 
ing  he  was  not  in  that  line  of  business.  His  friends 
raised  money  and  sent  him  back  East  as  a  flower  too 
frail  for  a  new  settlement. 

This  man  was  not  one  of  the  firm  of  ministers, 
Davidson,  Glover,  Herbert,  &  Cool,  who  in  1851 
settled  in  Amador  and  commenced  quartz  mining. 
These  were  all  working  men  as  well  as  preachers, 
ready  to  bear  their  part  in  any  labor  or  hardships 
necessary  to  develop  a  new  country.  WiHson  had  a 
family,  the  first  who  resided  in  Amador.  He  kept  a 
store,  the  same  which  was  afterwards  occupied  by 
llanibrd  &  Downs,  in  the  Spring  of  1850.  When 
Ilanford's  family  came  out,  ho  located  in  Sutter 
Creek,  moving  to  Yolnano  in  the  Spring  of  1853. 

PLACER    MINES. 

The  mines  were  never  as  rich  as  at  Drytown  and 
other  place.-,  the  gold  being  rather  fine.  Twelve  to 
twenty  dollars  per  day  was  considered  good  work  in 
the  best  days.  When  ihe  water  failed  in  the  Spring, 
the  larger  portion  of  the  population  left.  Amador 
was  better  than  Sutter  Creek,  and  had  much  the 
largest  population  previous  to  the  discovery  of  the 
quartz  mines.  Like  Sutter  Creek,  its  history  is 
mostly  in  connection  with  quartz  mining,  which  has 
received  an  exhaustive  notice  in  a  special  chapter. 


Js  about  two  miles  east  from  Drytown,  and  is  about 
one  mile  east  of  the  Mother  Lode.  Quartz  mountain, 
and  the  other  veins  of  the  same  formation,  are  sup 
posed  to  have  enriched  the  flats  and  gulches  around 
this  place,  which  were  worked  in  1848,  and  some 
years  aficr.  with  great  success.  From  all  accounts. 
Deep  gulch  and  Slate  gulch  were  as  rich  as  any 
places  in  Amador  county,  as  much  as  ten  thousand 
dollars  being  taken  from  a  claim  fifteen  feet  square 
and  three  feet  deep.  Lumps  were  found  at  the  foot 
of  Deep  gulch  weighing  twelve  pounds.  John  Eagon, 
Avho  mined  here  in  an  earl}'  day,  picked  up  a  < 
whieh  was  worth  about  one  thousand  dollars.  The 
mines  were  first  worked  by  Major  Redding  and  his 


party  in  1848.  One  of  his  men  had  a  dozen  bottles 
full  of  gold-dust.  Quite  a  number  of  Americans 
mined  here  in  1849  and  '50;  during  the  latter  year, 
several  persons,  who  preached  in  the  eastern  States, 
settled  here,  but  abandoned  the  profession  as  incon 
venient  and  unprofitable. 

The  population  was  much  mixed,  the  Mexican  and 
Chilean  .predominating.  The  camp  at  one  time  had 
five  or  six  hundred  people,  gambling  with  its  usual 
accompaniments  being  the  usual  recreation.  Som 
breros,  serapes,  knives,  horses,  and  jingling  spurs  were 
the  striking  features  in  every  gathering.  In  Sep 
tember,  1852,  a  Mexican  stabbed  a  Dutchman,  for 
which  he  was  whipped.  The  Dutchman  dying  some 
time  after  the  stabbing,  the  people  reconsidered  the 
whipping  and  hung  the  Mexican. 

The  character  of  the  population  remained  much 
the  same  until  1855.  After  the  occurrence  of  the 
dreadful  tragedy,  an  account  of  which  has  been 
given  in  the  County  History,  the  place  has  been 
avoided  by  the  Mexican  population. 

Lower  Ranchcria  ]s  remarkable  in  the  history  of 
mining  as  being  on  a  break  of  the  hanging-wall  of 
the  great  Mother  Lode,  being  enriched  by  a  system 
of  veins  perhaps  three  thousand  feet  to  the  east. 
The  pitch  of  the  lode  on  the  west  of  .this  is  as  much 
as  forty -five  degrees,  so  that  if  the  veins  were  fol 
lowed  three  or  four  thousand  feet,  a  position  nearly 
perpendicular  to  Quartz  mountain  would  be  reached. 
The  fact  that  one  such  break  in  the  overlying 
rock  hanging-wall  has  been  found,  maybe  an  induce 
ment  to  look  for  others. 

The  valley,  which  is  evidently  a  glacier  erosion, 
is  now  the  site  of  a  beautiful  farm  owned  by  R.  D. 
Ford.  The  graves  of  the  parties  murdered  are  care 
fully  fenced  in,  and  form  about  the  only  reminder 
of  the  terrible  tragedy  of  August  6,  1855.  The  old 
broken  safe  of  Dinan's  store,  forms  the  support  of 
one  corner  of  a  barn.  There  are  but  few  persons 
to  be  found  who  have  any  memory  of  the  transaction; 
and  rosy-cheeked,  innocent  children  romp  and  play, 
where  a  quarter  of  a  century  since  the  very  ground 
seemed  accursed,  for  the  crimes  it  had  witnessed. 

Some  two  miles  above  the  site  of  the  old  town,  is 
the  ranch  formerly  owned  by  Burt  and  Perkins. 
In  1851-52,  this  furnished  a  large  quantity  of  vege 
tables  for  the  miners;  and  with  its  green  patches  of 
cultivated  land,  was  like  a  gem  set  in  the  brown 
hills.  Perkins,  one  of  the  owners,  had  sold  his  share 
of  the  place,  and  with  his  savings,  about -six  thou 
sand  dollars,  started  for  Sacramento,  on  his  way 
home.  While  he  was  passing  through  a  point  of 
chaparral,  he  was  shot  and  robbed  by  some  con 
cealed  party.  Though  his  body  was  discovered 
before  it  was  quite  cold,  no  clue  to  the  murder  was 
obtained  for  many  years.  It  is  now  said  that  a  big, 
one-eyed  Indian,  who  formerly  lived  around  Volcano, 
confessed  to  the  murder  of  Perkins,  and  several 
other  white  men,  some  years  since.  Burt  after 
wards  lived  on  this  ranch,  planted  a  large  orchard, 


222 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


built  a  saw-mill,  and  otherwise  improved  the  place. 
The  orchard  is  still  one  of  the  best  in  the  county. 

OLETA — FORMERLY  FIDDLETOWN. 

It  may  be  well  to  give  the  origin  of  the  first,  as 
well  as  the  last  name.  The  place  was  settled  in 
1849  by  a  party  from  Missouri.  The  early  records 
of  the  settlement,  if  kept,  are  lost,  and  only  tradi 
tion  is  left  to  account  for  the  musical  name.  It 
became  necessary  to  name  the  young  town.  "  They 
are  always  fiddling,"  says  an  old  Missouri  patri 
arch,  "call  it  Fiddletown;"  and  Fiddletown  it  was, 
not  only  when  it  was  a  hamlet  of  three  or  four  wag 
ons  and  a  tent,  but  when  it  was  a  town  of  large 
streets  and  a  hundred  houses,  some  of  brick  and 
stone.  Judge  Purinton  is  said  to  have  started  the 
movement  for  the  change  of  name,  which  was  done 
by  Act  of  the  Legislature,  in  1878.  In  his  annual 
trips  to  the  capital,  or  San  Francisco,  he  saw  his 
name  among  the  arrivals  as  C.  A.  Purinton,  Fiddle- 
town.  Merchants  on  the  lookout  for  a  customer 
would  come  across  the  man  from  Fiddletown.  The 
hotel  clerks  would  grow  a  trifle  more  dignified  as  the 
ominous  Fiddletown  was  attached  to  his  name.  The 
best  of  hats,  faultless  coat,  gloves  and  boots,  were 
of  no  avail  as  long  as  the  name  was  anchored  to  Fid 
dletown.  The  first  settlers  certainly  manifested  little 
taste  in  the  selection  of  names.  Poompoomatee  they 
metamorphosed  into  Suckertown.  Every  Spring  where 
the  Indians  camped  had  a  name,  generally  sonorous 
and  sweet,  with  a  meaning  sometimes  full  of  poetry. 
What  possessed  men  to  baptize  places  Hogtown, 
Helltown,  Shirt-tail,  to  say  nothing  of  names  which 
cannot  be  repeated,  is  a  phenomenon  to  be  explained. 
Oleta  was  settled  in  1849,  and  had  but  a  small  growth 
until  after  the  discovery  of  American  flat,  French 
flat,  and  American  hill,  in  1852.  Previous  to  that 
the  houses  could  be  counted  on  one's  fingers.  Cap 
tain  Stowers,  in  company  with  Carter  and  Curtis, 
kept  the  hotel  which  had  the  eminent  distinction  of 
having  a  real  glass  window.  The  bar-room  was 
also  sitting-room,  dining-room  and  bed-room,  the 
beds  being  potatoe  sacks  stretched  across  poles,  fur 
nished  with  blankets,  but  no  pillows,  a  man's  boots 
being  expected  to  serve  that  purpose.  The  floor 
was  the  original  red  soil,  sprinkled,  swept,  and 
tramped  every  day.  There  were  two  stores,  one 
kept  by  Jesse  Hendricks,  long  since  passed  away, 
and  another  kept  by  -  -Gilbert.  Saloons  outnum 
bered,  as  usual-,  all  other  places  of  business.  Dr. 
Unkles,  a  little,  old  man,  perhaps  five  feet  four 
inches  in  height,  kept  a  drug  store  in  a  house  about 
six  feet  by  eight,  made  of  shakes  stuck  endwise  in 
the  ground.  A  few  rows  of  bottles  on  a  shelf  or 
two  contained  the  entire  stock  of  drugs.  A  French 
man,  name  forgotten,  was  blacksmith,  gunsmith, 
machinist,  and  gasconader,  for,  according  to  his 
account  of  himself,  he  was  a  most  terrible  man. 
The  country  was  quite  good  in  places,  but  as  there 
were  no  permanent  streams  of  water,  there  was  an 
abundance  of  waiting  and  little  work.  Oleta  early 


developed  a  spirit  of  self-government.  The  inhabit 
ants  soon  staked  off  all  known  auriferous  ground, 
and  held  it  against  all  suspicious  new-comers.  Cap 
tain  Stowers  was  usually  the  spokesman  of  this  com 
mittee  of  safety.  When  strangers  with  their  frying- 
pan,  coffee-pot,  pick,  pan,  shovels  and  blankets,  came 
into  town  and  evinced  any  intention  of  tarrying,  the 
old  gentleman  generally  managed  to  find  out  what 
State  they  were  from,  how  long  they  had  been  in  the 
State,  and  where  they  had  been  mining.  If  the 
answer  was  considered  favorable,  a  committee  would 
show  him  where  he  could  locate  ground.  The 
writer  of  this  article,  then  one  of  the  interviewed, 
could  find  no  resting-place  nearer  than  the  south 
fork  of  Dry  creek,  three  miles  away.  Mrs.  Gilbert, 
afterwards  wife  of  W.  T.  Gist,  was  then  the  only 
white  woman  in  the  town. 

The  Summer  of  '52  witnessed  a  large  accession  to 
the  population.  In  that  year  several  families  of  the 
highest  respectability  located  in  and  around  the  town, 
among  whom  were  those  of  R.  M.  Briggs,  the  dis 
tinguished  lawyer,  LaGrave,  afterwards  Treasurer 
of  the  county,  McKensie,  Stribling,  Bain,  Votaw,  and 
others  whose  names  cannot  be  recalled.  The  first 
wedding  was  that  of  E.  R.  Yates  to  Miss  Scott,  mem 
ber  of  the  numerous  and  respectable  family  of  that 
name.  A  large  party  was  made  to  welcome  the 
bride  to  the  town. 

In  that  year  many  respectable  buildings  were  put 
up,  among  which  was  the  United  States  Hotel,  then 
kept  by  McDevitt  &  Cope,  the  latter  person  having 
since  been  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  now  an 
eminent  lawyer  in  San  Francisco.  The  discovery  of 
American  flat  and  hill  was  made  by  Jerry  Ruth, 
George  Schoemaker  and  Samuel  Nase  ;  Charles  Mc- 
Lain,  Samuel  Parker,  J.  W.  Croff  and  William  Dunn 
also  had  claims  there.  This  discovery  was  made  on 
the  south-west  side  of  the  hill,  about  the  same  time 
that  a  French  party  of  five  men,  who  were  working 
the  place  called  French  flat  on  the  east  side,  traced 
the  deposit  into  the  hill  on  that  side.  The  channel 
was  from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred  feet  wide, 
the  pay  gravel  being  from  five  to  seven  feet  thick. 
The  Frenchmen  are  said  to  have  carried  away  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  though  this  may 
have  been  too  high  an  estimate.  The  deposit  was 
one  of  the  ancient  streams,  and  probably  derived  its 
gold  from  a  pocket-vein  of  quartz  in  the  immediate 
vicinity.  A  slab  from  a  big  boulder  dumped  out  the 
mouth  of  a  tunnel,  was  found  years  after,  when  the 
tunnel  had  fallen  in,  to  be  very  rich.  The  ancient 
river  deposits  in  the  vicinity  are  very  extensive, 
though  in  no  instance  as  rich  as  the  American  Hill. 
Loafer  flat  and  hill  seem  to  be  a  continuation  of  the 
channel  towards  Dry  creek,  but  the  gravel  as  far  as 
explored  is  smaller,  having  but  little  resemblance  to 
the  American  hill  gravel.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
Lone  hill,  also  the  ridge  between  Suckertown  and 
Slate  creek,  all  having  gravel  in  paying  quantities.  ^ 
At  the  time  the  French  flat  was  being  worked  a 


NORTH-WESTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


223 


vein  of  quartz  was  discovered  which  seemed  riveted 
through  with  gold,  but  it  did  not  prove  to  be  per 
manent,  or  as  the  miners  term  it,  a  true  fissure  vein. 

Oleta  occupied  an  anomalous  position  with  respect 
to  county  governments.  El  Dorado  was  bounded  on 
the  south  by  .Dry  creek  and  Calaveras,  on  the  north 
by  Dry  creek.  There  were  two  forks  of  about  equal 
size,  Fiddletown  being  between  the  two.  For  vot 
ing  purposes  the  strip  of  intervening  territory  on 
which  stood  Fiddletown,  or  rather  Oleta,  was.  in 
El  Dorado  county,  but  when  taxes  were  called  for  it 
was  neutral  territory!  as  was  Vermont  in  the  Revo 
lutionary  war,  belonging  neither  to  New  Hampshire 
nor  New  York.  Fiddletown  did  not  prove  a  harbor 
for  thieves,  but  rather  the  reverse,  setting  up  courts 
of  its  own  to  administer  justice. 

The  first  court  under  home  rule  was  held  in  1851. 
There  had  been,  as  was  believed,  an  organized  band 
of  horse  thieves  operating  in  the  present  territory  of 
Amador,  with  head-quarters  at  lone.  The  matter 
had  gone  so  far  as  to  be  brought  before  the  Grand 
Jury  of  Calaveras,  without,  however,  convicting  any 
one.  A  man  by  the  name  of  West  was  arrested  in 
Fiddletown  for  stealing  a  horse.  Major  Shipman, 
then  residing  there,  was  appointed  Judge.  He  was 
familiar  with  law  forms,  having  been  a  Magistrate, 
also  County  Clerk,  in  some  of  the  older  States. 
Witnesses  were  sworn,  and  the  whole  proceedings 
conducted  in  accordance  with  the  form  and  spirit  of 
the  law,  without  its  technicalities.  The  jury  found 
him  guilty  and  fixed  his  punishment  at  one  hundred 
stripes.  His  fortitude  gave  way  at  this  severe  sen 
tence,  and  he  agreed  if  they  .would  niitigate  the  pun 
ishment  to  thirty  stripes  he  would  make  such  state 
ments  as  would  expose  the  whole  gang,  enabling  the 
people  to  convict  them  all.  The  thirty  stripes  were 
first  administered  by  Abe  De  Haven,  a  powerful 
man,  after  which  he  made  a  statement  in  private  to 
E.  Walker  and  Major  Shipman,  it  being  deemed  best 
not  to  have  the  statement  made  in  public,  as  being 
likely  to  interfere  with  the  arrest  of  the  gang. 

A  man  by  the  name  of  Mills,  a  New  Yorker  of 
good  family  and  education,  was  brought  to  trial. 
He  had  many  friends,  and  was  furnished  with  money 
and  a  lawyer  to  defend  him.  Judge  Carter  of  lone 
undertook  his  defense.  He  brought  logic  and  pathos 
to  bear,  and  finally  induced  the  jury  to  bring  in  a 
verdict  of  not  yuilty,  on  condition  that  he  would 
leave  the  country  immediately.  He  went  back  to 
lone,  which,  as  Oleta  was  an  independent  community, 
he  considered  complying  with  the  sentence.  He 
soon  left  the  county,  however,  and  was  afterward 
shot,  as  was  said,  while  engaged  in  unlawful  act. 

A  tax  gatherer  from  Coloma,  the  county  seat  of 
El  Dorado,  put  in  an  appearance  one  day  and  ex 
pressed  the  determination  to  collect  poll-tax  from 
every  one  in  the  place.  He  stopped  long  enough  to 
take  a  drink  or  two,  and  was  sped  on  his  way  by 
numerous  threats,  backed  by  revolvers,  with  his 
purse  no  heavier  for  poll-taxes. 


EXECUTION    BY   LYNCH   LAW. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1852,  a  man  passing  by  the 
name  of  "one-armed  Smith  "  turned  out  an  old  and 
worn-out  horse,  supposed  to  be  worth  about  five 
dollars,  to  graze.  A  Mexican,  seeing  it  apparently 
without  an  owner,  put  a  saddle  on  it  and  rode  a 
short  distance,  without  attempting  to  take  it  out 
of  the  country,  however.  He  was  apprehended,  and 
hung  on  a  tree  north-west  of  the  town.  While  the 
trial  was  in  progress,  E.  R.  Yates,  the  Magistrate, 
ordered  Walker,  the  Constable,  to  quell  the  riot. 
The  result  was,  to  use  the  words  of  Abe  De  Haven, 
"East,  come  out  and  ordered  us  to  stop.  I  was  about 
to  slay  him  right  and  left,  when  he  jumped  back  and 
says,  don't  you  understand  ?"  from  which  it  was 
inferred  that  no  very  serious  opposition  to  the  exe 
cution  was  intended. 

KILLING   OF   CARTER   BY   DR.    UNKLES. 

Some  ill-feeling  existed  on  the  part  of  Captain 
Stowers,  Carter,  and  Curtis,  towards  Unkles,  in 
consequence  of  a  misunderstanding  in  some  com 
mercial  transaction.  Captain  Stowers  went  into  the 
old  man's  drug-shop, .gave  the  bottles  a  sweep  with 
his  cane,  exclaiming,  "This  settles  my  account." 
Carter  had  his  to  settle  also,  and  went,  with  some 
others,  to  the  door  of  the  cabin,  and  commenced 
abusing  the  Doctor.  There  was  scarcely  room  for 
more  than  two  or  three  men  in  the  little  box,  and 
as  they  (Carter  and  his  party)  commenced  crowd 
ing  in,  he  met  them  and  civilly  requested  them  to 
stay  out;  that  he  wanted  no  trouble  with  them;  that 
they  evidently  intended  no  good.  This  remonstrance 
not  being  heeded,  he  drew  a  small  pocket-knife,  and 
began  thrusting  and  making  passes  at  Carter,  the 
foremost  man  in  the  crowd.  Little  attention  was 
paid  to  his  words  or  his  thrusts,  but  the  old  man 
was  in  earnest.  With  an  instinct  born  of  his  knowl 
edge  of  anatomy  to  direct  his  hand,  the  little  knife 
was  a  most  deadly  weapon.  The  first  stroke  laid 
bare  the  jugular  vein;  another,  directed  towards 
the  chest,  was  stopped  by  folds  of  Carter's  shirt; 
another  penetrated  his  side,  producing  a  sickening 
sensation,  which  compelled  him  to  lie  down,  pro 
ducing  death  in  a  few  minutes.  Carter's  friends 
picked  out  a  tree  upon  which  to  hang  the  Doctor; 
but  when  the  circumstances  that  Unkles  was  physi 
cally  insignificant,  and  that  the  parties  pressing  him 
were  intent  on  serious  mischief,  became  known,  few 
were  found  willing  to  assist  in  his  execution,  and 
he  was  not  molested. 

FATAL    EXPLOSION. 

in  the  early  part  of  1853,  11.  C.  Farnum  and 
James  McLeod  built  a  steam  saw-mill  at  Oleta,  to 
utilize  the  fine  timber  which  covered  all  the  hills 
around.  Some  two  or  three  months  afterward,  in 
the  early  part  of  April,  the  boiler  collapsed  a  flue. 
The  force  of  the  steam,  reacting  against  the  bed  in 
which  the  boiler  was  placed,  threw  it  out  of  posi 
tion,  propelling  it  through  the  side  of  a  building, 


224 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


also  through  the  office  or  counting-room.  McLeod, 
^landing  in  the  line  of  the  movement,  was  caught  on 
t lie  end  of  the  boiler,  and  forced  along  until  the 
boiler  stopped.  Both  legs  and  one  arm  were  broken, 
and  he  was  in  addition  thereto  much  burned,  lacer 
ated,  and  internally  injured,  yet  when  the  clouds  of 
steam  cleared  away,  he  was  seen  dragging  himself 
by  his  remaining  arm  to  the  water.  lie  survived 
but  a  day  or  two.  suffering  intensely,  and  begging 
his'friends  to  kill  him.  Farnum  and  another  party 
were  sitting  on  the  opposite  sides  of  a  table  in  the 
counting-room,  when  the  boiler,  with  .McLeod  on  the 
end,  came  crashing  through  the  building,  passing 
between  the  two.  Farnum  had  one  arm  broken,  and 
was  otherwise  bruised  and  burned;  the  man  sitting- 
opposite,"  inhaled  the  hot  steam,  which  resulted 
fatally  in  a  year  or  two.  McLeod  was  a  native  of 
Canada  West,  and  was  universally  esteemed. 

SERIOUS    CASE    OP    ERYSIPELAS. 

Captain  S towers  and  his  friend  Slater,  who  lived 
in  one  of  the  shanties  called  by  courtesy  "  hotels." 
came  out  one  day,  bandaged  and  bundled,  tcrribly 
sick.  Swellings  all  over  them,  angry  swellings  and 
indolent  ulcers  that  would  not  heal,  were  symptoms  oi 
very  bad  cases  of  erysipelas!  They  were  going  to  die: 
nothing  would  save  them.  Squire  Yates  was  con 
sulted  as  to  settling  their  affairs.  His  good  sense. 
or,  perhaps,  experience,  solved  the  difficulty.  '-You 
dirty  dogs,"  said  he,  after  an  examination,  "you 
ought  to  bo  bung!  You  are  rotten  with  Ike,  gray- 
backs" — which  was  the  case.  The  lice  were  three 
deep,  all  gnaAving  away  at  the  portly  Captain,  suck 
ing  the  delicious  juices  out  of  his  body.  His  feelings 
experienced  a  sudden  revulsion,  not  exactly  from 
mourning  to  joy,  but  wrath  rather.  Some  few  "  cuss 
words,"  like  scattering  drops  of  rain  before  a 
shower,  fell  from  his  lips,  and  then  the  storm  burst. 
Better  ring  down  the  curtain. 

LYNCH   LAW   VETOED. 

In  1854,  a  Mexican  and  a  Frenchman,  journeying 
together  towards  Oleta,  drank  each  other's  health  so 
frequently  as  to  produce  confused  perceptions  of 
passing  events.  On  arriving  at  Olcta,  the  French 
man  missed  his  watch,  and  accused  the  Mexican  of 
stealing  it.  The  dispute  coming  to  the  knowledge  oi 
some  of  the  "  home  rulers,"  the}T  proposed  to  have  a 
'49  trial.  As  they  were  ravenous  lor  blood,  they 
soon  found  the  Mexican  guilty,  condemning  him  to 
be  hung  immediately,  and  set  about  executing  the 
sentence.  Henry  Kutchenthall,  II.  M.  Brigg- 
and  Jonathan  Palmer,  expostulated  with  the  crowd; 
told  them  they  were  not  '4J)ers;  that  '-l!)ers  never 
acted  in  such  an  infamous  manner,  and  much  more 
of  the  same  offect;.  to  no  purpose,  however,  until,  led 
by  Kutchenthall,  they  rushed  in  with  drawn  revol 
vers,  and  liberated  the  Mexican. 

Three  or  four  courageous  men,  backed  by  revol 
vers  and  a  sense  of  right,  were  often  able  to  subdue 
a  cowardly  mob  of  scores. 


THE    FAMOUS    SAFE    UOT5V.ERY. 


Wells,  Fargo  and  Company  .had  their  agency  at 
the  United  States  Hotel,  kepi  then  by  the  Kendall 
brothers.  One  morning  the  safe  was  found  robbed 
of  the  contents,  some  ten  thousand  dollars.,  A  liberal 
reward  was  offered  for  the  recovery  of  the  money 
and  the  apprehension  of  the  thief.  Many  persons 
were  anxious  to  get  the  reward,  and  set  about  the 
matter  with  more  zeal  than  discretion.  Charles 
'Acke.r'ly,  a  dissipated  man,  stated  that-  being  out  late 
the  night  before  and  looking  through  the  window  of 
the  office,  he  saw  one  of  the  Kendnlls  tampering  with 
1  he  safe.  This  rather  unreasonable  story  was  not 
credited,  especially  as  he  refused  to  testify  at  all  in 
court,  though  kept  in  jail  some  time  for  contempt. 
Three  strangers,  who  happened  to  come  into  the  town 
about  the  time  of  the  occurrence,  were  suspected. 
arrested,  and  brought  before  the  Magistrate  for 
examination.  While  this  was  in  progress  three 
masked  men  forcibly  took  Stupperfield,  one  of  the 
strangers,  out  of  the  custody  of  the  officers,  con 
ducted  him  to  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  and  com 
menced  taking  testimony  in  a  manner  not  laid  down 
in  modern  works  on  evidence,  but  one  in  vogue  a 
Jew  centuries  since,  and  occasionally  resorted  to  in 
California  at  an  early  day.  They  told  him  that  his 
partners,  meaning  the  other  two  strangers,  had  con 
fessed  the  crime  and  had  been  hung,  and  that  they 
Avere  iroino-  to  serve  him  the  same  way  unless  he  told 

O  O 

them  where  he  had  hidden  the  money.     He  asserted 
his  innocence  of  the  charge;  said  he  Avas  a  respecta 
ble  man  ;  had  never  committed  any   crime   unless  it 
was  gambling  a  little,  and  expressed  the  fear  that  if 
he  was  hung  it  would  kill  his  mother  and  sister.     He 
asked   some   one   to  take    the  address  of  his  mother 
and  sister,  and  write  to  them  his  last  words,  that  he 
died  innocent  of  any  crime.     Some  one  volunteering 
to  gratify  him  was  thrust  rudely  aside  Avith  the  un 
feeling  remark  that  "  The  man  had  better  be  praying, 
for  his  time  is  mighty  short."     The  noose  Avas  fixed 
around  his  neck  and  he  was  drawn  up  and  held  sus 
pended  until  he  ceased  struggling,  when  he   was   let 
down  until  he  recovered.     Denying   any  knowledg 
of  the  transaction,  he   was   again  "  strung  up.''  and 
again   let  down.     Though  unable   to   speak,  he  wa 
drawn  up  a  third  time  by  the  batHed  reward-hunters 
who  were  getting  enraged   at   the   man    who  AVOU! 
not  "own  up."     At  this  stage  of  the  affair  Dr.  Phelps 
Avhocame  up,  interfered  to  save  the  man  any  furthe 
torture,  or  rather  to  save  his  life,  for  he  had  now  he- 
come  insensible,     lie  reached  over  the  heads  of  the 
executioners,  and  with   a  Bowie  knife  cut   the  rope 
and  the  man  fell  to  the  ground.     Depuiy  Sheriff  Gist 
coining  up  about  the  same  time,  the  court  dispersed. 
The   man   was  with  difficulty   resuscitated,  his  limbs 
being    paralyzed  for    some    time   in   consequen 
injury    to   his  spinal  chord  from  the  repeated    hang 
ings.     It  turned  out  that  Stupperfield,  as  well  as  the 
other  two  strangers  arrested,  were  in  Forest  Hume 


RESi  DENCECFR.W.PALMER. 
JACK50M  ,  AMADOR  C^  CAL 


RESIDENCE*'  M"s    ROSA  FROELlCH. 

JACKSON,  AMADOR  C9   CAL 


NORTH-WESTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


225 


the  night  of  the  robbery.  Public  opinion  has  fixed 
the  robbery  on  one  of  the  parties  engaged  in  this 
hanging.  As  the  men  were  masked,  it  is  unsafe  to 
attempt  to  name  them,  though  many  persons  have 
no  doubt  about  their  identity.  It  is  better  that  pos 
terity  should  remain  ignorant  of  the  names  of  the 
parties,  than  have  the  doubtful  honor  fixed  on  the 
wrong  person. 

There  are  many  conflicting  statements  about  the 
matter,  some  saying  that  Stupperfield  was  taken 
away  from  the  presence  of  the  Magistrate,  others 
that  the  maskers  took  him  from  a  deputy,  after  the 
preliminary  examination,  before  a  decision  was  ren 
dered,  the  latter  hypothesis  having  the  weight  of 
evidence. 

The  affair  did  not  terminate  with  one  prosecution. 
Lee  Warden,  the  Constable,  acting  on  the  testimony 
of  Ackerly,  watched  the  house  closel}r,  and  from 
some  movements  therein,  concluded  that  the  money 
was  concealed  not  far  away,  a  suspicion  that  proved 
correct,  as  it  was  found  in  an  old  oven  not  far  from 
the  house.  The  storm  of  persecution  was  now 
turned  on  him.  He  was  arrested  and  thrown  into 
jail,  and  as  Job  says,  "escaped  by  the  skin  of  his 
teeth,"  though  public  opinion  has  exonerated  him 
of  any  connection  with  the  robbery. 

FIRST    SCHOOL. 

Dennis  Townsend,  afterwards  county  Superin 
tendent  of  Schools  for  many  years,  taught  the  first 
school,  Mrs.  Bain  sending  one  child,  Rolands  two, 
Gilpin  three,  Lagrave  one,  and  Burt  one.  Lizzie 
Scott,  now  Mrs.  Button,  at  lone,  was  also  a  pupil. 
Few  men  were  more  devoted  to  their  profession 
than  Dennis  Townsend.  Coming  to  California  when 
gold-hunting  was  the  sole  object  with  most  men, 
his  educational  feelings  were  aroused  to  action  by 
the  sight  of  the  children  growing  up  untaught. 
Leaving  the  making  of  a  fortune  out  of  the  question, 
he  adopted  the  profession  of  a  teacher,  at  a  time 
that  it  meant  inevitable  poverty  and  sacrifice,  which 
profession  he  followed  during  his  life,  or,  until  the 
arduous  duties  ruined  his  health  and  mind.  If  we 
measure  men's  wealth  by  the  accumulation  of  gold, 
he  died  poor;  if  by  the  love  of  thousands  of  human 
beings,  who  have  modeled  their  lives  after  his 
instruction,  and  hold  his  memory  in  veneration,  he 
died  one  of  the  wealthiest  men  in  the  country.  He 
was  the  inventor  of  the  folding  globe,  by  which  the 
study  of  geography  has  been  greatly  simplified. 

CHURCHES. 

The  first  church  was  built  in  the  Winter  of  1852-53, 
it  being  a  small  room,  perhaps  twelve  by  twenty, 
fitted  up  with  desks  and  seats.  Elder  Blain,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  held  service  occasionally 
with  a  few  miners,  and  the  wives  of  Briggs,  Lagrave, 
and  occasionally  the  Scott  girls  from  Amador,  sisters 
to  the  first-named  women.  A  new  church  was 
erected  in  1855,  which  was  elegant  and  commodious. 

The  town  continued  to  grow  until  about  1863. 
29 


At  one  time,  four  stage-lines  concentrated  here,  tak 
ing  passengers  to  Indian  Diggings,  and  other  mining 
towns,  also  for  the  cities.  The  hill  diggings,  though 
not  rich,  furnished  remunerative  employment  to  a 
great  many  men.  Soon  after  the  discovery  of  the 
Nevada  mines,  the  population  began  to  decline  in 
common  with  the  other  placer  mining  tows  of  Ama 
dor  county.  As  the  placers  were  worked  out,  the 
Chinese,  who  are  willing  to  work  for  the  smallest 
pittance,  began  to  occupy  the  country.  They  now 
own  nearly  all  the  older  part  of  the  town.  The 
buildings,  water-worn  and  sunburned,  would  burn 
up  in  a  moment  if  a  fire  were  once  kindled,  and  the 
old  landmarks  would  be  gone.  The  Chinese  por 
tion  of  the  town  shows  gradual  and  certain  decay. 
Though  manifested  in  different  ways,  prosperity 
and  adversity  make  their  own  record.  Pomposity, 
obesity,  contentment,  and  fine  raiment,  indicate 
easy  circumstances;  modesty,  leanness,  irritability, 
and  shabbiness,  belong  to  adversity.  The  latter 
conditions  prevail  in  the  Chinese  quarters  in  Oleta 
to  an  alarming  degree. 

MINING   PROSPECTS. 

There  is  more  placer  mining  around  Oleta  than  in 
any  other  of  the  mining  camps.  The  gulches  were 
soon  worked  out,  but  the  low-grade  gravel  hills 
remained  unworked  until  smaller  wages  were  satis 
factory,  or  until  improved  methods  of  mining  were 
adopted.  The  reduced  price  of  water  also  has  had 
much  to  do  with  the  working  of  low-grade  gravel 
mines.  Loafer  hill,  as  well  as  other  hills  in  the 
vicinity,  has  many  years  of  drifting.  The  ridge 
between  Slate  creek  and  Sucker  creek  is  also  paying 
ground.  At  the  Brown  claim,  on  Sucker  hill,  may  be 
seen  the  most  advanced  methods  of  gravel  mining. 
There  is  a  large  area  of  cemented  gravel  of  low 
grade.  The  ordinary  process  of  sluice-washing  failed 
to  make  it  remunerative.  A  stamp  mill  was  tried,  but 
the  cost  of  crushing  absorbed  all  the  returns,  leaving 
no  margin  for  dividends.  The  crushing  process,  how 
ever,  was  supposed  to  get  the.  most  of  the  gold 
that  was  in  the  gravel;  so  a  point  was  gained  for 
further  experiments.  The  Duham  "  Gold  and  Water 
Saving  Machine  "  seems  to  have  solved  the  problem 
for  this  kind  of  mining. 

Fancy  an  old-fashioned  churn  about  twelve  or  four 
teen  feet  long,  with  staves  of  bar-iron  half  an  inch 
thick  and  three  inches  wide,  riveted  to  stout  hoops 
instead  of  being  banded  or  held  together,  the 
spaces  between  the  staves  being,  say,  one- twelfth 
of  an  inch.  This  is  hung  nearly  horizontal  on 
pivots,  like  a  flour  bolting  machine,  and  partly 
immersed  in  a  bath  of  water.  The  gravel  is  poured 
into  one  end  of  the  churn,  the  rotary  motion,  which 
may  be  obtained  by  the  same  water  which  is 
used  for  the  bath,  or  by  steam-power,  tumbles  the 
gravel  from  one  side  to  the  other,  all  the  time  pass 
ing  it  through  the  water  until  it  is  washed  com 
paratively  clean,  rolling  out  at  the  lower  end, 
out  of  the  way.  The  gold  is  caught  on  amalgamat- 


226 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


ing  plates  under  the  cylinder.  The  arrangement  of 
these  are  such  as  to  be  with  difficulty  understood 
without  drawings. 

The  results  are  as  follows: — 

Cost  of  mining  out  the  gravel  per  ton 50c. 

"     "  crushing  in  cement  mill —  .  -50c.  • 

$1  00 

Total  yield $1  00 

Profit,  nothing. 

Cost  of  mining  being  the  same 50c. 

"    "  reducing  by  Duham's  process lOc. 

60c. 

Total  yield  by  same 90c. 

Margin  for  profit 30c. 

90c.  90c. 

The  capacity  of  the  machine  is  ten  tons  per  hour. 
The  machine  weighs  about  three  tons,  and  may  be 
taken  in  pieces  of  less  than  fifty  pounds  each. 
About  two  inches  of  water  will  run  it. 

SEAWELL   ADDITION. 

The  tract  between  Dry  creek  and  the  Cosumnes, 
originally  belonging  to  the  El  Dorado  Company,  was 
set  off  to  Amador  by  Act  of  the  Legislature  in  the 
Winter  of  1856-57,  through  the  instrumentality   of 
Seawell,  member  from  the  Amador  side.  Indian  creek, 
emptying  into  the  Cosumnes  at  the  forks,  heads  not 
far    from    Oleta.     Pigeon    creek  is  a  short  stream 
between  Indian  creek    and  the  Cosumnes.      These 
streams  were  never  rich  in  gold,  though  mined  even 
to  the  present  time.     This  country  was  a  part  of  the 
ancient  river  system,  and  much  of  it  was  buried  up 
in  lava  or  lava  wash.     The  glaciers  swept  out  wide 
valleys,  which  are  now  the  sites  of  fine  farms.     The 
volcanic  debris  forms  a  fine,  warm   soil,  suitable  for 
the  vine  and  stone  fruits.     Ulinger's  ranch  has  per 
haps   twenty  thousand   vines  of    different  varieties 
flourishing  finely.     The  wine  is  said  to  be   of  fine 
quality.     Other  farms  in  the  vicinity  are  also  prom 
ising.     The  farming  interests  in  this  portion  of  the 
county  will,  no  doubt,  soon   be  the   predominating 
element  in  the  prosperity  of  the  people.     The  soil  is 
deep,  generally  free   from   boulders,  and,  having   a 
granitic  base,  strong   and  enduring.      The  shallow 
mines  have  in  many  instances  materially  assisted  the 
owners  to  tide  over  the  unproductive  time  of  ;<  open 
ing  up  a  farm."     Fruits  and  grain  flourish  without 
irrigation,  though  it  is  generally  believed  that  apples 
and  pears,  and  more  especially  small    berries,  would 
be  much  improved   by  it.     At  present  the  want  of  a 
market  prevents  the  development  of  the  cultivation 
of   fruits.     When  canneries  and  dryers  are    estab 
lished  the  resources   of  this  portion    of  the  county 
will  be  appreciated  and  developed. 

COSUMNES  RIVER. 

This,  by  Act  of  the  Legislature,  1856-57,  con 
stitutes  the  northern  boundary  of  the  county.  The 
south  fork  was  probably  the  poorest  in  gold  of  all 
the  rivers  in  the  mines;  though  around  Fairplay, 


Cedarville,  and  Indian  Diggings,  a  range  correspond 
ing  with  Volcano  and  Murphy's,  there  were  some 
very  rich  placers.  Near  the  lower  end  of  the  flat, 
above  the  falls,  were  some  deposits  of  fine  gold* 
where  the  miners  made  from  two  to  six  ounces  a  day. 
This  flat,  like  many  places  both  north  and  south  of 
the  river,  is  a  glacial  erosion,  one  peculiarity  of 
which  is  to  pile  up  irregularly  rounded  gravel, 
clay  and  other  debris,  peculiar  to  such  agencies, 
against  the  dam  or  terminal  wall,  called  by  geolo 
gists  a  moraine.  If  the  track  of  the  glacier  is  over 
auriferous  slates  or  through  gravel  containing  gold, 
rich  deposits  will  be  found  at  the  lower  end  of  a  valley, 
or,  as  the  miners  say,  at  the  wrong  end,  reversing 
the  usual  methods  of  deposit.  Two  or  three  rich 
riffles  of  small  extent  were  discovered  and  worked 
in  1851,  and  subsequently  in  1852.  The  following 
rather  amusing  account  of  an  attempt  to  introduce 
improved  mining  will  not  only  explain  itself,  but 
give  an  idea  of  the  mistaken  notions  prevailing 
among  miners  with  regard  to  the  nature  of  gold 
deposits.  The  article  was  originally  published  in  the 
Oakland  Times: — 

The  south  fork  of  the  Cosumnes  heads  among  some 
very  good  placer  mines,  or  rather  what  were  good 
mines,  for  the  once  busy  places  are  indicated  by  the 
scarred  hills,  and  the  chimneys  of  the  long  since 
deserted  cabins.  The  main  channel  was  rather  poor, 
though  some  of  the  riffles  or  bars  were  rich  in  the 
scale  gold,  which  was  characteristic  of  this  river, 
some  small  deposits  paying  as  much  as  one  hundred 
dollars  per  day  to  the  man,  which  was  enough  to 
justify,  in  the  then  uncertain  knowledge  of  the  nature 
of  river  deposits,  a  belief  in  the  unbounded  richness  of 
the  inaccessible  deep  holes  with  which  the  river 
abounded.  Early  in  1852  some  sailors,  who  had  been 
on  a  slaver  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  obtained  possession 
of  a  long,  deep  hole,  just  below  one  of these  rich  bars, 
which  had  paid  for  a  few  days  astonishingly,  every 
bucketful  of  dirt  having  a  dollar  in  it.  The  hole  was 
supposed  to  contain  at  least  a  bushel  of  gold,  which 
opinion  was  strengthened  by  finding  several  dollars' 
worth  of  dust  on  the  naked  granite  rock  which 
crossed  the  channel,  forming  the  dam  which  retained 
the  water.  This  appeared  to  have  been  swashed 
out  of  the  hole  by  the  freshet  which  occurred  in 
March  of  that  year.  The  sailors,  knowing  little  or 
nothing  of  mining,  had  taken  in  as  partners  two 
experienced  miners  to  engineer  the  working  of  the 
claim.  A  race,  or  canal,  was  cut  around  the  hole, 
a  dam  thrown  across  the  river,  and  about  the  first  of 
July  the  water  was  all  turned  into  the  canal,  the 
seepage  through  the  dam  being  but  trifling.  Still 
there  was  five  or  six  feet  of  water  over  the  supposed 
treasure;  how  to  get  rid  of  it  was  the  question.  In 
the  latter  days  of  mining  a  steam  engine  and  pump 
would  have  made  short  work  of  it,  but  in  those  days 
such  a  thing  was  not  thought  of,  and  the  proposal 
to  blast  down  the  channel  was  rejected  on  account 
of  the  expense.  At  this  stage  of  the  affair  one  of 
the  men  who  had  been  taken  in  as  engineer  pro 
posed  to  construct  a  syphon  to  drain  off  the  water, 
and  made  a  model  to  show  its  workings,  bringing 
forward  Comstock's  Philosophy  as  authority.  The 
sailors  had  no  faith  in  "  book  larnin,"  and  came  very 
near  rejecting  the  proposal,  but  finally  gave  a  reluc 
tant  consent,  and  the  construction  of  a  syphon  out 


NORTH-WESTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


227 


of  inch  pine  lumber,  with  no  tools  but  a  jack- 
plane,  saw,  and  auger,  was  commenced.  The  lum 
ber,  all  the  way  from  Maine,  cost  twenty-eight  cents 
a  foot,  and  was  carried  over  the  mountains  from  Ye- 
omet,  the  nearest  town.  The  syphon  was  made  eight 
inches  square  in  the  clear,  the  edges  of  the  lumber 
being  put  together  with  white  lead.  The  ends  of 
the  several  sections  were  joined  by  wrapping  them 
with  several  folds  of  tarred  canvas.  To  prevent 
leakage  through  the  small  worm-holes  and  pores  of 
the  wood,  several  coats  of  hot  tar  were  applied  to 
the  outside.  When  finished  the  "simon,"  as  it  was 
universally  called,  was  near  a  hundred  feet  long,  look 
ing  much  like  "  the  great  sea  serpent  we  have  read 
of."  The  project  had  excited  much  derisive  comment 
among  the  several  hundred  miners  in  the  vicinity, 
and  when  the  day  came  for  putting  it  in,  all  work 
was  suspended,  a  great  crowd  gathering  to  see  it  work, 
or  rather  fail  to  work,  for  not  one  had  an  encourag 
ing  word  for  the  projector;  even  the  sailors  had  lost 
what  little  confidence  in  it  they  had  at  first,  and 
were  threatening  personal  violence  to  the  originator. 
Those  who  have  ever  undertaken  anything  contrary 
to  the  universal  opinion  have  some  idea  of  the  sore 
ness  a  hundred  wagging  tongues  will  produce.  From 
this  point  it  may  be  as  well  to  let  the  narrator  use 
his  own  words:  "I  now  floated  one  end  of  the  tube 
out  into  deep  water  and  sunk  it  to  the  bottom,  put 
ting  a  large  rock  on  it  to  hold  it  down  ;  the  other 
end  was  bent  over  the  rock  so  as  to  obtain  a  fall  of 
perhaps  eight  feet.  I  had  gates  at  the  ends  and 
a  valve  opening  outward  at  the  highest  part  of  the 
bend  to  aid  in  filling  it  with  water.  Everything 
being  arranged  1  stationed  a  man  at  each  end  to  tend 
the  gates,  taking  charge  of  the  vafve  at  the  top  my 
self.  When  the  syphon  was  full  I  let  it  stand  a 
moment  to  see  that  all  was  tight,  and  th.en  closed 
the  valve,  wedging  it  down  tight,  and  gave  directions 
for  the  gates  to  be  withdrawn.  The  syphon  run  a 
few  barrels  of  water,  gave  a  kind  of  snort,  and  was 
apparently  dead!  The  crowd  gave  a  derisive  shout, 
using  such  expressions  as  "  Yerl  do  ter  travel,  won't 
yer?  Gonter  take  out  a  patent  ?  Reckon  yerl  have 
ter  study  yer  book  a  while  longer,  my  friend.  Yer've 
been  ter  college,  have  yer?" 

Though  these  expressions  were  made  more  in  fun 
than  anger,  I  was  exceedingly  mortified.  Science 
had  gone  back  on  me.  Comstock  was  a  cheat !  To 
add  to  my  discomfort,  my  partner,  who  had  con 
tended  for  my  knowledge  of  such  matters  and  who, 
when  the  growling  had  assumed  ominous  proportions, 
had  taken  his  little  pile  of  three  hundred  dollars  and 
told  the  sailors  they  had  abused  his  partner  long 
enough,  and  offered  to  bet  his  whole  pile  on  the 
"  simon  "  and  thereby  silenced  their  clamors,  for  a 
while  at  least,  gave  me  a  reproachful  look  I  shall 
always  remember,  and  went  off  to  the  cabin.  The 
crowd  of  spectators,  after  venting  their  opinions,  went 
to  a  saloon  near  by  to  finish  the  day  at  cards  and 
whisky.  After  the  first  shock  of  disappointment  was 
overl  commenced  a  critical  examination  to  see  where 
the  failure  was.  I  half  expected  that  some  one  had 
thrust  a  bowie-knife  through  the  flexible  joints,  or 
that  some  crack  had  admitted  the  air,  but  all  seemed 
as  perfect  as  when  I  laid  it  down.  At  the  lower  end 
I  made  a  discovery.  When  the  water  started  through 
the  syphon  it  raised  the  light  pine  box  out  of  its  bed 
so  as  to  let  the  air  in.  I  now  dug  away  so  as  to  let 
it  down  a  little  deeper  and  put  a  heavy  rock  on  it 
to  hold  it  to  its  place,  and  put  in  the  gates  without 
assistance,  not  wishing  to  have  any  spectators  at  the 
next  trial.  A  second  time  I  filled  it  and  carefully 


closed  the  valve.  I  then  waded  out  into  the  deep 
water  and  pulled  out  the  upper  gate  and  floundered 
back  as  soon  as  possible  to  take  out  the  lower  one, 
being  apprehensive  of  failure  on  account  of  the  dif 
ference  in  time.  The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that 
the  water  in  the  pond  was  up  to  the  top  and  running 
over  the  ro.ck,  consequently  the  syphon  would  dis 
charge  the  water  as  at  a  pressure  of  eight  feet,  or  the 
difference  between  the  water-level  and  the  lower  leg 
of  the  syphon.  When  I  pulled  out  the  gate  the 
water  poured  through  the  syphon  like  a  young  flood. 
In  two  minutes  the  claim  below  was  flooded,  sluice- 
boxes,  pumps,  and  everything  made  of  wood  being 
afloat,  which  I  was  not  sorry  for,  as  the  owners  had 
laughed  the  loudest  at  my  failure.  A  whirl-pool 
over  the  mouth  of  the  upper  end  of  the  syphon 
showed  the  force  with  which  the  water  was  being 
drawn  through.  I  gave  a  shout  or  screech  of  delight 
which  brought  every  one  within  hearing  to  the  spot. 
A  man  came  to  the  door  of  the  saloon  and  shouted, 
"I'll  be  dogoned  if  the  simon  ain't  jest  a  bilin."  The 
cards  were  thrown  down,  and  a  rush  made  for  the 
syphon.  Since  then  I  have  "  struck  it  rich  "  and 
made  my  "pile."  1  have  mingled  in  politics  and 
won  the  race,  and  have  received  a  blissful  answer 
from  the  woman  1  loved;  but  I  doubt  if  anything 
brought  the  happiness  of  that  moment.  Science 
was  victorious. 

Yarious  were  the  speculations  about  the  "  simon." 
One  suggested  that  the  moving  power  was  suction. 

"  Suction  be  d d,"  said  the  other,  with  a  look 

of  pitiful  contempt,  "Where's  yer  suck?"  It  may 
be  explained  that  the  plunger  of  a  pump  is  called  a 
suck  by  many  Far  West  people.  The  theory  most 
in  vogue  was :  "  Yer  see,  this  end  er  the  simon's  a 
heap  the  lowest,  and  the  water  is  gonter  run  out 
heah  any  how;  nothin'  can't  git  inter  it  'cept  at  the 
eends,  and  the  water  has  ter  come;  somethin'  has  ter 
come,  you  bet." 

In  a  few  days  the  wonder  ceased.  I  was  known 
as  the  "  simon  man,"  which  afterwards  was  shortened 
to  Simon.  There  was  no  fortune  in  the  hole,  the 
bottom  being  as  smooth  as  your  hand. 

A  visit  to  the  river  after  an  absence  of  nearly 
thirty  years  shows  little  change.  No  deep  bank 
diggings,  such  as  characterize  the  other  rivers,  are 
seen;  no  canals,  blasted  through  the  rocky  sides, 
show  where  the  river  was  turned.  The  slickens  from 
the  mines  around  the  head  of  the  river,  have  given 
a  smoothness  to  the  channel  that  it  did  not  formerly 
have.  The  cafion,  as  it  was  termed,  where  a  pile  of 
boulders  ten  to  a  hundred  feet  in  diameter,  which 
filled  the  whole  river-bed  in  1851  so  that  no  water 
was  seen  or  even  heard,  except  during  floods,  is  now 
so  filled  with  tailings  that  the  water  runs  over  the 
tops  of  the  rocks.  A  few  timber  slides  and  wood 
roads  show  the  occasional  presence  of  lumbermen, 
but  otherwise  the  deer  might  wander  undisturbed. 

•  FARMS. 

Above  the  falls  are  several  good  farms.  This 
ground  was  taken  up  for  farming  purposes  in  1851, 
by  John  M.  Jamison  and  son.  They  were  from 
St.  Louis,  where  the  former  had  held  many  posi 
tions  of  trust  and  honor.  They  afterwards  removed 
to  Pigeon  creek,  where  they  erected  a  saw-mill,  put 
up  good  buildings,  and  made  a  home  for  the  family, 
which  soon  joined  them.  The  original  location  was 


228 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


good  land,  but  rather  frosty,  owing  to  the  conforma 
tion  of  the  outlet  of  the  valley,  which  was  a  glacial 
moraine. 

LYNCHING   AFFAIR. 

Jamison's  ranch  was  the  scene  of  an  affair  in  1852 
that  occupied  the  attention  of  the  people  and  author 
ities  of  El  Dorado  for  some  time,  involving  the 
Jamisons,  both  father  and  son,  in  a  vexatious  and 
costly  lawsuit. 

John  Crouch,  then  living  on  a  place  now  occupied 
by  Mrs.  Williams,  found  the  hide  of  one  of  his 
missing  cattle  in  a  Mexican  camp,  at  the  forks  of  the 
Oosumnes.  With  the  help  of  some  friends,  he  gath 
ered  up  five  or  six  of  the  Mexicans,  and  took  them 
to  Jamison's  ranch  for  a  trial.  Knowing  the  hasty 
manner  of  such  trials,  and  the  summary  justice 
meted  out,  Beebee  and  other  respectable  persons  at 
the  Forks  (Yeomet)  sent  an  express  to  Coloma  for 
the  Sheriff,  Buchanan,  to  be  present  at  the  meeting 
the  next  day.  While  the  gathering  was  in  progress, 
the  Sheriff  and  deputies,  two  or  three  in  number, 
with  some  friends  and  acquaintances  of  the  Mexi 
cans,  came  also.  Some  high  words  ensued,  the 
Sheriff  urging  the  citizens  to  give  up  the  Mexicans 
for  trial,  the  citizens  insisting  upon  trying  them  then 
and  there,  as  the  courts  were  unreliable.  While  the 
angry  colloquy  was  going  on,  several  Mexicans,  with 
arms  in  their  hands,  were  discovered  hanging  around 
on  the  outskirts  of  the  place.  Whether  they  came 
with  peaceful  intent  and  were  afraid  to  come  in,  is 
not  known.  Several  persons  went  with  guns  and 
pistols  and  drove  them  away.  Among  this  number 
was  the  elder  Jamison.  There  is  no  mistake  about 
his  being  of  the  party,  and  it  is  particularly  noticed 
here,  as  being  important  in  connection  with  the 
charge  subsequently  made  against  him  of  resisting 
the  officers.  Several  shots  were  fired  at  the  Mexi 
cans,  and  perhaps  some  were  returned.  They  retired 
however  without  much  delay.  The  shots  on  the  outside 
of  the  camp  seemed  to  inflame  the  crowd,  many  of 
whom  drew  their  revolvers  and  told  the  Sheriff  to 
leave.  One  person  struck  his  horse  with  the  barrel 
of  a  rifle.  Perhaps  a  dozen  pistols  and  guns  were 
exhibited  with  the  intention  of  overawing  him.  The 
Sheriff  was  obliged  to  go,  as  it  would  have  been 
madness  to  have  drawn  a  weapon  in  his  own  defense 
in  the  presence  of  so  many  weapons  ready  to  be 
used.  He  turned  his  horse,  and  rode  slowly  away, 
evidently  angry,  but  holding  himself  in  good  order, 
followed  by  the  friends  of  the  Mexicans.  Perhaps 
the  presence  of  the  hide  might  have  been  explained 
if  the  folks  at  the  Forks  had  been  heard.  Beeb«e, 
of  the  firm  of  Beebee  &  Simpson,  claims  that  the 
Mexicans  were  not  guilty  of  any  crime;  that  the 
parties  punished  were  hard-working,  honest  men. 
After  the  Sheriff  and  his  party  had  retired,  the  citi 
zens  proceeded  to  try  the  accused.  A  jury  of  twelve 
was  called  out.  The  evidence  left  no  doubt  of  the 
stealing  of  the  cattle  by  some  one  or  more  in  the 
camp  to  which  the  Mexicans  belonged.  The  accused 


one  of  whom  could  speak  English,  told  the  jury  that 
there  were  some  bad  men  in  the  settlement  to  which 
he  belonged;  that  neither  he  nor  his  friends  ought  to 
be  held  responsible  for  their  deeds,  for  they  were 
desperadoes,  as  ready  to  rob  their  own  countrj^men 
as  the  Americans.  The  statement  looked  reasona 
ble,  but  the  accused  were  found  guilty  by  the  jury, 
mostly  on  the  ground  of  not  having  prevented  the 
stealing  by  other  parties,  and  were  sentenced  to  some 
thirty  lashes  each,  on  the  general  principle  that  a 
greaser  was  always  guilty.  One  after  another  was 
taken  out  to  a  tree  and  whipped.  One  of  them,  a 
fine-looking  man — the  one  spoken  of  before — bowed 
to  the  people  with  a  smile,  saying  in  good  English  : — 
/  "  Gentlemen,  1  am  as  innocent  of  this  stealing  as 
any  of  you,"  and  held  his  hands  up  to  be  tied  to  the 
tree. 

The  executioner,  whose  name  will  be  omitted, 

said:  "G d  you,  I'll  take  that  smile  off  your 

face." 

John  McCauley,  one  of  the  participators  in  the 
affair,  protested  against  his  receiving  any  severer 
punishment  than  the  others.  It  is  said  that  the 
last-mentioned  person  was  Joaquin  Murietta.  There 
are  so  many  conflicting  reports  concerning  him  that 
it  is  difficult  to  believe  anything.  The  report  that 
he  was  unjustly  whipped  somewhere,  is  probably 
true.  Persons  acquainted  with  him  say  that  it  was 
in  El  Dorado  county;  others  say  that  it  was  in 
Sonora.  Whether  it  was  Joaquin  or  somebody  else, 
is  not  material.  The  sting  of  the  lash  may  be  borne 
with  indifference,  but  the  disgrace,  the  insults,  con 
nected  with  it,  who  will  forgive?  One  enemy  at 
least  was  made  who  probably  wiped  out  the  dis 
grace,  according  to  his  code,  in  blood.  The  fact 
that  Joaquin  commenced  his  mui-derous  career  in 
Fiddletown;  that  the  participants  in  the  "Jamison 
affair,"  as  it  was  called,  were  apparently  hunted, 
gives  an  appearance  of  probability  to  the  theory. 

The  Sheriff  left  with  no  pleasant  feelings.  The 
firmly  set  jaw  and  steady  eye,  indicated  another 
chapter  in  the  play.  In  a  day  or  two  after,  he 
returned  with  a  posse  comitatus  of  three  or  four  hun 
dred  men,  to  arrest  the  rioters. 

"Then  there  was  hurrying  to  and  fro, 
And  cheeks  all  pale  which  but  an  hour  ago," 

—Well — the  rioters  ran  now. 

Runners  were  sent  up  and  down  the  river,  also  to 
Fiddletown,  warning  them  to  flee  from  the  wrath 
to  come.  Some  visited  with  the  Indians  for  a  while; 
others  found  a  hunting  trip  on  the  upper  waters  of 
the  rivers,  to  be  the  best  thing  at  hand.  Jamison 
and  his  son  were  both  arrested,  and  taken  to  Coloma. 
The  posse  comitatus  helped  themselves  freely  to  hay, 
grain,  and  provisions,  wasting  what  they  did  not 
consume,  and  doing  damage  to  the  amount  of  several 
hundred  dollars.  At  the  preliminary  examination 
before  a  magistrate,  the  Sheriff  found  it  difficult  to 
fix  any  participation  in  resisting  him,  on  either 
Tamison  or  the  son,  for  the  reason,  as  before  stated, 


NORTH-WESTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


229 


that  they  were  of  the  party  that  were  out  at  the 
time  to  drive  away  the  Mexicans  who  were  hanging 
around  the  place.  The  principle  of  law,  that  he  who 
is  present  when  an  unlawful  act  is  committed,  without 
using  his  influence  to  prevent  it,  becomes  "particeps 
criminis,"  was  cited  with  the  proof  of  influence, 
which,  if  it  had  been  used,  might  have  averted  the 
resistance.  Mr.  Jamison's  house,  or  place,  had  been 
used  on  account  of  the  convenience  of  meeting  there, 
not  because  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  matter. 
The  offense,  if  any  had  been  committed,  was  purely 
technical,  and  by  a  general  understanding  the  Jami 
sons  plead  guilty,  paid  a  nominal  fine,  and  were  dis 
missed;  but  the  active  lynchers  did  not  rest  quite 
easy,  until  after  several  months  had  elapsed. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

NORTH-WESTERN    PART    OF    THE    COUNTY. 

Drytown — Details  of  Settlement — First  Justice  of  the  Peace — 
Arrival  of  Families — Scurvy — Great  Fire — Farming — Dry 
Creek  —  Rattlesnake  Gulch  —  Mile  Gulch  —  Murderers' 
Gulch — Forest  Home — Arkansas  Creek — Yankee  Hill — Big 
Nugget  —  Willow  Springs — Central  House  —  Plymouth — 
Puckerville — Mineral  Springs — Fires — Enterprise — Yeomet. 

DRYTOWN  is  on  Dry  creek,  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  county,  about  twelve  miles  from  Jackson.  Dry 
creek,  from  which  the  town  takes  its  name,  runs 
through  the  place.  It  is  the  oldest  town  of  any  size 
in  the  county.  As  early  as  May  in  1848,  some  fifty 
or  more  persons  were  working  here,  the  most  of 
whom  were  Mexicans  from  Monterey  and  vicinity. 
Isaac  E.  Eastman,  now  mining  in  the  vicinity  of 
Volcano,  was  here  a  few  days  at  that  time.  Two 
ounces  a  day  was  the  ordinary  day's  work,  though 
occasionally,  when  a  rich  crevice  was  found,  the 
ounces  would  become  pounds.  During  the  Summer, 
the  number  was  still  greater.  In  the  following 
Spring,  more  white  men  came,  among  whom  were 
G.  L.  Thomas,  who  had  resided  in  Thomas  O. 
Larkin's  family  at  Monterey,  also  some  of  Steven 
son's  regiment,  names  unknown,  though  one  of  them 
went  by  the  name  of  Leather-stocking.  All  accounts 
agree  in  the  statement  that  the  ravines  and  gulches 
were  very  rich,  the  gold  being  on  the  bed-rock  near 
the  surface.  A  hundred  dollars  to  the  pan  was  not 
an  unusual  occurrence.  The  tussocks,  or  bunches  of 
grass  along  the  ravines,  would  often  have  five  or  six 
dollars  adhering  to  the  roots.  Mr.  Thomas,  who 
still  lives  in  Drytown,  thinks  that  in  the  Spring  and 
Summer  of  '49,  men  averaged  one  hundred  dollars 
per  day.  The  town  was  very  quiet,  the  Indians, 
Mexicans,  and  white  population  generally  getting 
along  without  much  trouble.  The  four  or  five  white 
men  began  to  think  they  were  not  having  a  fair  show, 
considering  they  were  the  owners  of  the  country,  and 
posted  up  a  notice  ordering  all  foreigners  to  leave 
within  a  certain  time,  which,  however,  was  not 
noticed.  An  Englishman  by  the  name  of  Pilkinton, 
who  had  formerly  lived  in  Mexico,  and  understood 
the  Spanish  language,  kept  a  store  in  a  brush  shanty 


and  got  most  of  the  Mexican  trade.  A  man  by  the 
name  of  Williams,  who  had  a  store  on  Chile  hill,  got 
the  Indian  trade,  his  stock  being  mostly  shirts  and 
other  cotton  goods  of  gay  colors,  with  which  the 
Indians  loved  to  decorate  themselves.  At  this  time 
there  were  but  three  or  four  log-cabins. 

Pilkinton  was  the  first  Justice  of  the  Peace,  or  the 
first  elected  rather,  but  as  the  election  was  carried 
by  the  residents  of  the  town,  who  were  mostly 
gamblers,  it  did  not  give  satisfaction  to  the  miners, 
who  called  a  meeting  in  the  evening  to  reconsider  the 
matter.  There  was  no  town  hall,  but  a  big  fire  was 
built  against  a  log,  and  the  meeting  was  organized 
by  the  election  of  a  man  by  the  name  of  Beiterman 
as  chairman — the  chair  being  a  portion  of  the  log  at 
a  little  distance  from  the  fire.  Mr.  Beiterman  was  a 
portly,  good-looking  man,  and  had  the  only  stove 
pipe  hat  in  the  country,  and  had  the  further  dis 
tinction  of  having  married  a  runaway  wife  of 
Brigham  Young,  hence  was  considered  a  suitable  per 
son  for  chairman.  The  fact  that  Pilkinton  was  an 
Englishman,  and  was  chosen  by  the  gamblers,  was 
duly  set  forth,  and  the  election  was  annulled. 

During  the  Summer,  when  the  "  around  the  Horn 
men"  began  to  arrive,  there  was  a  large  accession 
to  the  white  population.  All  the  passengers,  num 
bering  thirty  or  forty,  from  the  barks  Strafford  and 
Anna  Welch,  from  New  York,  came  in  a  body  to  the 
town,  and  a  new  impetus  was  given  to  aifairs.  An 
election  for  Justice  of  the  Peace  was  called,  and  two 
candidates  were  set  up.  The  old  citizens  nominated 
and  supported  a  man  by  the  name  of  Mulford,  from 
Pennsylvania.  The  Straifords  nominated  a  man  by 
the  name  of  Coffin,  who  was  elected  after  a  very 
spirited  contest.  He  left,  however,  in  the  course  of 
a  week.  A  love  for  a  political  contest,  more  than 
the  want  of  a  magistrate,  was  the  source  of  the 
interest  manifested  in  the  election. 

In  the  Autumn  a  great  many  families  came  to 
Drytown,  among  whom  were  the  Hinkstons,  Boone, 
'  lineal  descendants  of  Daniel  Boone,'  Weston,  and 
Richmond  families;  a  family  also  settled  in  Mile 
gulch.  Miss  Mollie  Boone,  now  Mrs.  Prank  Hen 
derson,  living  at  Drytown,  was  born  December  2d, 
1849,  on  the  north  side  of  the  creek,  then  in  El 
Dorado  county,  Dry  creek  being  the  county  line. 
She  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  the  present  limits 
of  the  county. 

The  first  attempts  to  have  anything  like  perma 
nent  residences,  commenced  about  this  time.  So 
far,  the  people  had  camped  under  trees  or  brush 
shanties,  or  in  tents.  The  boots  and  hat  often 
served  for  a  pillow.  Coyotes  prowled  around  the 
camps  at  night,  gathering  up  all  that  was  eatable, 
or  had  the  smell  of  human  hands  on  it.  One  morn 
ing,  a  miner  missed  one  of  his  boots.  He  remem 
bered  that  he  put  it  under  his  head;  why  any  one 
should  steal  one  boot,  he  could  not  imagine.  It  was 
found  some  distance  away,  gnawed  by  a  coyote, 
that  had  managed  to  pull  it  from  under  his  head, 


230 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


without  disturbing  his  slumbers.  In  another  in 
stance,  a  man,  distrusting  his  companions,  put  his 
purse,  containing  several  pounds  of  dust,  under  a 
flat  rock  some  ways  from  the  camp.  In  the  morn 
ing  it  was  gone.  He  was  loud  in  his  complaints  of 
having  been  robbed  by  some  one  of  the  company. 
Instead  of  getting  up  a  row,  they  were  cool  enough 
to  inquire  into  the  circumstances,  and  went  with 
the  loser  to  the  defaulting  bank.  The  depositor 
showed  the  line  between  two  trees,  where  the  gold 
was  buried  under  the  rock,  which  appeared  to  have 
been  moved.  A  closer  examination  showed  marks 
of  a  paw  that  had  scratched  around  the  stone.  The 
purse,  gnawed  in  holes  and  empty,  was  found  not 
far  away,  the  dust  being  scattered  over  considerable 
ground.  It  was  mostly  recovered,  and  good  feel 
ings  in  the  family  restored,  though  coyotes  fared 
badly  in  the  vicinity  after  that,  all  on  account  of 
"  tJiat  thar  blamed  crittur  that  stole  his  puss." 

ROCKERS. 

The  Beitermans  made  rockers  out  of  "split  stuff," 
and  sold  them  for  seventy -five  dollars  each.  A  year 
afterwards  they  were  sold  for  twenty-five  dollars. 
The  Americans  used  rockers,  packing  the  dirt  in 
sacks  to  water,  sometimes  half  a  mile  away.  The 
Mexicans  dry- washed,  with  their  batayas,  with  much 
the  same  movement  that  is  used  in  cleaning  sand 
out  of  gold-dust.  When  less  than  an  ounce  a  day 
was  made,  new  diggings  were  sought. 
CABINS. 

When  the  rains  commenced  there  were  few  or  no 
cabins;  those  who  had  been  prudent  enough  to  build 
them  gave  a  place  on  the  ground  for  a  spread  to  those 
who  were  out  of  doors.  It  was  found  that  the  western 
man,  either  from  having  crossed  the  plains  or  from 
being  accustomed  to  a  rough  life,  was  readiest  to 
adapt  himself  to  circumstances.  He  soon  "knocked 
up"  a  log  cabin,  while  the  eastern  man  cursed  the 
country  and  lamented  his  hard  fate.  The  first  rains 
were  of  short  duration  and  before  the  heavy  rains 
set  in  all  were  sheltered.  Shakes  were  worth  six 
teen  dollars  per  hundred,  and  a  man  with  a  cross-cut 
saw  and  froe  could  make  two  ounces  a  day. 
SCURVY. 

Nearly  everybody  was  afflicted  with  what  was 
called  scurvy,  which  seerried  to  be  a  disease  similar 
to  what  afflicted  the  people  the  following  year,  though 
accompanied  with  other  symptoms.  The  limbs  and 
body  would  swell,  the  tongue  crack  and  bleed,,  and 
the  gums  get  so  sore  and  ulcerated  that  the  teeth 
would  become  loose,  sometimes  falling  out.  It  was 
usually  accompanied  with  diarrhea  and  flux,  which 
became  to  a  great  extent  epidemic.  It  is  supposed 
to  have  been  caused  by  the  hardships  of  the  long 
journey,  both  by  sea  and  land,  and  the  scarcity  of 
vegetable  food.  About  thirty  persons,  one-fifth  of 
the  white  population,  died  during  the  Winter,  of  this 
disease.  Doctors  charged  eight  dollars  for  a  visit  in 
town,  and  sixteen  to  fifty  dollars  per  visit  to  the 


country.  Dan  Worley,  who  suffered  from  this  disease 
for  some  time,  employed  a  physician,  who  salivated 
and  otherwise  demoralized  him,  without  doing  him 
any  good,  for  which  he  charged  one  thousand  one 
hundred  dollars.  Dan  thinks  he  could  have  got  his 
teeth  knocked  out  for  a  much  less  sum  than  that  if 
he  had  set  about  it. 

Potatoes  were  worth  two  dollars  a  pound;  a  bottle 
of  sauerkraut,  four  dollars;  vinegar,  when  it  could  be 
had,  was  dealt  out  as  medicine  at  twenty-five  cents  a 
spoonful.  The  scarcity  of  good  water  might  have 
had  something  to  do  with  the  violence  of  disease, 
as  there  was  but  one  place  (near  the  present  slaughter 
house)  where  drinking  water  could  be  obtained. 
Men  would  go  there  before  daylight  and  await  their 
turn  for  a  chance  at  the  small  seepage  which  came  out 
there.  Five  years  afterwards  no  such  awaiting 
would  have  occurred,  for  the  sinking  of  a  shaft  deep 
enough  to  reach  the  abundance  of  cool  water  every 
where  found  in  that  vicinity,  would  not  have  caused 
ten  minutes  conference. 

Until  1853,  Drytown  was  a  collection  of  log  cabins 
and  shake  shanties,  without  much  attempt  at  arch 
itectural  display  or  even  comfort,  but  the  people 
caught  the  prevailing  spirit  of  improvement,  and 
commenced  improving.  A  hall  for  general  purposes 
was  built.  It  was  also  used  as  a  church  and  school- 
house.  In  1854  several  brick  buildings,  supposed  to 
be  fire-proof,  were  erected.  In  1856-57  the  town 
was  at  its  best  as  far  as  numbers  were  concerned, 
though  it  was  even  then  considered  a  "worked-out" 
place,  the  shallow  gulches  having  been  easily  ex 
hausted  and  no  hill  diggings  taking  their  places. 

GREAT   FIRE. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1857  a  fire  broke  out  near  the 
creek,  and,  aided  by  the  wind,  situation  of  the  town, 
and  combustible  nature  of  the  buildings,  in  an  hour 
it  laid  the  whole  place  in  ashes.  Three  buildings,  Will 
iams'  and  Louis  &  Richtmyer's,  and  the  present 
store  of  William  0.  Clark,  were  the  only  ones 
saved.  Those  who  have  never  seen  a  California  town 
burn,  have  no  idea  of  the  progress  of  the  flames  after 
a  start  is  made.  The  shakes  and  pine  boards,  ren 
dered  spongy  by  long  exposure  to  the  Winter  rains 
without  protection  from  paint,  and  then  made  dry  as 
tinder  by  a  six  months'  exposure  to  a  heat  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  degrees  in  the  sun,  flash  like  shav 
ings,  the  flame  leaping  from  house  to  house  as  on  the 
dry  prairie  grass,  rendering  useless  any  attempts  to 
stay  its  progress  or  save  property. 

Drytown  never  recovered  from  this  misfortune. 
The  Mexicans  and  Chilenos,  who  had  constituted  the 
larger  part  of  the  population  in  times  past,  left,  no 
white  people  taking  their  places. 

Some  of  the  brick  buildings  and  most  of  the 
dwellings  of  the  white  residents  were  rebuilt,  but 
some  of  the  brick  stores  were  soon  after  without 
tenants,  and  served  to  shelter  the  weary  pigs  and 
goats  from  the  noon-day  sun.  When  the  Gover,  Sea- 
ton,  Pennsylvania,  and  other  mines  along  the  lode 


NORTH-WESTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


231 


were  developed,  the  town  showed  some  signs  of 
revival,  but  New  Chicago  soon  appropriated  that 
source  of  prosperity ,  and  the  old  routine  was  resumed. 
The  travel  between  the  different  mining  towns  still 
goes  through  Dry  town,  and  the  stages  from  lone  and 
Latrobe  connect  with  stages  for  the  upper  towns 
twice  a  day,  bringing  some  trade  to  the  stores. 

There  is  some  farming  in  the  vicinity,  the  soil 
being  well  adapted  to  cereals  and  fruits.  Wine  of  a 
fine  quality  is  manufactured  in  considerable  quanti 
ties,  the  capacity  of  the  soil  for  grapes  being  unsur 
passed.  William  O.  Clark,  the  famous  temperance 
orator,  recuperates  his  exhausted  energies  by  plough 
ing  the  hill  sides  and  harvesting  the  tall  oats,  as  a 
recreation.  Robert  Cosner,  a  successful  politician, 
several  times  elected  to  the  office  of  Sheriff,  and  now 
a  prominent  man  in  San  Francisco,  commenced  his 
career  here  as  a  clerk  for  J.  C.  Williams.  Doc 
tor  Fox,  a  stock  broker  in  the  city,  also  resided  here 
in  early  days,  as  did  W.  F.  Curtis,  a  lawyer,  after 
wards  a  noted  man  in  the  Union  army.  D.  W.  Sea- 
ton,  successful  as  a  lawyer,  politician,  and  miner,  was 
also  resident  here  from  his  first  coming  to  California 
to  the  day  of  his  death  (soon  after  his  election  to 
the  State  Senate)  by  the  explosion  of  the  steamer 
Yo  Semite.  He  gave  his  name  to  the  Seaton  mine. 

DRY    CREEK. 

From  the  crossing  of  the  Mother  Lode,  down, 
this  creek  was  probably  the  best  in  the  county.  It 
was  the  first  to  be  extensively  worked,  having  sev 
eral  hundred  miners  while  there  was  yet  but  a  house 
or  two  at  Amador  and  Sutter  Creek.  The  source  of 
the  gold  which  enriched  all  the  gulches  in  the  vicin 
ity  is  a  mystery.  No  rich  quartz  veins  traverse  the 
hills  which  are  nearly  a  mile  west  of  the  Mother 
Lode,  and  no  place  on  the  Mother  Lode  in  the  county 
was  as  rich  as  at  Drytown,  excepting,  perhaps,  Mur 
phy's  and  Hunt's  gulches.  If  there  were  ever  any 
ancient  river-beds,  they  are  gone,  only  a  trace  in  two 
or  three  places  being  left;  but  as  Drytown  is  two  or 
three  hundred  feet  lower  than  any  mining  town 
in  the  county,  the  ancient  rivers  may  have  been 
swept  away.  Some  traces  of  one  are  found  on  the 
high  hill  south  of  the  town,  also  on  a  hill  near  the 
quartz  lode,  also  at  Rattlesnake  flat,  east  of  the 
quart/  lode.  The  clayey  bed  on  which  the  gravel 
rested  at  the  latter-named  place  indicates  a  bed  of  a 
glacier,  and  Drytown  may  have  been  the  outlet  for  a 
vast  floe  of  ice,  the  flats  at  the  Central  House  and 
Plymouth  forming  a  part  of  the  same.  The  fact 
that  the  wall-rock  of  the  ancient  valley  is  broken 
down  here  Jower  than  any  point  between  the  bound 
aries  of  the  county  favors  this  theory.  Some  indica 
tions  of  benches  or  shores  of  an  ancient  lake  may  be 
seen  on  the  hill -sides  south  of  Drytown. 

The  creek  was  rich  several  miles  below  town.  At 
Campbell's  store,  five  miles  below  town,  the  creek 
was  as  good  as  at  any  other  point,  and  at  Irish  Hill, 
the  ancient  outlet  of  the  glacial  stream,  it  was  no 
unusual  thing  for  men  to  make  fortunes  of  ten  to 


twenty  thousand  dollars.  Whoever  has  time  and 
inclination  to  study  the  connections  between  the 
ancient  river  beds  of  Fiddletown  (Oleta)  and  the 
glacial  marks  at  points  farther  west,  will  find  a  rich 
field  for  study  and  discovery. 

RATTLESNAKE    GULCH 

Was  one  of  the  richest  gulches  around  Drytown. 
Its  several  branches  start  from  the  crest  of  the  Black 
hills,  (the  rich  quartz  deposit  heretofore  described,) 
and  empty  into  Dry  creek,  not  far  above  the  town. 

MURDERER'S  GULCH, 

An  ominous  name,  was  so  called  from  its  being 
the  scene  of  several  murders  in  1849-50.  It  lies 
along  the  reef  of  Jurassic  gravel,  from  which  it  prob 
ably  derives  most  of  its  gold.  Blood  gulch  also  was 
the  scene  of  a  murder  in  the  same  year.  Some  men 
seeing  blood  mingled  with  the  water,  went  up  the 
stream  a  few  yards,  and  found  a  man  who  had  been 
shot  and  robbed,  hence  the  name. 

MILE    GULCH 

Heads  near  Lower  Rancheria,  and  runs  north 
westerly  towards  Dry  creek.  This  was  also  the 
scene  of  a  tragedy  during  the  excitement  of  1855. 
The  gold  was  from  a  pliocene  river,  which  enriched 
Rattlesnake  flat,  this  being  one  of  the  very  few 
places  remaining  of  the  great  gravel  deposits.  A 
family  (name  forgotten)  settled  here  in  '49.  Rattle 
snake  flat  was  mined  in  1859  or  '60,  by  a  party 
who  brought  water  to  it  by  means  of  a  ditch  and 
flume,  from  Rancheria  creek. 

FOREST    HOME. 

This  was  the  center  of  a  mining  district  in  the 
north-western  part  of  the  county,  which  was,  per 
haps,  the  poorest  in  gold  of  any  portion  that  was 
extensively  worked.  The  serpentine  range  here 
reached  its  largest  development,  some  of  the  peaks 
forming  landmarks  for  many  miles  around.  This 
development,  or  rather  extraordinary  elevation  of 
the  metamorphic  series  of  rocks,  perhaps  had  some 
influence  in  preventing  streams  or  channels  from 
being  formed  which  could  be  enriched  by  the  Mother 
Lode,  as  the  country  further  south  was.  The  Cos- 
umnes  river  along  this  tract  was  not  rich,  the  pay 
ing  claims  being  farther  down,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Michigan  bar,  in  Sacramento  and  El  Dorado  counties. 

ARKANSAS    CREEK, 

So  called  because  no  "Arkansaw  traveler"  ever 
came  that  way,  has  its  source  near  Forest  Home, 
runs  westerly  several  miles,  and  empties  into  the 
Cosumnes,  near  the  county  line.  At  the  head  of 
this  creek  were  some  deep  diggings,  called  the 
"Yankee  claim"  and  Wind  hill.  These  places  seem 
to  have  been  the  remains  of  a  pliocene  river,  perhaps 
of  the  same  age  as  the  hills  around  Stony  creek,  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  county,  Arkansas  creek 
receiving  its  wealth  from  these  hills. 

YANKEE    HILL 

Was  worked  in  1850  by  Griswold,  Emerson,  Pur- 
tham,  Alexander,  and  others.  Griswold  is  now  an 


232 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


eminent  composer  of  music  in  Boston.  The  lower 
part  of  the  creek  only  paid  moderately,  three  to  five 
dollars  being  the  usual  result  of  a  day's  work.  Will 
iam  B.  Ludlow,  afterwards  member  of  the  Legis 
lature,  now  a  resident  of  Oakland,  Edmond  Tanner, 
Wallace  Wallace,  and  Charles  Bennett,  the  latter 
since  a  resident  of  Sutter  Creek,  are  remembered  as 
mining  there  in  1850,  and  since.  Potter,  now  of 
Plymouth,  and  also  Gideon  Babb,  kept  stores  there. 
Some  coarse  gold  was  taken  out  occasionally.  The 
hills  were  generally  composed  of  sand  and  gravel, 
the  gold  being  found  in  a  kind  of  ferruginous, 
cemented  gravel,  on  the  bottom. 

BIG   NUGGET. 

One  day  a  Mexican,  named  Antone,  struck  a  nug 
get  with  his  crow-bar,  which  refused  to  give  way. 
He  enlarged  the  drift,  and  approached  it  two  or 
three  inches  farther  back,  and  struck  his  bar,  as  he 
thought,  behind  it.  To  his  astonishment,  the  nugget 
still  continued  into  the  hill.  A  second  enlargement 
produced  a  like  result,  and  not  until  he  enlarged 
and  extended  the  drift  a  third  time,  did  he  get 
behind  it.  He  began  to  be  rather  excited  by  this 
time,  and  when  it  came  out,  he  thought  he  had 
about  all  the  money  he  should  ever  want.  He 
rushed  to  the  nearest  saloon,  and  treated  all  hands, 
depositing  the  cliispa  as  security  for  payment.  He 
continued  to  treat  so  many  times,  that  the  margin 
vanished,  the  nugget  eventually  falling  into  the 
hands  of  J.  Elkins.  The  piece  was  seven  and  a  half 
inches  long,  and  worth  three  hundred  dollars.  The 
gold  in  this  vicinity  was  mixed  with  silver,  and  was 
worth  only  thirteen  dollars  per  ounce,  forming  a 
great  contrast  in  appearance  with  the  gold  from 
Drytown,  which  was  worth  seventeen  dollars  and 
seventy-five  cents  per  ounce. 

In  1860,  the  sluices  were  often  robbed.  Some 
person  would  cut  small  creases  in  the  bottoms  of 
the  boxes,  and  with  a  sharp,  conical  scraper,  would 
clean  several  sets  of  sluices  in  a  night.  The  act 
be'coming  common,  Edward  Evans,  one  of  the 
miners,  kept  watch,  and  when  the  robber  went  at 
his  work,  gave  him  a  load  of  shot.  The  culprit 
proved  to  be  a  Chinaman.  The  Chinese  in  the 
vicinity  were  compelled  to  bury  him.  Evans  received 
no  punishment.  In  1850,  John  Ballou  and  Nehcmiah 
Barnes,  got  into  a  difficulty  about  a  right  to  a  min 
ing  claim,  which  resulted  in  the  fatal  shooting  of 
the  former.  Barnes  soon  after  left  the  country.  In 
an  early  day,  a  Frenchman  named  Raymond,  min 
ing  on  the  river,  shot  a  Chinaman  with  very  little 
provocation.  The  miners  gathered,  and  giving  the 
Frenchman  a  trial,  hung  him.  At  that  time  there 
was  no  especial  prejudice  towards  the  Chinese  race. 
The  Arkansas  House,  not  far  from  the  county  line, 
was  kept  by  a  man  by  the  name  of  Haynes,  who  j 
died  some  twenty  years  ago,  of  consumption.  He 
was  the  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  that  section  of  ! 
the  county. 


WILLOW    SPRINGS. 

This  is  the  site  of  a  glacial  erosion,  like  Plymouth 
and  other  places.  It  was  settled  by Richard 
son  and  William  Jennings,  who  put  up  a  first-class 
hotel,  the  place  being  on  the  line  of  the  travel  from 
Drytown,  Fiddletown  and  other  places  to  Sacra 
mento.  Travelers  a  quarter  of  a  century  since 
recollect  well  the  good  fare  of  those  days.  The 
place  was  afterwards  sold  to  Mathews.  W.  D.  Castle, 
now  of  San  Jose,  owned  the  place  for  many  years. 
The  mining  was  never  of  much  importance  around 
this  place. 

THE    CENTRAL    HOUSE, 

Two  miles  north  of  Drytown,  is  another  place  similar 
to  Willow  Springs  in  location  and  character.  As 
before  stated,  the  gold  mining  never  attracted  many 
persons  to  this  vicinity.  Soon  after  the  breaking 
out  of  the  copper  excitement,  several  veins  of  copper 
were  discovered,  and  for  some  years  this  "  North- 
West  Territory"  bid  fair  to  become  a  second  El 
Dorado,  or  Copperopolis.  This  epoch  of  the  history 
will  receive  more  particular  attention  in  the  history 
of  copper  mining,  which  will  form  a  chapter  by 
itself. 

PLYMOUTH 

Is  on  the  Mother  Lode,  near  the  northern  boundary 
of  the  county,  fifteen  miles  from  the  county  seat.  It 
has  very  little  history  separate  from  the  history  of 
its  quartz  veins.  At  the  lower  end  of  the  flat,  on 
which  the  town  is  built,  there  was  formerly  a  small 
hamlet  called  Puckerville,  or  Pokerville.  It  might 
have  had  twenty  or  thirty  miners  in  its  best  days, 
which  were  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  since.  At 
the  present  time,  a  solitary  house  marks  the  site  of 
the  ancient  town.  Ruined  chimneys,  the  usual  relics 
of  a  "  dug-out  "  town,  are  totally  wanting,  and  at 
this  day  the  history  of  the  town  is  irrevocably  lost. 
If  the  name  was  Pokerville,  we  may  imagine  the 
citizens  playing  poker,  with  beans  for  stakes,  while 
waiting  through  the  long  Summer  for  water  to  come, 
or,  through  the  Winter  for  the  water  to  go  down,  so 
their  claims  could  be  worked,  a  practice  quite  com 
mon  in  early  days  in  many  a  mining  camp  which  has 
since  made  a  town.  As  for  Puckerville,  there  is  no 
accounting  for  that  name.  There  were  no  persim 
mons  to  contract  the  beef  and  potato  gates;  no  old 
maids  to  put  on  Sunday  rig,  and  draw  the  mouth 
together  like  a  rose-bud  to  look  sweet  and  tempting; 
in  fact,  there  were  no  females  at  all,  save  occasion 
ally  a  wandering  mdhflfa,  with  a  basket  on  her  broad 
back,  gathering  acorns  and  bugs.  The  Indian  belle 
never  pressed  her  mouth  to  look  sweet;  that  were 
impossible,  but  delighted  rather  in  an  immense 
spread,  which  showed  a  set  of  ivories  like  a  quartz 
breaker.  The  wildest  imagination  fails  to  find  a 
probable  reason,  and  the  question  "  Wherefore  Puck 
erville?"  must  be  left  to  the  wisdom  of  some  of  the 
numerous  debuting  societies  of  the  mountains.  Per 
haps  the  orator  of  the  "sand-lot,"  when  he  has 


A.K.DUObEV 


TOMP60CV   *  WEST 


UNIVERSITY 

CALIFORNIA- 


NORTH-WESTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


233 


decided  all  the  questions  of  theology,  political  and 
social  economy,  whether  moral  or  financial,  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  people,  will  give  this  question  the 
benefit  of  his  profound  erudition. 

Plymouth  proper  was  settled  upon  in  an  early  day 
by  Green  Aden  and  others  in  search  of  quartz,  but 
the  commencement  of  its  growth  as  a  town,  dates 
to  the  working  of  the  mines  by  the  Hoopers,  father 
and  son.  About  1873  the  town  took  a  sudden  start, 
occasioned  by  the  purchase  of  the  mines  by  Hay- 
ward,  D.  O.  Mills  and  company.  In  the  same  year 
the  precinct  cast  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  votes; 
in  1877,  two  hundred  and  seventy-five;  in  1 880,  some 
thing  over  three  hundred,  showing  a  steady  growth 
which  is  likely  to  be  permanent. 

The  town  is  identified  with  the  prosperity  of  the 
mines,  though  there  is  considerable  farming  land  in 
the  vicinity,  which  partially  supplies  the  demand  for 
hay  and  barley.  Shenandoah  valley  is  one  of  the 
rural  places  in  this  vicinity.  It  has  many  fine  farms 
and  orchards,  that  of  Oliver  Balls  being  among  the 
best. 

MINERAL    SPRINGS. 

The  White  Sulphur  Springs,  about  two  miles  north 
of  Plymouth,  possess  relaxing  qualities  useful  in 
cases  of  constipation  and  inflammatory  diseases.  No 
improvements  have  been  made  yet.  The  property 
is  owned  by  Albert  Stevens.  There  is  also  an  exten 
sive  marble  quarry  in  the  vicinity,  furnishing  an 
abundance  of  rock  for  ornamental  purposes,  as  well 
as  lime  for  building. 

FIRES. 

The  following  letter  from  Plymouth  to  the  Dispatch 
will  explain  itself: — 

About  three  o'clock  on  Monday,  the  tenth  of  June, 
1877,  occurred  the  largest  fire  ever  experienced  in 
this  town  (Plymouth).  The  fire  commenced  in  the 
rear  of  J.  C.  Williams'  stable  and  spread  over  the 
upper  part  of  the  town  in  an  incredible  short  space 
of  time,  reducing  twenty  or  more  buildings  with  their 
contents  to  ashes.  The  following  is  a  partial  list  of 
the  losses:  Easton's  hotel,  McMullen's  boarding  and 
lodging  house,  James  Davis' store,  John  Davis' dwell 
ing  house,  Baer  &  Coblentz's  store,  Odd  Fellows' 
hall,  P.  Quin's  saloon  and  dwelling  house,  dwellings 
of  Williams,  Thomas,  and  Richardson,  Wentworth  s 
blacksmith  shop  and  dwelling,  Jacob  Smith's  shoe 
maker  shop  and  dwelling,  Potter's  barn  and  out-houses, 
J.  C.  Williams'  stable,  five  horses,  lumber  yard, 
wagons,  hay,  grain,  etc.,  the  residences  of  the  Misses 
Snyder,  and  a  number  of  other  houses  and  buildings, 
about  twenty-two  in  all. 

The  fire  was  said  to  have  been  started  by  some 
children  who  were  playing  with  matches  in  some 
straw  in  the  rear  of  the  stable.  The  total  loss  is 
estimated  at  fifty  thousand  dollars,  only  a  small  por 
tion  being  covered  by  insurance. 

ENTERPRISE 

Is  the  name  of  a  town  that  was  started  up  about 
the  time  that  Plymouth  commenced  growing,  and 
had  at  one  time  a  hundred  or  more  men  busily 
prospecting  quartz,  which  was  thought  to  be  very 
good.  Whether  from  too  much  water,  as  some 
30 


allege,  or  from  other  causes,  capitalists  failed  to  take 
hold  of  the  work,  and  explorations  ceased,  the  town 
with  the  fine  name  being  relegated  to  obscurity.  A 
house  or  two  keeps  guard  over  what  was  once  a 
lively  camp. 

YEOMET 

Is  an  Indian  name  signifying  rocky  falls,  and  was 
given  to  the  forks  of  the  Cosumnes  river.  Indian 
creek,  north  fork,  middle  fork,  which  received  the 
south  fork  a  mile  or  two  above,  all  coming  together 
here.  Indian  creek  rises  east  of  Oleta,  runs  west  until 
it  strikes  the  quartz  range;  thence  along  the  course  of 
the  vein  three  miles  to  the  Cosumnes.  The  north 
fork  also  runs  for  some  miles  parallel  to  the  Mother 
Lode;  hence,  as  might  be  expected,  the  river  was 
rich,  a  large  number  not  only  mining  here,  but  draw 
ing  their  supplies  from  this  base.  Up  to  1853,  it  had 
the  appearance  of  becoming  a  town.  Simpson, 
Beebee  &  Co.,  Bowman  &  Co.,  arid  others,  had  large 
stores,  the  latter  persons  also  having  a  bridge  across 
the  river,  and  a  hotel  of  considerable  pretensions. 
Many  of  the  settlers  were  from  Pittsburg,  Penn., 
perhaps  induced  to  remain  here  by  a  fancied  resem 
blance  to  the  forks  of  the  Ohio  at  that  town.  Some 
were  steamboat  captains,  some  merchants  and  clerks, 
some  workmen  from  the  great  machine  shops,  that 
even  then  had  learned  to  rival  Birmingham  and  the 
Clyde  in  making  ponderous  machinery.  Captain 
John  King,  who  had  steamed  up  and  down  the  Mis 
sissippi  a  hundred  times,  told  his  stories,  how  he  had 
entrapped  a  load  of  passengers  once  at  New  Orleans, 
by  pretending  that  he  had  a  famous  French  general 
on  board,  having  arranged  for  a  smart  Frenchmen  to 
play  the  part,  which  worked  to  a  charm,  his  boat 
being  crowded,  while  the  boat  having  the  real  gen 
eral  was  a  few  hours  behind — empty!  Some  of  these 
men  made  fortunes  and  went  home;  others  told  their 
stories,  all  the  better  for  a  drink,  which  at  last  got 
the  better  of  them,  leaving  them  in  a  nameless  grave. 
Beebee  &  Simpson  were  favorites  among  the  miners 
for  their  thorough  honesty  in  trade.  "  Have  you  some 
good  coffee,  sugar,  flour,  or  bacon?"  generally  elicited, 
"  only  a  moderately  good  article,"  which,  however, 
was  found  to  be  as  good  as  the  market  afforded;  but 
the  miners  knew  their  men,  and  that  answer  was 
sufficient.  Old  man  Simpson  (E.  M.),  as  the  miners 
used  to  call  him,  was  subsequently  elected  to  the 
Legislature,  and  won  the  esteem  of  all  he  met,  by 
his  unswerving  honesty  and  good  sense.  H.  E.  Hall, 
afterwards  County  Clerk,  and  Sam  Loree,  the  latter 
now  resident  at  Upper  Rancheria,  built  saw-mills 
near  the  forks  in  the  Summer  of  1852.  The  former 
was  swept  away  by  the  high  water  of  the  following 
Winter.  The  miners  gradually  encroached  upon  the 
town,  one  building  after  another  giving  away,  and 
now  a  solitary  house  holds  all  the  population,  he 
watching  for  a  quarter  from  an  occasional  footman 
across  the  bridge.  The  river  now  is  not  vexed  with 
dam  or  wing-dam,  but  follows  its  own  sweet  will  to 
the  sea. 


234 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


A  general  air  of  lost,  forgotten,  or  dead  pervades 
this  section  of  the  country,  north  as  well  as  south  of 
the  river.  Many  springs  pour  cooling  streams  out  of 
the  hill-sides,  but  no  little  homes,  decorated  with 
vines  and  trees  as  at  other  places,  relieve  the  eyes 
wearied  of  the  everlasting  brown  of  the  hills.  Some 
of  the  cabins  built  in  1850  maintain  a  tottering 
standing,  with  the  aid  of  props  and  braces.  Inside 
you  may  see  the  gold-pan  and  pick  as  of  yore,  but 
the  men,  weary  and  worn  with  a  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury  of  unsuccessful  search  for  gold,  seem  waiting  for 
the  last  act  of  the  play,  though  still  hoping  to  strike  it. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 
EASTERN  PART  OF   AMADOE   COUNTY. 

Elevation  Above  Tide- water —lone,  Jackson,  Volcano — Pine 
Grove — Dentzler's  Flume  House — Claibqrne  Foster's — Ante 
lope  Springs— Hipkins  &  Wiley's  Station— Ham's  Station- 
Mud  Springs — Stevens'  Lumber  Yard — Emigrant's  Pass — 
Amount  of  Timber  Remaining— Climatic  Effect  of  the  Loss 
of  Timber — Summer  Pasture — As  a  Summer  Resort — Prac 
tical  Jokes — Salt  Springs — Mammoth  Quartz  Vein — Trout 
Fishing — Silver  Mines — Sunset  from  the  Sierras — Climate — 
Drouths — Freshets — Rain  Table  for  Amador  County,  as  Com 
piled  by  Frank  Howard — Rain  Table  for  Sacramento,  cor 
rected  for  Sutter  Creek. 

THIS  county  is  shaped  much  like  the  famous  Pan- 
Handle  of  Virginia.     As  the  force  of  the  name  may 
not  be  apparent  to  our  younger  readers,  an  explana 
tion  may  be  in  order.     A  half  century  ago,  before  the 
invention  of  the  cooking  stove,  telephone,  high-heeled 
shoes,  creme  de  Us,  arid  other  modern  improvements, 
the  universal  frying-pan  had  a  handle  some  five  feet 
long,  to  enable  a  woman  to  cook  by  the  roaring  fires 
that  our  ancestors  found  necessary  to  have  in  Win 
ter,  without  roasting  her  face  to  more  than  a  cherry 
red.     In  time  every  long  strip  of  territory  became  a 
pan-handle.     Amador  county  in  the  Sierras,  has  much 
the  same  attachment.     The  south  fork  of  the  Cosum- 
nes  was  established  as  the  northern  boundary,  the 
north   fork   of    the   Mokelumne    as    the    southern 
boundary;  but  as  the  Cosumnes  was  a  short  river, 
not  reaching  the  summit,  leaving  the  eastern  boundary 
in  doubt,  Amador  took  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  and 
set  up  a  claim  reaching   to   the  State   of  Nevada, 
i  When  Alpine  county  was  created  the  dividing  line 
between  that  county  and  Amador  was  fixed  at  Kirk- 
wood's  house  in  Hope  valley,  leaving  his  house  on 
the  Amador  side.     This  threw  the  line  of  the  Amador 
wagon  road.  Silver  lake  and  considerable  of  a  tract 
of  Alpine  character,  into  Amador  county.     Though 
no  towns  or  even  hamlets  abound  in  these  mountain 
regions,  they  are  in  many  respects  the  most  interest 
ing  part  of  Amador,  and  no  one  should  feel   them 
selves  acquainted  with  the  whole  county  until  they 
have  breathed  the  pure  attenuated  air,  seen  the  tall 
pines,  or  fished  in  the  streams  of  the  upper  Sierras. 
A  statement  of  the  different  elevations,  with  some 
of  the  characteristic   productions,    will    be    a   good 
starting  point  for  a  general  description. 


THE    ELEVATION    ABOVE    TIDE-WATER. 

lone  270  feet.  Prevailing  timber,  oak  and  scrubby 
pine,  nut  pine  predominating;  no  sugar  pine ;  nat 
ural  grasses,  wild  oats,  etc.;  all  annuals  (except  along 
water  courses)  in  perfection;  soil  and  climate  adapted 
to  all  fruits;  apples,  however,  lack  the  flavor  of  the 
colder  altitudes. 

Jackson  1,300  feet.  Timber,  oak  and  pine,  pitch 
pine  predominating;  sugar  pine  makes  its  appear 
ance;  natural  grasses  inferior  to  the  valley;  fruits  of 
all  kinds  flourish,  including  the  orange,  in  favored 
localities;  grapes  are  in  perfection. 

Volcano  2,162  feet.  Prevailing  timber,  oak  and 
pine,  pitch  pine  in  perfection;  sugar  pine  improving; 
fir  makes  its  appearance,  also  the  cedar,  laurel,  pep 
per,  nutmeg  pine,  etc.;  apples  improving;  grapes  at 
this  point  (owing  to  the  situation  of  the  town  in  a 
basin)  are  liable  to  frosts;  the  wild  plum,  gooseberry 
and  other  berries,  make  their  appearance. 

Pine  Grove  2,675  feet.  Prevailing  timber,  oak  and 
pine,  pitch  pine  predominating;  pitch  pine  in  perfec 
tion;  sugar  pine  improving  and  now  towers  above  all 
the  trees;  cedar  and  fir  becoming  frequent;  grapes 
good  but  require  sheltered  situations;  apples  have 
a  sharp  flavor;  peaches  late  but  good  in  flavor.  Snow 
sometimes  falls  a  foot  in  depth,  remaining  on  the 
ground  a  week  or  two. 

Dentzler's  Flume  House  2,980  feet.  Timber,  oak 
and  pine;  nut  pine  ceases;  pitch  pine  in  perfection; 
sugar  pine  still  improving;  the  fir  and  spruce  now 
stately  trees;  new  varieties  of  the  cedar  make  their 
appearance;  natural  grasses  scarce,  varieties  of  ferns 
taking  their  place;  grapes  uncertain  and  lack  sugar; 
apples  improving;  peaches  good;  wild  plum  and 
gooseberry  plentiful,  forming  thickets;  best  potatoes 
in  the  county  raised  at  this  elevation.  This  includes 
the  altitude  of  J.  A.  Foster's  ranch,  also  F.  Mace's 
and  B.  F.  VVhitra ore's.  Snow  falls  occasionally  two 
or  three  feet  deep,  and  may  remain  on  a  month  or 
more. 

Claiborne  Foster's  3,100  feet.  Timber  principally 
pine,  all  kinds  in  perfection;  immense  quantities  in 
favorable  localities,  and  so  thick  that  the  surveyors 
cannot  run  a  hundred  feet  in  a  straight  line;  sugar 
pines  may  now  be  found  six  feet  in  diameter  a  hun 
dred  leet  from  the  ground;  best  apples  raised  at  this 
height;  peaches  sure  in  favorable  localities,  though 
the  later  varieties  will  not  ripen;  potatoes  in  perfec 
tion;  wild  plums,  gooseberries,  chinquepins  (a  kind  of 
dwarf  chestnut)  in  abundance.  Snow  in  considera 
ble  quantities. 

Antelope  Springs  4,250  feet.  Pines,  firs  and  cedars 
now  a  solid  forest;  oak  thinning  out,  only  found  on 
exposed  points  and  dwarfed  in  stature;  potatoes  still 
good  ;  no  attempts  made  to  cultivate  fruits  above 
this  point. 

Hipkin's  &  Wiley's  Station  (on  the  Amador  wagon 
road)  5,000  feet-  Best  pine  lumber;  the  oak  becomes 
insignificant. 

Ham's  Station  5,425  feet. 


EASTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


235 


Mud  Springs  5,975  feet. 

Steven's  Lumber  Yard  6,422  feet.  Potatoes  and 
alfalfa  raised  here;  the  best  pine  ceases,  tamarack 
taking  its  place.  Snow  falls  eight  or  ten  feet  deep. 

Emigrant  Pass  (second  summit)  8,300  feet. 
Above  seven  thousand  feet  the  timber  is  found 
only  in  sheltered  depressions.  The  snow  fulls  any 
where  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  in  depth,  which  may 
all  melt  and  go  away  in  the  course  of  three  days,  if 
a  warm  rain  prevails.  The  most  striking  features  in 
all  this  upper  region  are  the  bare  volcanic  or  gran 
itic  peaks,  the  heavy  rains  and  floods  denuding  them 
of  every  particle  of  earth.  This  region  is  the  source 
of  the  freshets  which  occasional!}1"  pour  down  and 
inundate  the  lower  valleys. 

East  of  Volcano  but  little  farming  is  done.     A  few 

x 

men  cultivate  small  farms  to  supply  the  lumbermen 
with  a  portion  of  their  needs.  Hay  and  grain  are 
hauled  up,  and  exchanged  for  lumber.  Hay,  worth 
ten  dollars  in  the  valleys,  becomes  twenty  dollars  at 
the  saw-mill,  and  lumber  which  is  worth  ten  dollars 
at  the  mill,  brings  twenty  dollars  in  the  valleys. 
Though  the  cash  values  have  constantly  decreased 
for  twenty  years  or  more  the  relative  values  of  each 
have  remained  about  the  same.  Nearly  all  the 
mountain  land  will  raise  grain  or  hay  by  ploughing 
and  sowing  it  every  year.  It  is  a  question  of  cost 
alone.  If  any  means  should  be  inaugurated  whereby 
the  lumber  could  be  floated  to  market  by  water  so 
that  teams  would  not  be  required  to  haul  the  lumber 
down,  and  consequently  have  no  inducement  to  haul 
hay  and  grain  into  the  mountains,  farming  would  be 
put  on  a  remunerative  basis. 

AMOUNT    OP   TIMBER   STILL    REMAINING. 

Formerly  the  pine  timber  covered  the  entire  coun 
try  from  the  foot-hills  up  to  the  bald  peaks  of  the 
Sierras.  Below  the  altitude  of  one  thousand  feet, 
the  timber  was  dwarfed  and  inferior.  The  trees 
lacked  body.  A  few  of  the  pitch  pines  may  still  be 
seen  in  the  valleys,  towering  among  oaks,  but  very 
much  inferior  to  their  tall,  stately  brothers  of  the 
mountains.  A  cluster  of  fair-sized  pines  once  stood 
on  the  south  side  of  Jackson  creek,  where  it  runs 
through  the  green  ledge.  These  were  all  cut  down 
and  hauled  to  Lancha  Plana  some  twenty  j^ears 
since  for  bridge  timbers.  Between  lone  and  Jack 
son  scarcely  a  pine  can  be  seen,  and  around  the 
latter  place  they  are  by  no  means  plenty.  A  few, 
far  up  the  side  of  Butte  mountain,  have  escaped  the 
slaughtering  axe  of  the  lumbermen.  One  sugar 
pine,  too  crabbed  and  crooked  for  shakes,  still  holds 
its  long  arms  to  the  breeze,  the  only  specimen  to  be 
seen  for  miles  around.  At  Pine  Grove  enough  are 
left  to  give  a  plausible  reason  for  the  name  of  the 
town.  Practically,  the  timber  is  cut  away  for  a  dis 
tance  of  thirty-five  miles  from  the  foot-hills,  the 
little  that  is  left  within  that  distance  being  in  inac 
cessible  places.  The  sawed  lumber  is  only  a  small 
portion  of  the  amount  annually  used.  Hundreds  of 
teams  are  hauling  lagging  and  timbers  for  the  under 


ground  works  which  daily  swallow  up  loads  of  each. 
The  introduction  of  water  as  a  motive  power  for 
driving  the  machinery  saves  a  consumption  of  wood 
amounting  to  thousands  of  cords  a  year;  but  no  sub 
stitute  can  be  found  for  the  underground  timbers. 
The  Plymouth  cluster  of  mines  have  used  up  nearly 
all  the  available  lumber  along  the  line  of  the  ditch, 
and  now  have  to  rely  on  the  supplies  farther  up  in 
the  mountains.  The  side-hills  along  the  Cosumnes 
and  Mokelumne,  as  well  as  Dry  .creek  and  Sutter 
creek,  are  now  being  denuded  of  everything  that 
will  burn,  to  be  floated  down  in  the  high  waters  of 
Winter.  Bryant  and  others  put  an  immense  amount 
of  lumber,  consisting  of  logs,  cord-wood,  cuts  and 
bolts  of  sugar  pine,  into  the  Mokelumne,  far  up  in 
the  mountains,  to  be  floated  down  and  taken  out  near 
Woodbridge,  for  a  match  and  sash  factory.  Thou 
sands  of  cords,  floating  out  on  the  bottoms  of  the 
Mokelumne,  or  caught  in  the  rocks  of  the  canons 
above,  were  left  to  rot.  In  some  instances  heavy 
damages  were  collected  of  them  for  the  piles  of  tim 
ber  left  on  the  overflowed  ranches. 

Feeble  efforts  have  been  made  by  the  United 
States  inspectors  to  prevent  the  waste  of  timber,  but 
our  liberal  land  laws  enable  any  one  to  make  a  claim 
on  the  land,  strip  off  the  timber  and  then  abandon 
it,  without  much  expense  or  trouble. 

Benjamin  Ross,  of  Volcano,  a  deputy  United  States 
Surveyor,  thinks  the  lumber  belt  is  hardly  reached; 
that  the  portion  already  cut  over,  though  to.irty 
miles  or  more  in  width,  is  only  the  ragged  edge  of 
the  true  belt.  Others  have  also  expressed  the  same 
opinion;  while  others,  whose  opportunities  for  obser 
vation  are  good,  feel  much  •alarm  over  the  destruc 
tion  that  is  going  on.  A  thorough  survey  of  each 
section  will  be  required  to  set  the  matter  at  rest. 

In  all  ages  the  destruction' of  the  growing  timber 
of  a  country  has  been  considered  a  most  disastrous 
proceeding.  The  old  (Greeks  bestowed  the  most 
opprobrious  epithet  on  those  who  would  wantonly 
kill  trees.  Trees  were  religiously  preserved  as  nec 
essary  to  the  regular  fall  of  rain.  Perhaps  it  was 
for  this  that  the  priest  and  oracles  taught,  that  every 
tree  was  the  abode  of  a  spirit  who  would  certainly 
avenge  the  destruction  of  its  home.  If  any  tree 
could  make  a  fitting  residence  for  a  god,  the  sugar 
pine  with  its  straight  shaft,  as  beautiful  as  a  Grecian 
column,  a  hundred  feet  high,  without  a  limb  or  knot 
to  mar  its  magnificent  proportions,  would  be  the  one. 
Yet  a  shake-splitter  will  ruthlessly  cut  one  of  these 
monarchs  down,  use  a  few  feet  to  make  shakes,  or,  if 
it  does  not  quite  suit  him,  abandon  it,  and  move  on 
to  another,  which  he  will  serve  in  like  manner.  Far 
in  advance  of  the  regular  lumberman  may  be  seen  the 
shake-splitter  selecting  the  best  trees,  which  he  will 
destroy  to  get  means  to  purchase  a  bottle  of  whisky 
and  sack  of  flour,  or  get  enough  to  indulge  in  a  day 
or  two  of  debauchery  in  the  nearest  town. 

The  only  estimate  of  the  quantity  of  lumber 
remaining  in  the  mountains,  that  the  writer  is  aware 


236 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


of,  is  that  of  Capt.  J.  C.  Ham,  who  built  the  canal 
known  by  his  name.     His  estimate  is  as  follows  :- 


.......  ::  ........       800,00 

Mining  timbers  (sticks).. 

He  proposes  to  carry  this  all  to  San  Francisco  by 
means  of  a  canal  and  railroad.  It  is  likely  that  the 
general  government  would  interfere  if  this  project 
was  undertaken. 

CLIMATIC   EFFECT   OF   THE    LOSS   OF   THE   TIMBER. 

Whether  the   destruction    of  timber  has  already 
affected  any  change  in  the  climate,  is  an  open  ques 
tion.     The  thirty  years   during  which  a  rain-gauge 
has  been  kept,  is  not  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to 
determine   the  average  amount  of  rain,  as  one   or 
two   exceptional   seasons  would   make   the  amount 
greater  or  less  than  the  general  average,  and  lead 
to  a  wrong  conclusion.     After  a  series  of  dry  seasons 
it  seems  easy  to  prove  a  serious  change,  and  after 
a  rain  like  the  one  occurring  in  February,  1878,  no 
change  at  all.     The  old  Spaniards  speak  of  seasons 
of  drouth.     The  year  1825  was  said  to  be  so  desti 
tute  of  rain  that  even  large  rivers  dried  up,  the  San 
Joaquin  being  so  low  that  cattle   could   ford   it  at 
Stockton;  but  as  no  cattle  were,  ever  seen  at  that 
point  prior  to   1843    (except   when   stolen   by  the 
Indians),  when   Gulnac,  in   the  interest  of  Weber, 
established  a  cattle  rancho  there,  the  tradition   is 
not  worth   much.     The   tremendous  bursts  of  rain 
or  cloud  breaks,  seem  to  be  a  phenomenon  peculiar 
to  treeless  countries. 

There  is  one  condition  that  may  mitigate  to  some 
extent  the  cutting  away  of  the  timber.     Everywhere 
there  is  springing  up  an  immense  number  of  small 
pines,  hundreds  for  every  one  that  was  cut  away, 
For  miles  around  Volcano  they  have  started  up  so 
thick,  that  a  hundred  to  the   square  rod   is  a  low 
estimate.     In  some  places  these  second-growth  pines 
are  a  foot  or  more  in  diameter,  though  where  there 
are  a  hundred  to  the  rod,  they  may  be  only  a  few 
inches  in    thickness.     The   writer    of   this    article 
assisted,  in  1856,  in   building   a   small   reservoir  in 
Boardman's   gulch,   near  Volcano.     A    small    pine, 
about  an  inch  in  diameter,  was  left  in  the  embank 
ment,  as  likely  to  do  no  harm.     Twenty-four  years 
afterward  it  had  grown  to  be  considerably  over  two 
feet  in   diameter.     This  may  be  considered   excep 
tional,  but  hundreds  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  which 
have  sprung  up  since,  are  a  foot  or  more  through. 
If  these  young  pines  could  be  protected,  it  is  not 
likely  that  a  serious  change  of  climate  need  be  appre 
hended.     As   a   commercial   speculation,  an   invest 
ment  in  young  pine  trees  is  quite  as  promising  as 
stocks  in  Arizona  or  Colorado,  or  even  better  than 
cutting  them  down  and  sowing  the  ground  to  grain. 

SUMMER   PASTURE. 

Near  the  head-waters  of  the  American,  Cosumnes, 
and  Mokelumne  rivers,  are  many  valleys  which  pro 


duce  an  abundance  of  clover,  and  other  grasses. 
Thither,  in  the  Summer,  many  herds  of  cattle  and 
sheep  are  driven,  to  remain  until  the  falling  snows 
or  cold  weather  remind  them  of  the  return  of  Winter. 
Butter,  of  a  quality  equal  to  that  made  at  Point 
Keyes,  is  manufactured  in  considerable  quantities. 
The  cattle,  fattened  on  these  green  pastures,  bring 
an  extra  price.  The  work  of  tending  these  herds, 
though  lonely,  is  not  without  enjoyment.  The  clear, 
cold  water;  the  pure,  exhilarating  air;  the  glorious 
prospects  from  the  hills;  trout  fishing  in  the  streams; 
and  an  occasional  deer,  or  perhaps  the  advent  of  a 
grizzly,  serve  to  keep  the  mind  employed,  and  build 
up  a  wasted  nervous  system.  Almost  every  valley 
is  thus  claimed  as  Summer  pasture  by  laws,  or  rather 
common  usage.  Cattle  pastured  here  in  the  Sum 
mer  retai'n  a  lively  memory  of  the  green  grass,  and 
every  Spring,  on  the  approach  of  warm  weather, 
manifest  an  intense  uneasiness,  and,  if  possible, 
break  away  and  make  their  way  by  themselves. 
The  instinct  of  the  buffalo'in  emigrating  from  Texas 
to  Montana,  is  perhaps  of  the  same  origin. 

AS   A   SUMMER    RESORT 

The  upper  valleys  are  unsurpassed.      It  is  true  there 
are  no  such  tremendous  gorges  as  the  Yo  Semite,  or 
groves  of  the  Sequoia  Giyantea,  but  there  are  num 
berless    sources    of   amusement  and  health.     Silver 
lake  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  sheets  of  water  in 
the  world,  and  a  sojourn  on  its  banks  in  the  Summer 
is     one    of   the    pleasantest    enjoyments     possible. 
The  lake  is  full  of  small  trout,  that  despise  all  the 
patent  flies  and  other  deceitful  contrivances  for  their 
destruction,    and   bite  eagerly  at,  as  Izaalc  Walton 
would  say,  a  hook  baited  with  a  grasshopper  or  a 
vile  worm.     While  they  do  not  bite  so  as  to  load 
down  a  man  or  a  boat  in  a  few  hours,  the  angler  is 
sure  of  enough  to  make  him  a  hearty  supper,  and 
also  the  necessary  appetite  to  relish,  as  well  as  a 
tone  of    stomach  to  safely  and  profitably,  for  the 
body  at  least,  dispose  of  them.     Nothing  can  be  bet 
ter  to  restore  a  worn  out  nervous  system,  or  repair 
debility  induced  by  overwork  of  any  kind,  than  a 
residence  of  a  few  weeks  in  the  Sierras.     A  delicate, 
feeble  woman,  who  had  to  be  lifted  into  a  carriage 
at  the  beginning  of  the  journey,  has  been  known  to 
improve  so  rapidly  in   a  few  weeks  as  to  get  up  in 
the  morning  and,  from  very  exuberance  of  feeling 
give  half  a  dozen  Indian  yells  that  could  be  beard  a 
mile,  or  catch  up  a  pair  of  oars  and  row  a  half-mile 
out  into  the  lake,  singing  and  shouting  in  a  way  that 
would  bring  the  police  down  on  her  or  cause  an  ex 
amination  for  lunacy  if  done  in  a  city. 

The  peaks  around  about  are  excellent  hills  to  climb 
to  give  one  wind  and  muscle,  and  try  them,  too.  The 
months  of  July,  August  and  September  are  best  for 
these  visits,  and  a  tent  with  plenty  of  bedding  the 
best  outfit.  Hotels  are  rather  scarce  and  not  of  ex 
travagant  size  when  found,  and  a  dozen  or  two 
visitors  would  tax  the  lodging  capacity,  as  well  as 
the  lander,  to  the  utmost.  Fresh  beef  and  milk  can 


HAM'S   STATION.  HOTEL  AND  RANCH 
AMADQR.  WAQQN  ROAD    It  M*-s-FqOM    SILVER    IAKE,AMADOR     COUNTY,   CAL. 


RESIDENCE,  RANCH  A™BUSINES3    PLACEopA.C.HAM 
AQUEDUCT  CITY,  AMADOR    COUNTY,    CAL. 

N 


EASTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


237 


generally  be  found  at  the  Summer  ranches  in  the 
vicinity,  and  bacon,  coffee  and  bread  will  always 
relish  when  nothing  better  is  at  hand.  Camp  on  the 
shores  of  the  lake,  for  a  mile  or  two  away  there  is 
frost  every  night;  but  the  lake,  absorbing  the  sun's 
rays  during  the  day,  parts  with  the  heat  at  night, 
making  a  delightful  temperature  for  sleep  and  rest 
Thunder  peak,  south  of  Silver  lake,  is  said  to  exhibit  at 
times  some  very  curious  electrical  phenomena.  It  will 
be  remembered  by  some  of  our  readers  that  a  scientist 
has  recently  discovered  that  zones  of  different  elec 
trical  conditions  are  found  at  different  heights ; 
perhaps  some  of  our  young  scientists  may  work  out 
this  problem  on  Thunder  mountain.  Several  persons 
report  curious  things,  such  as  quite  perceptible 
shocks,  as  if  from  a  Leyden  vial,  flashes  of  flame 
from  the  points  of  knives,  sparks  fr.om  metallic  but 
tons,  etc. 

PRACTICAL    JOKES. 

The  following  letters,  from  Ed.  Briggs  of  Ply 
mouth  to  the  Dispatch,  will  give  one  a  vivid  idea 
of  the  rollicksome  feelings  a  party  is  likely  to  have, 
and  the  consequent  character  of  their  amusements: — 

PLYMOUTH,  August  26,  1880. 

EDITOR  DISPATCH:  I  promised  several  sports  in 
different  parts  of  the  county  that  I  would,  on  my 
return  from  a  hunting  and  fishing  excursion  to  the 
head-waters  of  the  north  fork  of  the  American  river, 
write  a  brief  description  of  the  same,  and  send  it  to 
you  for  publication. 

Our  company  consisted  of  the  following  well- 
known  gentlemen:  James  Dohman,  captain;  J.  E, 
Brown,  guide;  L.  G.  Noris,  assistant;  G.  K.  Goble, 
camp  guard;  Frank  Potter,  teamster;  E.  B.  Muggy, 
commissary;  J.  J.  Dohman,  and  C.  W.  Wild,  cooks. 
With  a  four-horse  team  loaded  with  a  month's  sup 
ply  of  provisions,  ammunition,  etc.,  we  set  out  upon 
the  third  of  August,  calculating  to  spend  a  month  in 
the  Sierras,  on  the  head-waters  of  the  north  Ameri 
can  river. 

Nothing  of  interest  occurred  on  the  journey 
until  we  reached  what  is  called  Silver  creek.  Here 
we  found  quite  an  encampment  of  excursionists  from 
Sacramento  and  other  localities,  all  in  fine  health 
and  good  spirits.  The  fishing  here  is  excellent. 
The  waters  of  this  beautiful  stream  come  pouring 
and  dashing  down  from  the  snow-capped  mountains, 
foaming  and  sparkling  in  the  beautiful  sunlight,  in 
its  native  purity,  cool  from  the  snowy  mountains, 
and  clear  as  crystal;  and  oh,  what  a  treat,  after  leav 
ing  the  brackish  and  mineral  water  of  the  valleys 
and  foot-hills,  to  sit  beside  this  beautiful  stream 
beneath  the  shadows  of  those  towering  firs  and 
pines,  and  drink  from  this  pure  fountain.  Here  we 
struck  camp  for  the  remainder  of  the  day,  our  fish 
ing  tackle  was  unpacked,  and  soon  our  entire  com 
pany  was  busy  trying  their  luck  among  the  finny 
tribe  which  inhabits  this  stream  in  great  abundance. 
The  creeping  shadows  of  evening  now  warn  us  that 
it  is  time  to  repair  to  camp  for  supper,  and  as  the 
boys  began  to  drop  in,  each  with  a  long  string  of 
regular  beauties,  their  countenances  radiant  with 
smiles,  tell  but  too  well  how  delighted  they  all  felt 
with  their  success.  All  hands  now  busy  preparing 
the  fish  for  the  cooks,  who,  with  their  pans  and  corn- 
meal,  begin  their  work,  and  in  a  few  moments  we 
have  all  surrounded  our  frugal  table,  when  the  con 


versation  goes  back  to  the  boys  left  behind,  with 
such  remarks  as,  "now  if  old  George  Durham  was 
here,  wouldn't  he  enjoy  this."  I  then  told  the  story 
about  George  and  "  Put."  coming  into  a  wood  camp 
once  up  in  the  mountains;  that  the  cook  had  pre 
pared  a  whole  sheep  for  the  wood-choppers,  but 
George  being  very  hungry,  could  not  wait  for  the 
boys  to  come  in,  and  persuaded  the  cook  to  let  him 
eat;  that  to  the  astonishment  of  the  cook,  and  the 
disappointment  of  the  hungry  wood-choppers,  and 
in  spite  of  the  remonstrances  of  the  cook,  he  ate  the 
entire  sheep  at  one  meal.  Cook,  Breese,  and  other 
fellow  sportsmen  were  not  forgotten,  and  the  demi 
john  was  brought  forth,  and  a  health  drank  to  all  the 
sports  left  behind.  Then  the  big  fish-eat  com 
menced  in  earnest.  Supper  over,  and  pipes  well 
filled,  amongst  other  topics  it  was  discussed  what 
we  should  name  our  first  camp,  when  one  very 
enthusiastic  Democrat  proposed  to  call  it  Camp 
Hancock,  in  honor  of  the  distinguished  gentleman 
who  heads  the  Democratic  ticket,  whilst  an  equally 
sanguine  Republican  proposed  Garfield  as  an  appro 
priate  name.  The  arguments  on  both  sides  were 
put  forth  in  a  very  forcible  manner,  and  for  a  while 
it  seemed  that  the  camp  would  be  left  without  a 
name,  as  neither  side  was  "willing  to  yield,  when 
luckily,  a  very  conservative  member  of  the  party 
proposed  a  compromise  name,  which  seemed  to  sat 
isfy  the  entire  party,  and  the  name  of  "Garcock" 
was  unanimously  adopted,  and  the  new  name,  with 
the  names  of  the  entire  party,  was  the  next  morning 
neatly  carved  on  a  beautiful  tamarack  tree.  The 
fishing  being  so  good,  and  the  feed  for  our  animals 
so  plentiful,  we  concluded  to  enjoy  another  day  at 
Camp  Garcock,  in  which  we  were  equally  successful, 
catching  all  the  fish  we  wanted,  and  at  every  recur 
ring  meal  the  flask  and  camp  jokes  went  round. 
The  deer  hunt  of  Dry  canon,  in  which  our  mutual 
friend  W.  T.  Jones  participated,  was  related  in  a 
most  interesting  manner  by  L.  G.  Norris  and  others 
of  the  party;  and  after  spending  a  very  happy  day 
and  night,  we  again  packed  up  and  started  for  the 
head-waters  of  the  Rubicon  river,  one  of  the  finest 
deer  parks  in  California,  and  after  two  days  of  hard 
travel  over  one  of  the  roughest  countries  there  is  in 
the  mountains,  we  camped  for  the  night,  within  six 
miles  of  the  park.  The  next  morning  we  packed 
the  horses — leaving  the  wagon  behind — and  after 
considerable  difficulty,  reached  our  camping  place 
about  five  o'clock  p.  M.  Away  up  among  the  lofty 
peaks  of  the  Sierras,  and  the  shadows  of  evening 
again  began  to  creep  over  the  towering  rocks  that 
have  stood  sentinel  over  this  lonely  spot  for  centuries 
gone  by,  and  as  we  listen  to  the  mournful  music  of 
the  wind  as  it  comes  sighing  through  her  cragged 
heights,  we  became  conscious  of  that  sublime  power 
and  greatness  which  awes  and  uplifts  like  God  him 
self. 

This  park  is  located  where  the  Rubicon  comes 
dashing  down  from  the  summits  of  the  mountains  in 
all  the  grandeur  that  nature  could  invest  it  with — 
the  mountains  on  each  side  of  the  stream,  rising  in 
regular  amphitheatrical  style,  that  is,  in  a  succession 
of  benches  one  above  the  other,  for  miles  on  either 
side,  these  benches  or  tables  varying  in  width — 
sometimes  the  ascent  from  one  bench  to  another 
being  very  steep  and  rocky.  Among  these  rocks 
on  the  benches  are  the  homes  of  the  fleet-footed  and 
keen-sighted  deer;  and  from  the  vast  numbers  found 
here,  it  would  seem  that  this  is  to  them  a  favorite 
resort.  We  found  them  here  in  countless  numbers, 
from  the  tiny  fawn  in  all  the  beauty  of  his  spotted 


238 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


dress,  to  the  largest  buck,  with  horns  like  a  young 
forest.     This   splendid  park  has  never,  as  yet,  been 
disturbed   by  the  shepherd,  and  in   all  probability   j 
never   will,  as  it  is  almost  inaccessible  for  man  or  j 
beast,  and  I   do  think   there  should  be  some  steps 
taken    by  the  proper  authorities  to  secure  this  as  a 
public  park  to  the  exclusion  of  all  shepherds,  for  it 
is  an  established  fact  among  hunters  that  sheep  and 
deer  will  not  range  together. 

I  am  admonished  by  counting  my  pages  that  I  am 
trespassing  upon  your  valuable  space,  and  will  hasten 
to  a  close  for  this  time.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  we  t 
spent  ten  days  in  this  secluded  place,  with  more 
excitement  and  pleasure  than  was  ever  enjoyed  by 
us  before;  we  killed  twenty-one  deer,  and  caught 
three  little  spotted  fawns  which  we  very  reluctantly 
had  to  turn  loose  again,  as  it  was  impossible  for  us  to 
obtain  milk  for  their  subsistence;  but  we  have  them 
all  marked,  and  we  may  at  some  future  day  have  the 
pleasure  of  reclaiming  them  with  the  trusty  rifle. 
We  could  fill  two  or  three  columns  with  incidents  of 
the  hunt,  which  we  know  would  interest  the  sport 
ing  boys,  but  we  cannot  crowd  it  into  this  letter. 
Probably  at  some  future  time  we  will  write  a  letter 
of  incidents  connected  with  this  remarkable  hunt. 

We  were  gone  three  weeks,  and  all  returned  in  i 
excellent  health,  thinking  that  no  party  that  has  i 
gone  to  the  mountains  this  summer  has  had  a  better  ! 
time  than  we  have.  NIMROD. 

PLYMOUTH,  Sept.  9,  1880. 

EDITOR  DISPATCH  :  Having  been  strongly  urged 
by  a  goodly  number  of  your  readers  for  another  let 
ter  descriptive  of  some  of  the  incidents  connected  with 
our  late  extraordinary  hunt  in  the  mountains,  I 
hope  will  suffice  as  a  sufficient  apology  for  our 
appearance  again  in  your  columns  with  another 
sporting  letter.  Then,  to  commence  with,  we  wish 
to  state,  that  before  our  departure,  we  all  had  a 
mutual  agreement  that  nothing  that  we  should  say 
or  do  should,  in  any  way,  mar  or  disturb  the  friendly 
feeling  that  existed  one  for  the  other — in  other 
words,  jokes  should  all  be  free.  It  was  a  good  time 
we  were  out  for,  and  a  good  time  we  would  have. 
Almost  the  first  thing  that  attracted  our  special 
attention  in  our  new  camp,  was  a  fight  with  a  large 
rattlesnake,  which  infests  this  part  in  untold  num 
bers.  Almost  every  rock  has  its  rattlesnake,  some 
times  two  or  three,  and  some  of  our  boys  were 
terribly  afraid  of  snakes,  particularly  our  young 
friend  Wilds.  He  could  see  more  snakes  than  all 
the  rest  of  the  boys  put  together.  1  think  it  was 
the  second  day  that  Mr.  Norris  and  Mr.  Muzzy  killed 
a  large  deer  close  to  camp,  and  in  dressing  the  deer, 
a  happy  idea  struck  Muzzy  for  a  good  practical  joke 
on  Wilds.  So  he  carefully  rolled  up  the  small  entrails 
of  the  deer,  and  packed  them  into  camp  in  his 
pocket,  and  then  posted  all  the  boys,  except  Wilds. 
After  supper  we  made  a  big  camp-fire,  all  hands  lying 
around,  smoking  and  recounting  the  exciting  scenes 
of  the  day.  ..Among  other  topics  the  number  of 
snakes  seen  and  killed;  the  habits  of  the  snake,  and 
particularly  his  venom  and  great  antipathy  to  the 
whole  human  race.  During  this  time  Muzzy  had 
found  a  place  alongside  of  Wilds,  and  taking  out  his 
deer  guts,  without  Wilds'  knowledge,  carefully 
pinned  one  end  to  the  seat  of  Wilds'  pants,  while  the 
rest  of  it,  about  ten  feet,  lay  in  a  heap  by  his  side, 
all  hands  awaiting  the  discovery  with  suppressed 
mirth.  Pretty  soon  he  rolled  over  on  his  side,  and 
bis  hand  came  in  contact  with  the  gut.  "With  one 
wild  yell  he  sprang  to  his  feet,  clearing  the  fire  at 
one  bound,  and  as  he  went  over  the  gut  wrapped 


around  a  small  brand  of  fire.  Away  goes  Wilds 
around  the  camp  shouting  : — 

"Snake!  help!  shoot!"  and  "  Oh,  my  God,  boys, 
don't  let  it  eat  me  alive!" 

Three  or  four  of  the  boys  fired  off  their  guns,  and 
by  this  time  the  whole  party,  had  become  so  con 
vulsed  that  they  were  rolling  and  tumbling  on  the 
ground.  The  snake  caught  around  a  bush  and 
pulled  loose,  and  Wilds  fell  breathless  in  among 
where  the  boys  were  rolling  and  laughing.  He  now 
began  to  take  in  the  situation,  and  raising  himself  up 
he  says  : — 

"  Now  look  here,  you  d d  fools,  I  don't  see  any 
thing  funny  about  this,  and  if  it  wasn't  for  breaking 

our  pledge,  I  would  lick  every  d d  scoundrel  of 

you.  You  all  think  you  have  played  smart,  don't 
you  ?"  By  this  time  the  demijohn  was  produced,  and 
I  tell  you  there  was  justice  done  her  this  time.  The 
next  morning  Wilds  and  Brown  were  out  early,  and 
killed  a  fine  large_buck.  the  biggest  I  ever  saw  in  my 
life.  Wilds  had  it  now,  for  he  had  found  out  that  it 
was  Muzzy  that  had  perpetrated  the  joke  on  him; 
so  he  takes  the  head  off  the  buck  with  a  long  neck, 
then  carefully  arranging  it  on  a  stick,  he  placed  it  so 
it  looked  like  a  deer  lying  beside  a  rock,  with  nothing 
visible  of  him  but  his  head.  Next  morning  he  in 
vites  Muzzy  to  accompany  him  on  a  hunt.  He  takes 
him  up  on  the  right  side  of  the  rock,  then  he  whis 
pers  to  him  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout.  Just  then, 
bang  goes  Muzzy's  gun.  Wilds  pulls  up,  but  Muzzy 
says,  "  hold,  Claib,  I  want  this  one,"  (up  to  this  time 
he  had  not  killed  any)  bang,  again,  with  the  same, 

result;  d n  you,  he  says,  I  will  fetch  }~ou,  and  this 

time  he  missed  the  head  and  struck  the  stick,  and 
the  head  fell  to  the  ground;  he  dropped  his  rifle  in 
the  excitement,  and  rushed  up;  imagine  his  surprise 
to  find  a  deer  head  without  a  body.  It  was  now 
Wilds'  time,  who  sings  out,  ''look  out  for  snakes."  He 
describes  Muzzy  as  looking  more  like  an  idiot  than 
anything  else  he  could  compare  him  to.  Muzzy  now 
tries  to  bribe  Claib  to  say  nothing  about  it  when 
they  return  to  camp,  but  he  was  uncompromising, 
and  that  night  the  jug  and  the  joke  went  high.  It 
was  about  this  time  that  Mr.  Norris  placed  the  deer 
head,  which  was  literally  working  with  deer  ••ticks." 
under  Captain  Dohman's  blankets;  he  had  not  lain 
there  very  long  until  he  sprang  up  exclaiming  "Light 
ning  has  struck  the  traveler,  or  the  traveler  has 
struck  lightning,  one  or  the  other."  The  Captain  did 
not  sleep  much  that  night,  but  he  affirms  that  there 
was  not  less  than  a  bushel  of  ticks  on  him  at  once. 

A  hunter  from  Virginia  City,  named  J.  N.  Robin 
son,  joined  our  party  while  we  were  up  there,  whom 
we  found  to  be  a  very  genial,  social  gentleman,  and 
a  remarkably  successful  hunter,  and  devotedly  at 
tached  to  this  hunting-ground.  He  informed  us  that 
he  had  spent  two  months  each  year  for  the  past  lour 
years,  at  this  place,  and  always  succeeded  in  killing 
all  the  deer  he  wanted,  and  in  honor  of  him  we  call 
the  place  "Robinson's  Park." 

This  will  now  finish  this  hunt,  but  us  our  quail 
season  soon  commences,  we  expect  to  have  rare  sport 
in  this  end  of  the  count)",  and  will,  from  time  to  time 
try  and  make  your  sporting  column  interesting  to  at 
least  the  sports  of  the  gun.  NIMROD. 

SALT   SPRINGS. 

These  are  about  six  miles  south  of  Silver  lake,  01 
the  south  side  of  the  Mokelumne  river,  and  con 
sequently  in  Calaveras  county;  but  properly  belong 
to  the  Silver  lake  region,  and  merit  the  notice  of  all 


EASTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


239 


who  visit  that  vicinity.  They  are  on  an  elevated 
bench  of  rock  a  few  yards  from  the  river,  and,  unless 
special  search  for  them  is  made,  might  be  passed 
unnoticed  by  persons  fishing  along  the  river.  The 
salt  water  is  found  in  holes  of  various  sizes,  from  a 
few  inches  to  three  feet  in  depth,  in  the  solid  granite 
rock  which  characterizes  the  whole  region.  These 
are  so  regular  in  their  shape  as  to  induce  a  belief 
that  they  are  hollowed  out  by  human  agency,  in 
the  manner  that  the  holes  where  the  Indian  women 
grind  or  pound  their  acorns  and  pine  nuts  are,  which 
they  resemble.  Reports  differ  as  to  their  number. 
Captain  J.  C.  Ham,  estimates  them  at  nine  hundred. 
Eli  Smith,  of  Volcano,  who  has  visited  them  several 
times,  thinks  there  may  be  one  hundred  and  fifty. 
The  holes  are  always  found  filled  with  water.  At 
the  bottom  is  a  mixture  of  dirt  and  salt,  which, 
being  washed,  leaves  a  residuum  of  remarkably  pure 
table  salt.  The  water  with  which  the  holes  are 
filled  appears  to  have  trickled  over  the  rocks  from 
above,  and  seems  to  come  from  a  small  shallow  lake 
or  pool,  a  hundred  or  two  feet  in  diameter,  which  is 
surrounded  by  tall  reeds  and  grass,  so  that  one 
might  pass  quite  near  without  seeing  the  water. 
There  is  no  apparent  trail  leading  to  these  salt 
wells,  but  as  the  surrounding  rock  is  the  indestruc- 
table  and  trackless  granite,  no  conclusion  as  to  their 
origin  or  use  can  be  formed  from  that  circumstance, 
as  thousands  might  visit  the  place,  and  leave  no 
trail.  In  the  early  days  of  silver  mining  on  the 
Comstock  ledge,  the  Indians  brought  in  considerable 
quantities  of  salt,  which  was  thought  to  have  been 
found  out  on  the  plains  beyond  Carson  river.  It 
seems  likely  that  the  whole  Washoe  tribe  may  have 
for  centuries  annually  visited  this  place  for  salt; 
that  the  wells  were  gradually  hollowed  out,  and 
constantly  enlarged  by  use.  A  thorough  examina 
tion  of  the  subject  might  reveal  many  interesting 
things  in  Indian  history. 

MAMMOTH    QUARTZ    VEIN. 

In  wandering  over  the  rocks  one  will  see  innu 
merable  quartz  veins  of  all  sizes  and  kinds,  crossing 
each  other  with  faults  and  other  geological  phe 
nomena,  highly  suggestive  of  the  disturbed  condi 
tion  of  affairs  when  earth  was  young,  ere  the  Sierras 
were  lifted  from  the  sea,  or  of  the  earth  in  our  own 
time,  thirty  thousand  feet  below,  where  new  Sierras 
are  slowly  being  formed.  Between  Silver  lake  and 
the  salt  wells  is  a  quartz  vein,  said  to  be  the  largest 
in  the  State.  It  appears  to  be  barren  of  gold,  which, 
however,  may,  in  its  own  time,  have  been  deposited 
near  the  surface,  as  in  our  present  worked  veins, 
twenty  thousand  feet  above  the  present  summits  of 
the  Sierras. 

THE    RUBY    OR   SCHORL    MINE 

Is  in  this  vicinity,  on  what  is  called  Burley's  peak. 
This  is  a  form  of  quartz  crystallization  of  various 
colors — white,  green,  red,  and  black,  some  of  the 
varieties  bordering  upon  emerald.  It  is  likely  that  a 
thorough  search  might  reveal  valuable  stones  in  this 


vicinity.     The  mine   is   claimed    by  J.  C.  Ham,   of 
Aqueduct  City. 

TROUT    FISHING. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  small  trout  in  Sil 
ver  lake.  Whether  they  are  of  different  species,  or 
whether  the  climatic  character  of  the  lake  prevents 
their  growth,  is  uncertain,  but  no  large  fish  are 
found  in  the  lake,  while  in  the  streams  around  are 
trout  of  several  pounds  in  weight,  which  have  all  the 
wariness  and  vigor,  when  hooked,  characteristic  of 
the  trout  family.  The  unlwkif  fisherman  will  see 
hundreds  of  " fine  speckled  beauties"  lying  at  ease 
in  a  hole  twenty  feet  deep,  from  which  fly  nor  worm 
will  draw  them.  Some  persons  in  times  past,  in 
revenge  no  doubt,  have  blown  them  up  with  dynam 
ite,  or  strangled  them  with  pounded  soap-root. 
The  law  makes  these  acts  high  misdemeanors,  but 
who  cares  for  law  forty  miles  in  the  woods,  when 
the  trout  refuse  to  bite  at  a  reasonable  bait? 

The  rocks  in  all  this  vicinity  are  Racier-polished, 
and  none  but  an  active,  sure-footed  man  can  clamber 
safely  over  them. 

SILVER    MINES. 

Some  twenty -five  miles  west  of  the  summit  argen 
tiferous  galena  in  considerable  quantities  has  been 
found.  The  slates  and  other  rocks  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  junction  o'f  the  old  Placerville  and  Volcano  emi 
grant  roads  have  all  the  appearance  of  being  metal 
liferous,  and  may  yet  prove  the  source  of  much 
wealth.  Lyman  and  Silas  Tubbs,  and  others,  made 
the  discovery,  some  years  since,  of  such  an  outcrop; 
but  they  have  never  developed  the  prospect. 

MAGNIFICENT    VIEWS    FROM    THE    SIERRAS. 

Standing  on  one  of  the  western  spurs  of  the  Sier 
ras,  the  valleys  of  the  San  Joaquin  and  Sacramento, 
as  well  as  the  hills  of  the  Coast  Range,  are  in  full 
view;  Mount  Shasta  in  the  north,  and  the  treeless 
plains  of  the  south,  the  sharp  outlines  of  the  Mendo- 
cirio  peaks,  Diablo  in  the  middle,  with  the  hazy 
atmosphere,  now  shading  everything  with  the  tint 
of  autumnal  ripeness,  now  drifting  away  towards  the 
sea  in  crimson  clouds,  and  leaving  the  air  so  clear  that 
the  streets  of  Sacramento,  though  fifty  miles  away, 
are  distinctly  visible,  are  elements  out  of  which  the 
most  splendid  sunsets  that  imagination  can  conceive, 
will  occasionally  appear. 

Sometimes  the  fog  comes  rolling  in  from  the 
ocean  like  a  sea  of  molten  silver,  spreading  over  the 
valleys,  until  only  the  tips  of  the  highest  mountains 
are  visible  above  the  feathery  masses,  of  vapor  that 
lie  at  rest,  or,  slowing  melting,  blend  and  fuse  into  a 
thousand  shapes,  reminding  one  of  an  invading  host 
taking  the  land,  and,  sometimes,  of  the  spiritual 
world,  where  millions  of  departed  souls  re-enact  the 
stories  of  their  'earthly  careers.  Sometimes,  at  the 
close  of  a  storm,  when  the  clouds,  in  dense,  black 
masses,  hang  suspended  around  the  summits  of  the 
Sierras  and  high  over  the  plains,  the  setting  sun, 
blazing  through  the  rifts,  will  strike  across  the  wide 
plains,  tinging  the  hills  with  a  rich  orange  hue,  and 


240 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


the  clouds  with  crimson  and  purple,  giving  one  an 
idea  of  possible  landscapes  in  the  better  land. 

Again  the  thunder  clouds  gather  in  dark  masses 
around  the  base  of  the  mountains  and  over  the  wide 
valley,  leaving  all  serene  above;  hill  and  cloud 
answering  each  other  in  lightning  flashes  and  peal  on 
peal  of  rolling  thunder  that  dies  away  in  deep  mut- 
terings  a  hundred  miles  distant,  until  we  could  almost 
believe  that  all  the  artillery  of  the  world  was  parked 
in  the  great  valley,  engaged  as  an  accompaniment  in 
a  grand  anthem  sung  by  the  millions  of  all  ages. 

Bayard  Taylor,  the  poet  and  traveler,  expressed 
the  opinion  that  the  view  from  a  point  a  few  miles 
above  the  Mountain  Spring  House,  was  the  most  mag 
nificent  landscape  to  be  seen  in  the  world.  How 
much  the  world  has  lost,  that  a  man,  with  his 
soul  to  appreciate,  his  eyes  to  see,  and  his  pen  to  de 
scribe,  has  not  seen  the  landscape  mentioned  in  one 
of  its  magnificent  moods.  If  he  had  passed  over  it 
as  many  times  as  the  writer  of  this  article  has,  he 
could  not  have  failed  to  see  that  which  would  have 
tasked  his  pen,  facile  as  it  was,  to  the  utmost,  to  have 
described.  Every  season  has  its  moods.  The  Win 
ter  with  its  storms  sweeping  the  horizon  with  clouds, 
drenching  everything  in  falling  rain,  alternating 
with  clear  days  when  every  arm  of  the  bay  and 
rivers,  every  tree,  every  dwelling  for  fifty  miles 
around  is  so  distinct  as  to  appear  like  a  view  through 
a  telescope  reversed;  the  Spring  with  its  lights  and 
shadows  chasing  each  other  with  railroad  speed,  or 
resting  for  hours  in  lazy  dalliance  over  wide  por 
tions  of  the  plains;  the  Summer,  with  the  haze  blend 
ing  with  the  brown  hills  and  plains  ripening  into 
autumnal  tints;  the  Autumn  in  dreamy  obscurity, 
its  deep  golden  veil  occasionally  lifted  aside  or  piled 
in  majestic  folds  on  the  Coast  Range  by  the  contend 
ing  sea  and  land  breezes,  may  well  cause  the  painter 
to  throw  down  his  brushes  in  despair,  or  the  writer 
to  wish  for  a  pen  tipped  with  fire,  so  utterly  above 
all  human  ability  is  the  task  of' giving  a  representa 
tion  of  the  constantly  varying,  beautiful,  grand,  or 
awful  landscapes. 

Let  us  stand  on  one  of  the  foot-hills  at  the  close  of 
a  day  in  October.  If  the  gods  of  the  air  are  favor 
able  to  our  wishes,  and  grant  us  an  exhibition  of 
their  powers,  the  deep  haze,  which  all  the  day  has 
hung  around  the  mountains  and  over  the  plains, 
wrapping  everything  in  a  dreamy  uncertainty,  will 
gradually  settle  away  towards  the  Coast  Range  of 
mountains,  bringing  trees,  orchards,  vineyards,  and 
grain-fields  into  high  relief.  The  oaks  and  pines  in 
the  mountains  and  plains  will  blend  in  the  retreating 
haze  until  the  one  is  lost  in  the  other.  The  retreat 
ing  veil  will  now  form  long  wavy  lines  along  the 
Coast  Range,  the  tops  of  which  are  visible,  and,  by 
their  presence,  serve  to  aid  in  the  illusion.  The 
sinking  sun,  striking  through  the  horizontal  cloud- 
rifts,  tinges  all  the  openings  with  crimson  and  purple, 
like  hills  and  mountains  of  a  far-off  land.  The  hills 
of  gold  and  precious  stones,  the  gates  of  pearl  seem 


just  in  sight.  These  wide  and  glorious  valleys  must 
be  peopled  by  millions  on  millions  of  happy  spirits. 
We  see  the  rivers  and  lakes,  for  they  are  but  the 
continuation  of  that  which  we  know  to  be  water. 
We  can  almost  hear  the  songs  of  the  beautiful  beings 
who  float  in  fairy  boats  on  those  crystal  lakes.  The 
air  seems  filled  with  the  soft  murmur  of  music  that 
comes  in  gentle  echoes  from  the  thousand  harps 
played  by  angel  hands.  Lo!  towai'ds  the  south  a 
breeze  through  the  Golden  Gate  makes  a  riffle  in  the 
crimson  clouds,  rolling  them  into  domes  and  amphi 
theaters.  The  horizontal  lines  of  the  cloud-strata 
are  crossed  by  perpendicular  divisk)ns.  A  great  city, 
vast  in  its  proportions,  with  its  streets  and  squares, 
lofty  towers,  temples,  and  palaces,  comes  into  view. 
Yes,  it  is  Rome.  That  huge  circle  of  towering  height 
is  the  Coliseum.  That  dome  is  the  Pantheon.  We 
hear  the  fierce  debates  in  the  forum.  We  hear 
Cicero  denouncing  Cataline.  We  see  the  triumphal 
processions  with  kings  chained  to  the  chariot-wheels 
of  the  conquerors.  We  hear  the  eighty  thousand 
spectators  in  the  Coliseum  shout  as  the  victims  of  the 
popular  thirst  for  blood  go  down  under  the  fierce 
blows  of  the  successful  gladiators.  We  see  Caesar, 
the  Imperator,  throw  his  robe  over  his  head,  and  die 
like  a  god.  We  see  the  hordes  of  Attila  rushing 
through  the  streets,  slaughtering  the  miserable 
inhabitants,  until  the  very  swords  are  weary  of  blood. 
Rome  of  Augustus  Caesar!  where  art  thou  ?  As  the 
shades  of  night  deepen  over  the  mimicry  of  thy 
palaces  and  amphitheaters,  so  did  the  barbarism 
bury  the  beautiful,  the  glorious,  the  good,  and  the 
infamous,  in  one  common  ruin. 

The  gorgeous  pageant  does  not  end  here.  Pericles 
summons  the  Athenians,  and  Mount  Diablo  becomes 
Mount  Olympus,  towering  above  the  Acropolis.  I 
see  the  Parthenon,  with  its  unapproachable  archi 
tecture.  1  see  the  hill  crowned  with  palaces  and 
works  of  art,  and  its  §ix  thousand  statues,  every 
fragment  of  which  is  now  worth  its  weight  of  gold. 
1  hear  the  finished  periods  of  the  Athenian  orators. 
I  hear  the  shouts  of  the  people  at  the  Olympic 
games.  I  see  the  approaching  clouds,  like  the 
barbarism  by  which  Athens  was  surrounded,  gradu 
ally  obliterate  every  line  of  the  sunset  scene. 

Lo!  another  age  appears.  On  the  treeless  plains 
of  the  San  Joaquin  the  mimicry  of  cloudy  fabric 
goes  on.  The  pyramids,  dark  and  sombre,  now  fast 
sinking  into  obscurity,  rise  to  view,  dim  as  if  the 
vital  energy  that  had  first  raised  them  had  exhausted 
itself,  and  the  very  spirits  had  become  faded  spectres 
in  a  spectral  world.  The  obscurity  of  four  thousand 
years  rests  on  these  cloudy  shapes  of  the  toil  of 
millions.  Is  there  death  and  change  in  the  spiritual 
world  also?  Have  the  millions,  who  cultivated  the 
valley  of  the  Nile,  who  built  the  cities  of  Memphis, 
with  its  temples  that  almost  defy  the  tooth  of  time, 
ceased  to  re-enact,  even  in  the  spectral  world,  the 
actions  of  real  life?  Is  a  future  existence  dependent 
on  the  permanency  of  works? 


RESIDENCE  AND  RANCH  OF  NASON  C. WILLIAMS, 

NEAR  VOLCANO  .  AMADDR  Cff  GAL. 


RESIDENCE, RANCH  AND  LUMBERYARD  OF  H.C.FARNHAM, 
OLETA,AMADOR  C°  CAL. 


- 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


EASTERN  PART  OF  THE  COUNTY. 


241 


Gradually  the  crimson  and  purple  deepened  into 
night,  and  Caesar,  and  Pharaoh,  and  Demosthenes, 
and  the  millions  of  spirits  that  had  gathered  to 
build  the  spectral  towers,  temples,  and  pyramids, 
vanished  as  the  sun  set  behind  the  hills,  and  the 
dusty  road,  the  cooling  breeze  from  the  mountains, 
and  darkness,  brought  back  real  life/  with  its  duties 
and  vicissitudes.  Is  it  all  imagination?  Is  there  no 
mind  in  the  gorgeous  landscapes  that  occasionally 
gild  all  the  western  horizon?  Why  should  not  the 
spirits  of  the  departed,  wandering  in  ether,  pile 
together  the  half  material  substance  of  the  air,  and 
lead  the  world  to  a  sense  of  beauty,  and  glory,  and 
power? 

CLIMATE. 

So  much  has  been  written  about  the  climate  of 
California  that  it  would  seem  useless  to  attempt 
any  further  description,  especially  for  California 
readers.  The  temperature  falls  a  little  lower  in 
Winter  than  in  Sacramento,  and  rises  a  little  higher 
in  Summer.  But  once  or  twice  during  thirty  years' 
observation  did  the  temperature  at  lone  valley  fall 
to  16°  above  zero.  The  coldest  spell  perhaps  ever 
experienced  was  on  14th,  15th,  16th,  and  17th  of 
March,  1859,  when  the  ground,  in  shady  places, 
remained  frozen  all  day.  A  dry  north  wind  helped 
to  reduce  the  temperature.  The  ground  in  some 
places  was  frozen  two  inches  thick.  The  season 
was  early,  fruit  trees  being  in  full  bloom,  which  was 
mostly  destroyed.  Grass  and  grain  in  many  places 
was  killed,  so  that  as  the  sun  came  up  it  wilted  and 
turned  black.  The  temperature  occasionally  falls 
to  the  freezing  point  during  a  storm;  an  inch  or  two 
of  snow  may  tben  fall,  to  remain  on  until  the  sun 
comes  out,  and  then  vanish  in  a  few  minutes.  Occa 
sionally  there  is  a  flurry  of  hail,  which  has  been 
known  to  seriously  injure  young  vines  and  fruit 
trees.  The  most  dreaded,  because  most  destructive, 
feature  is  the  dry,  north  wind,  that  occasionally 
sweeps  over  the  country.  "  Whence  it  cometh,  or 
whither  it  goeth,  no  man  can  tell,"  but  the  moist 
ground  becomes  dry  and  hard;  the  promising  crop 
droops  after  three  or  four  days,  and,  if  the  season 
has  been  dry,  the  farmer  hastens  to  cut  his  fields  of 
grain  for  hay.  So  drying  is  this  wind  that  the  fur 
niture  in  the  house  will  warp  and  crack,  wagons 
will  fall  down,  and  general  shrinkage  takes  place. 
The  atmosphere  is  charged  with  electricity,  and 
combing  one's  head  will  produce  a  multitude  of 
sparks.  This  wind  is  the  bane  of  farming  in  Cali 
fornia,  but  it  does  not  prevail  in  the  mountains  as 
in  the  San  Joaquin  and  Sacramento  valleys.  In 
Amador  it  sometimes  injures,  but  scarcely  ever  ruins 
a  crop. 

DROUTHS. 

Once  only  during  the  history  of  Amador  county 
has  there  been  an  utter  failure  from,  drouth.  In  the 
winter  of  1863-64,  so  little  rain  fell  that  scarce  a 
fourth  of  a  crop  was  raised,  though,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  best  farmers,  early  sewing  and  deep,  thorough 
31 


ploughing  would  have  doubled  the  yield.  So  short 
was  the  straw,  both  of  hay  and  grain,  that  aprons 
were  attached  to  the  reapers  and  mowers  to  save  a 
little  handful  which  otherwise  would  be  lost  among 
the  clods  and  stubble.  Barns  and  granaries  were 
empty,  and  cattle  starved  by  the  thousand.  A  few 
clouds  would  occasionally  pass  over,  but  they  refused 
to  part  with  their  treasures,  and  the  dry  Summer 
completed  the  failure  of  the  crops. 

FRESHETS. 

As  might  be  expected  the  heavy  rain-fall  some 
times  damages  the  farmer  and  miner.  The  snow 
will  fall  perhaps  ten  or  twenty  feet  deep  in  the  upper 
parts  of  the  Sierras,  and  a  warm  rain  will  send  it 
down  in  a  three  days  run.  Such  a  snow-fall,  followed 
by  a  warm  rain,  occurred  in  December,  1861,  inun 
dating  all  the  valleys,  carrying  off  fences,  and,  in 
some  instances,  buildings.  The  overflow  was  much 
increased  by  the  moving  sand  and  gravel  which 
obstructed  the  channels.  But  when  the  water  went 
down  the  farmer  went  to  ploughing,  arid  bounteous 
crops  rewarded  his  labor,  and  one  year's  work  re 
paired  all  the  losses.  A  few  farms  were  injured  with 
"slickens,"  and,  in  some  places,  as  at  the  Q  Ranch, 
the  streams  cut  new  channels,  but  the  losses  were 
trifling  compared  with  the  drouth  two  years  after. 
Sometimes  a  "  cloud  burst,"  more  particularly  de 
scribed  in  the  history  of  Jackson,  will  create  an  over 
flow  over  a  limited  space,  as  did  the  one  which  swept 
Jackson  and  Sutter  Creeks  in  February,  1878.  But 
these  are  necessarily  limited  in  territory,  and  though 
destructive  enough  when  they  prevail,  do  not  bank 
rupt  whole  counties  like  the  ice  floods  on  the  Mis 
souri  or  Susquehanna  rivers. 

RAIN    TABLE    FOR   AMADOR    COUNTY. 

COMPILED  BY  FRANK    HOWARD,   OF  SUTTER   CREEK,  FOR  THE 

YEARS  1 874-75 -76-77-78-79-80. 


MONTHS. 

1874. 

1875. 

1876. 

1877. 

1878. 

1879. 

1880. 

September  

* 

.11 

October  
November  
December  

4.12 
7.50 
.36 

.66 
14.04 
5.04 

3.61 

.18 

.71 
1.93 
1.40 

1.09 
1.16 
.35 

2.59 

2.88 
6.84 

.36 
.35 
11.42 

1881. 

MONTHS. 

1875. 

1876. 

1877. 

1878. 

1879. 

1880. 

January  . 
February  
March. 

17.18 
1.40 
2.14 
.22 
!59 
1.26 

7.43 
4.40 
6.46 
1.62 
.75 
.75 
36 

6.94 
.94 

2.68 
.46 
1.74 

.18 

9.35 
12.96 
6.20 
1.94 
.20 
.60 

5.34 
5.74 

8.07 
5.08 
2.45 
.29 

3.25 
3.93 
3.81 
15.85 
3.02 

10.89 
522 
2.49 
3.00 

April  

May  

June  

July..  

August  .  . 

m 

Total 

34.77 

39.80 

16.73 

35.29 

29.68 

42.17 

33.73 

Sacramento   totals   for   same  years  :  23.64,  25.67, 
9.32,  21.24,  16.77,  18.51. 

242 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


IR-AIIN"  T^IBILjIE  IFOIR,  S-A-Ol^^IMIIEiTTO- 

Prepared  by  the  late  Dr.  T.  M.  Logan  and  Dr.  F.  W.  Hatch,  Arranged  according  to  the  Seasons,  Showing  the  Amount  in  Inches  of  Each  Month,  during  Thirty-one  Years,  and 
for  each  Rainy  Season,  to  November  22,  1880:  also  the  Quantity  for  Every  Month,  and  the  Annual  Amount  of  Rain. 

[CORRECTED  FOR  SUTTER  CREEK,  ACCORDING  TO  F.  HOWARD'S  MEASUREMENTS.] 

S 

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From    these   comparisons    the    average    rain-fall 
appears  to  be  nearly  seventy-two  per  cent,  greater 
at  Sutter  Creek  than  at  Sacramento.      Other  places 
in  Amador  would  show  a  still  greater  difference.     It 
has  been   known  to  rain  continuously  for  hours  at 
Vogan's  (Mountain  Spring  House)  when  no  rain  fell 
at  Bucna  Vista,  six  miles  below.    During  the  Spring 
of    1864,  when  rain  was  so  anxiously    looked   for» 
showers  were  frequent  on  the  Mokelumne  river  when 
no  rain  fell  a  half  mile  away.      The  cooler  tempera 
ture  at  the  above  places  is  supposed  to  have  caused 
the  clouds  to  part  with  their  moisture. 

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CHAPTER     XXXVII. 

ARROYO  SECO  GRANT. 

Claim   Rejected  —  Claim    Confirmed    on    Appeal  —  Character    of 
Grant  —  Matters  of  Record  —  Letter  from   T.  A.  Heudricks, 
Attorney  General  —  Final  Survey  —  During  Hancock  Agency  — 

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rial  to  President  Lincoln  —  Dispossession  —  Settlers'  League  — 
Shooting  of    Herman  Wohler  —  Last   Effort  —  Memorial  to 
Congress. 

THE  policy  of  making  homes  for  the  people  of  easy 
attainment  has  been  so  long  established  in  the  United 
States  that  few  living  have  any  recollections  to  the 
contrary.     In  New  York  the  Patroon  estates,  and  in 
Louisiana  the  Spanish  grants,  had  hung  like   a  pall 
over  the  inhabitants,  but  the  majority  of  the  people 
knew  nothing  of  the  relics  of  feudalism,  which  made 
one  man  the  owner  of  the  rents  at  least,  of  thousands 
of  acres.     When   the  great  immigration  poured  into 
California    in  1849-50,  they  found   the  valleys  and 
plains  around  the  bay  and  larger  rivers  in  the  pos 
session  of  a  few  men.  General  Sutter  at  New  Helvetia, 
Charles  Weber   at  Stockton,  were  near  the  mines 
first  discovered,  and  first  gave  an  idea  of  the  scope 
of  the  princely   estates,   which    afterwards,   in    the 
hands  of  professional  land-grabbers,  whose  infernal 
resources  seemed  unfathomable,  became  such  a  source 
of  oppression    and  robbery.      The  confusion  in  the 
early  records  of  the  California  government;  the  loose 
manner  in  which  the  records  were  kept  in  the  national 
archives  in  the  city  of  Mexico;  the  difficulty  of  gain 
ing  access  to  them  on  account  of  the  distance,  all 
conspired  to  render  the  grant  system  a  fruitful  field 
for  the  operations  of  rascals.     Grants  were  manufac 
tured  by  the  hundred  after  the  treaty  of  peace  with 
Mexico.     In  some  instances  the  paper  itself  on  which 
the  grants  were  written,  bore  water-marks  of  a  date 
subsequent  to  the  treaty;  these  were  of  course  re 
jected.     Others  as  fraudulent,  but  more  cautiously 
manipulated,  were  made  to  fit  the  lands  made  valua 
ble  by  settlement.     The  uncertainty  of  titles  to  the 
agricultural  lands  around  the  bay  were,  to  the  earlier 
settler  of  Amador  county,  far  away  matters. 
The  first  glimpse  of  the  impending  calamity  came 
in  1853.     Dr.  E.  B.  Harris  and  H.  A.  Carter  of  lone 
were   visiting   the   Legislature    then   in   session   at 
Benicia,  to  further  the  project  of  the  organization  of 
the   new  county  of  Amador.     There   they  casually 

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ARROYO  SECO  GRANT. 


243 


learned  of  a  claim  recently  filed  in  the  General  Land 
Office  with  "!ONE"  marked  in  the  center  of  a  plot  of 
the  claim.  The  reader  will  remember  that  "lone" 
was  a  name  given  to  the  valley  almost  by  inspira 
tion.  Who  had  any  business  with  that  name?  A 
visit  to  the  Land  Office  was  next  in  order.  There 
was  the  title 

EL  ARROYO  SECO, 

Situado  asi  a  los  Cordilleras  la  Sierra  Nevada  tene 
endo  for  limites  at  Norte  el  vio  de  los  Cosumnes  al 
sur  el  do  Moquelemes  at  aiccenle,  el  camino  del  Sac 
ramento  Y.  al  Este  Las  Sierras. 

[Filed  with  Secretary  of  Land  Comission,  Novem 
ber  1,  1852.] 

This  purported  to  be  a  tract  of  land  granted  to 
Teodocio  Yerba  May  8,  1840,  containing  eleven 
leagues  of  land.  Sierra  Nevada  mountains!  Cosumnes 
river!  Moqueleme  river!  Sacramento  road!  Which 
were  the  Sierras?  Where  was  the  Sacramento  road? 
It  may  well  be  supposed  that  our  friends  had  no  heart 
for  lobbying  a  bill  through  the  Legislature  for  the  di 
vision  of  the  county  of  Calaveras.  They  returned  home 
and  called  a  public  meeting,  to  announce  the  coming 
disaster.  Charles  Walker  was  made  chairman.  Judge 
Carter  explained  the  situation.  Some  were  for  treat 
ing  the  claim  with  contempt.  The  uncertainty  of 
the  boundaries,  the  enormous  area  included  in  the 
description,  were  conclusive  evidence  of  fraud. 
Others  reasoned  differently.  If  the  grant  had  been 
fraudulent  it  would  have  been  more  carefully  worded. 
Its  uncertainty,  the  awkwardness  of  description, 
such  as  one  might  make  who  never  had  seen  the 
country,  or  such  as  he  might  get  from  the  Indians, 
was  in  favor  of  its  realty.  There  was  the  Shaddon 
&  Day  lor  ranch,  the  Pico  ranch,  and  the  Weber,  only 
a  little  ways  off. 

A  society  or  league  was  formed  to  contest  the 
grant.  It  does  not  appear  that  any  forcible  or  illegal 
means  were  thought  of.  Money  was  raised  and  legal 
talent  engaged.  A.  C.  Brown  and  EL.  A.  Carter  were 
employed  to  engage  a  competent  man  to  watch  the 
affair.  O.  P.  Sutton,  a  clerk  in  the  Land  Office  was 
first  employed,  Thorntorn  &  Williams,  two  eminent 
land  lawyers,  being  afterwards  associated  with  him. 

CLAIM    REJECTED. 

February  27,  1855,  the  claim  was  rejected  by"  the 
Commissioners  appointed  by  the  United  States  Gov 
ernment  to  try  the  validity  of  the  Mexican  claims. 

On  the  12th  of  May,  notice  of  appeal  from  the 
decision  of  the  Commissioners  was  filed  in  the 
United  States  District  Court,  followed  by  a  petition 
for  review  on  the  llth  of  June.  On  the  21st  of 
April,  1856,  the  decision  of  the  Commissioners  was 
reversed  by  Judge  Hoffman. 

CLAIM    CONFIRMED. 

By  this  decision,  Andres  Pico  was  entitled  to  eleven 
square  leagues  of  land,  somewhere  in  the  boundaries 
set  forth  in  his  grant.  On  the  3d  of  October,  1856, 
an  appeal  to  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  was 


perfected,  and  the  transcript  sent  up.  It  does  not 
appear  that  the  Court  ever  took  the  case  into  con 
sideration.  So  far,  in  this  matter,  the  people  had  a 
right  to  think  the  Government  would  watch  their 
interests.  The  claims  for  land  were  against  the  Gov 
ernment,  not  against  the  people;  but  we  can  hardly 
consider  the  Courts  and  their  officers  as  acting  for 
the  people,  but  for  the  speculators.  It  is  now,  after 
the  lapse  of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  difficult  to  ascer 
tain  the  true  facts  in  the  case.  Whether  Williams  & 
Thornton  did  their  duty  during  this  stage  of  the 
affair;  whether  any  attorney  for  the  people  made  an 
appearance  when  the  case  was  called  in  the  United 
States  Court,  is  not  known;  but,  at  any  rate,  on  the 
4th  of  May,  1858,  the  case  was,  on  motion  of  Attor 
ney-General  Black,  dismissed,  and  the  order  for  dis 
missal  of  suit  filed  in  San  Francisco. 

CHARACTER   OP   THE    GRANT. 

As  the  claim  to  the.  land  is  now  confirmed,  a  little 
knowledge  as  to  the  character  of  the  men  concerned 
may  not  be  out  of  place.  Yorba,  or  Yerba,  for  it 
seems  that  he  could  not  write  his  name,  and  proba 
bly  did  not  know  how  to  spell  it,  was  connected  by 
marriage  with  some  of  the  higher  families.  Juan  B. 
Alvarado  was  an  intriguer,  first  a  Secretary  in  the 
department  of  Customs;  then  a  revolutionist,  who 
by  means  of  an  arrangement  with  Isaac  Graham,  a 
Tennesseean,  wriggled  himself  into  the  position  of 
Governor.  It  is  said  of  him  that  he  gave  to  all  his 
followers  whatever  land  they  asked  for.  The  date  of 
the  grant  is  May  8,  1840.  Sutter  did  not  settle  at 
New  Helvetia  until  the  latter  part  of  1839.  His 
grant  was  not  completed  until  1841;  Weber's  not 
until  1843. 

In  the  Autumn  of  1841,  the  Mokelkos,  a  tribe  of 
Indians  living  on  the  Mokelumne,  below  Lockeford, 
stole  some  cattle  from  Sutter.  He  organized  an  expe 
dition  and  attacked  them,  marching  thirty  miles  in 
the  night.  This  march  would  carry  him  across  the 
Cosumnes,  and  in  sight  of  the  Jim  Martin  and  Lyon 
range  of  hills,  which  are  probably  described  in  the 
grant  as  the  "  neighboring  Sierras."  But  he  did  not 
obtain  his  grant  from  Alvarado  until  June,  1841. 
Pio  Pico's  grant  covered  the  lower  portion  of  the 
Mokelumne  river.  Charles  Weber  did  not  get  his 
grant  until  some  years  after  he  had  resided  with 
Sutter,  and  not  until  after  the  termination  of  Sut- 
tcr's  war  with  the  Mokelkos,  and  a  treaty  of  peace 
with  them.  He  obtained  permission  to  settle  on  the 
slough  at  Stockton  from  the  chief,  by  agreeing  to 
defend  them  against  the  Mexicans,  the  mortal  enemies 
of  the  Mokelkos.  In  the  subsequent  revolutions, 
while  Alvarado  was  striving  to  rnantain  his  position 
as  Governor,  it  is  said  that  Sutter  assisted  him  mate 
rially  with  men,  in  return  for  which  he  not  only 
gave  Sutter  a  large  tract  of  land,  but  granted  to 
other  persons,  such  as  Sutter  should  recommend,  in 
his  capacity  as  Justice,  other  tracts.  If  the  date  of 
this  had  been  but  a  year  and  a  month  later,  it  might 
have  been  genuine,  but  reason  is  against  such  a  con- 


244 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


elusion.  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  the  outside 
grant  should  have  preceded  the  larger  ones  by  a 
period  of  one  to  three  years. 

Yerba's  grant  was  made  May  8,  1840,  by  Juan  B. 
Alvarado;  Butter's  grant,  June,  1841,  by  same  per 
son;  Guillermo  Gulnac's  for  Weber,  July  13,  1843,  by 
Manuel  Micheltorena. 

The  Hudson's  Bay  Fur  Company  had  a  trading- 
post  at  French  Camp  (hence  the  name),  south  of 
Stockton,  for  many  years,  and  left  about  the  time 
that  Weber  obtained  his  grant,  which  induced  him 
to  locate  temporarily  on  the  Cosumnes,  until  he  got 
on  better  terms  with  the  Mokelkos. 

Andres  Pico,  who  bought  of  Yerba,  was  brother  of 
the  last  Governor,  Pio  Pico,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
addicted  to  drink  and  gambling.  De  Zaldo  was  in 
1850-51  a  clerk  in  the  Land  Office.  It  seems  more 
probable  that  the  whole  matter  was  cooked  up  in  the 
Land  Office  after  the  discovery  of  gold,  than  that  the 
grant  should  have  preceded  such  settlements  as  Sut- 
ter's  and  Weber's.  The  fact  that  at  the  time  of 
making  the  grant  no  Mexican  dared  show  bis  head 
east  of  the  San  Joaquin  or  Sacramento  rivers,  serves 
to  confirm  the  former  hypothesis.  Governor  Downey, 
who  is  believed  to  have  a  good  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  Spanish  claims,  denounced  the  Arroyo  Seco 
as  a  rank  fraud. 

For  the  purpose  of  keeping  our  history  clear,  it 
may  be  best  to  have  a  list  of  titles  passed: — 

Grant  to  Teodosio  Yerba,  May  8,  1840. 

Sale  to  Andres  Pico,  October  4,  1852.     Consider 
ation  five  hundred  head  of  cattle. 
[COPY  OF  DEED.] 

Know  all  men  by  these  presents,  That  we,  Teodocio 
Yerba  and  Maria  Antonio  Lugo  Ins  wife,  for  and  in 
consideration  of  the  sum  of  five  hundred  head  of 
cattle,  paid  and  delivered  to  us  by  Andres  Pico,  the 
receipt  whereof  is  hereby  acknowledged,  have  sold, 
bargained  and  transferred  and  by  these  presents  sell, 
bargain  and  transfer  to  the  said  Andres  Pico  and  his 
heirs  and  assigns,  all  that  tract  of  land  situate  and 
lying  in  the  county  of  Sacramento,  bounded  and 
described  as  follows  :  "  Situado  asi  a  las  Cordil 
leras  la  Sierra  Nevada  tene  endo  for  limetes  at  Norte 
el  vio  de  los  Cosumnes  al  sur  el  do  Moquelemes  at 
aiccenle  el  camino  del  Sacramento  Yal  este  Las 
Sierras  immuratus,"  and  known  by  the  name  of  "  El 
Arroyo  Seco,"  and  being  the  same  tract  of  land 
granted  to  the  said  Teodocio  Yerba,  by  Governor 
Juan  B.  Alvarado,  8th  May,  1840,  and  containing, 
more  or  les.8,  eleven  leagues,  together  with  all  the 
improvements  thereon,  the  rights,  easements,  and 
privileges  appertaining  thereto,  to  have  and  to  hold 
for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  said  Andres  Pico,  his 
heirs  and  assigns  forever.  And  we  for  ourselves  our 
heirs  and  administrators,  hereby  covenant  with  the 
said  Pico,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  that  we  will  warrant 
and  defend  the  said  premises  hereby  conveyed, 
against  the  claims  and  demands  of  any  person  or 
persons  claiming  by,  through  or  from  us. 

Witness  our  hands  and  seals  this  fourth  day  of 
October,  1852.  his 

(Signed)  TEODOCIO  X  YORBA.  [seal.] 


mark. 


her 


MARIA  ANTONIO  X  LUGO. 

mark. 


[seal.] 


Filed  September  22,  1856,  in  Recorder's  office, 
Amador  County. 

Andres  Pico  to  Ramon  De  Zaldo.  April  4,  1855. 
2-11  Arroyo  Seco.  Consideration,  $2,000.  Filed  in 
Amador  County  July  21,  1856. 

Pico  &  De  Zaldo  to  Green  &  Vogan,  June  13,  1856. 
317.69  acres  (Q  Ranch)  Consideration,  $3  176.90. 

Same  to  Fixary  &  Sompayrac,  July  23,  1856. 
Town  lots  in  Jackson.  Consideration,  $600.  Fix 
ary  Ranch,  240  acres.  Consideration,  $1,500. 

Same  to  James  Brown,  December  2,  1856.  5,7GO 
acres.  Consideration,  $9,516. 

This  was  the  famous  sale  of  the  mines,  and  in 
cluded  all  of  the  quartz  leads  that  were  then  known 
to  be  valuable,  Spring  Hill,  Keystone,  Herbertville, 
Amador,  Union,  Eureka,  Badger,  etc.,  also  the  town 
sites  of  Amador,  Sutter  and  Jackson. 

Pico  &  De  Zaldo  to  Bruce  Husband,  December, 
1856.  Town  lot  in  Jackson.  Consideration,  $1. 

Same  to  Isaac  Silver,  January  9,  1857. 

Same  to  Thomas  Jones,  January  13,  1857. 

Same  to  William  Pitt,  January  12,  1857. 

Same  to  Luther  K.  Hammer,  February  9,  1857. 

Same  to  John  Williams,  February  24,  1857. 

Same  to  Geo.  Durham,  February  21,  1857. 

Same  to  A.  Sheakley,  February  21,  1857. 

The  most  of  these  were  town  lots  in  Jackson. 
Contracts  for  sale  were  also  made  in  many  places  in 
the  valley.  In  most  instances  the  sales  were  made 
to  influential  persons  upon  favorable  terms,  the 
object  being  to  detach  them  from  the  party  of  oppo 
sition.  This  was  particularly  true  of  the  sales  to 
Green  &  Vogan,  John  Edwards,  Charles  Stone,  and 
James  P.  Martin. 

Soon  after  the  confirmation  of  the  grant  by  the 
District  Court,  Pico  employed  Sherman  Day  to  sur 
vey  and  sectionize  the  ranch  in  accordance  with  the 
United  States  survey,  making  Mount  Diablo  a  base 
and  meridian  point.  The  lines  were  run  to  include 
all  the  valuable  farms  and  mines  possible.  Many 
thousand  dollars  were  obtained  for  the  mines.  After 
all  had  been  got  from  them  that  was  possible,  the 
claim  to  the  mines  was  abandoned,  new  lines  being 
run  to  include  other  farms.  For  some  years  it  was 
a  floating  grant.  The  lines  were  run  so  as  to  include 
a  greater  area  on  Dry  creek.  An  improvement 
in  any  direction  was  sure  to  bring  the  grant  line 
around  it. 

LOCATION    OF    THE    TRACT. 

This  was  next  in  order.  During  the  location  of 
the  claim,  high  up  on  the  mountains,  the  United 
States  had  sectionized  and  sold  some  of  the  valley 
lands  on  Dry  creek,  Purkey  being  among  the  pur 
chasers.  When  the  miners  had  been  bled,  the  claim 
was  again  projected  west  on  the  lands  recently 
sold  by  the  Government,  again  making  the  United 
States  a  party  to  the  affair. 

For  three  or  four  years  the  people  saw  surveyor's 
lines  run  around  their  homes,  Surveyor-General 
Mandeville  being  among  those  engaged.  As  he  was 


ARROYO  SECO  GRANT. 


245 


supposed  to  be  acting  in  his  official  capacity,  a  re 
monstrance  against  the  crooked  lines  was  forwarded 
to  President  Buchanan,  but  it  seems  that  the  article 
was  not  sufficiently  explicit  in  describing  the  claim. 
Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  Commissioner  of  the  General 
Land  Office,  returned  the  following  answer: — 

LETTER  FROM  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

GENERAL  LAND  OFFICE, 

August  18th,  1857. 
SIR:  There  has  been  referred  to  this  office  a  letter 
from  you,  dated  27th  of  June  last,  addressed  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  complaining  of  a  lo 
cation  of  a  private  claim,  under  a  Mexican  grant 
called  the  "Arroyo  Seco,"  so  as  to  cover  the  settle 
ments  and  improvements  of  yourself  and  others.  The 
claim  referred  to  is  presumed  to  be  that  entered  as 
No.  186,  on  the  Docket  of  the  Board  of  Land  Com 
missioners,  rejected  by  Board  of  Land  Commissioners 
November  22d,  1853,  but  afterwards  confirmed  by 
the  United  States  District  Court,  and  the  appeal  dis 
missed  in  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  and 
therefore,  stands  finally  confirmed. 

The  survey  of  this  claim  has  not  been  returned  to 
this  office,  and  we  have,  therefore,  no  means  of  judg 
ing  of  the  manner  of  its  location.  Though  your  let 
ter  presents  a  case  of  hardship,  and  the  policy  of  the 
Government  favors  the  protection  of  the  settlers  on 
public  lands,  we  regret  that  you  furnish  no  such  spe 
cific  information  in  the  matter  as  would  justify  action 
by  the  Department.  When,  however,  the  final  sur 
vey  of  the  claim  shall  be  returned,  it  will  be  carefully 
examined,  particularly  in  respect  to  the  "  zigzag 
form"  of  its  location,  as  represented  by  you. 
Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS, 

H.  A.  CARTER,  ESQ.,  Commissioner. 

lone  Yalley  P.  0., 

California. 

The  Arroyo  Seco  was  filed  November  1,  1852,  and 
was  numbered  441;  was  rejected  February  27, 1855, 
so  that  the  claim  referred  to  by  Commissioner  Hen 
dricks  could  not  have  been  the  Arroyo  Seco.  Upon 
farther  inquiry  it  proved  that  Mandeville  had  been 
employed  and  paid  by  the  grant  party  while  ostensi 
bly  acting  in  an  official  capacity. 

October  17,  1858,  Mandeville  wrote  to  the  set 
tlers  that  he  should  not  make  a  final  survey  until 
after  he  returned  from  Washington,  to  which  place 
he  was  then  going.  He  assured  them  that  all  should 
be  heard. 

THE    FINAL    SURVEY 

Was  made  in  August,  1859.  At  the  hearing  of  this, 
before  Judge  McAllister,  a  great  many  witnesses 
were  examined  as  to  the  character  of  the  country. 
The  lagoon  west  of  lone,  on  Buckeye  creek,  accord 
ing  to  some,  was  the  valley  intended  to  be  covered 
by  the  grant.  It  was  urged,  with  much  reason,  that 
the  mountains  between  that  lagoon  and  lone  valley 
were  the  "Sierras  immuratus;"  others  ridiculed  the 
idea  of  calling  the  hills  of  the  tertiary  formation  a 
part  of  the  mountains.  Judge  McAllister  decided, 
April  26,  1860,  that  the  grant  of  land  was  west  of 
the  Lyons  and  Martin  Mountains.  This,  for  a  time, 
seemed  to  have  removed  the  load  of  misery  from  the 


residents  of  lone  valley;  from  this  time  to  December 
10th  was  the  golden  opportunity,  as  we  shall  here 
after  see.  The  survey  was  confirmed  by  Judge  Hoff 
man,  September,  1862.  It  is  said  that  Hoffman  ex 
amined  the  ground  personally.  This  survey,  and 
the  new  ownership  which  had  occurred,  fairly  real 
ized  the  worst  fears  of  the  settlers.  In  order  to  make 
a  connected  history,  it  will  be  necessary  to  retrace 
our  steps  and  consider  the  condition  of  affairs. 

DURING  HANCOCK'S  AGENCY. 

For  the  purpose  of  acting  as  a  partner  and  giving 
more  authority  to  his  deeds,  Henry  Hancock  bought 
of  Andres  Pico  one-fifth  of  the  grant  for  sixty  thou 
sand  dollars,  deed  dated  April  20,  1859,  and  re- 
deeded  it  for  the  same  consideration  the  same  day. 
The  first  deed  was  filed  April  28,  1859,  the  second, 
June  9,  1860.  Andres  Pico  also  sold  to  De  Zaldo  a 
further  interest  of  two  leagues,  for  five  thousand 
dollars.  De  Zaldo  sold  his  entire  interest  in  the 
grant  to  Pio  Pico,  commonly  called  Governor  Pico, 
brother  to  Andres,  December  10,  1861,  for  four  thou 
sand  dollars.  As  at  this  time  the  principal  contest 
was  on  the  location  of  the  grant;  many  efforts  being 
made  to  compromise  the  matter,  and  end  the  con 
test.  January  7th,  Pico  had  written  to  the  settlers 
assuring  them  of  his  good  will,  and  asked  them  to 
consult  with  each  other,  so  as  to  come  to  some 
amicable  understanding.  In  May,  Hancock  com 
menced  acting  as  agent  for  Pico  and  De  Zaldo.  May 
27th,  he  wrote  that  a  further  contest  would  only  waste 
their  mutual  substance,  which  would  go  to  enrich 
strangers.  A  report  becoming  current  that,  in  case 
the  survey  was  confirmed,  those  who  had  been  most 
active  in  opposing  the  grant,  would  have  to  pay  a 
high  price,  Pico  assured  them  that  all  should  have 
their  land  at  the  same  rate.  During  the  time  while 
the  confirmation  of  the  survey  was  pending  in  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  for  the  Northern  Dis 
trict  of  California,  a  number  of  the  settlers,  H.  A. 
Carter,  W.  H.  Harron,  W.  K.  Johnston,  assisted  by 
O.  P.  Sutton,  of  their  counsel,  acting  for  the  settlers, 
entered  into  an  agreement  with  Pico  to  the  follow 
ing  effect: — 

AGREEMENT. 

Pico  should  sell  the  land  at  the  following  rates: — 

First  class  bottom-land  in  lone  valley,  per  acre $     10  00 

"       "  "         "          Jackson  valley,  per  acre 9  00 

"      "      red  land,  per  acre 4  00 

Second  class  red  land,  per  acre 2  00 

For  town  site  of  lone,  excepting  such  as  had  been  here 
tofore  sold  or  contracted 5,000  00 

One-fourth  at  the  time  of  completing  the  sale,  and 
the  balance  to  be  paid  within  ninety  days  after 
a  United  States  patent  or  its  equivalent  should  be 
recorded  at  the  county  seat,  without  interest  until 
the  ninety  days  had  expired.  All  indebtedness  to 
be  secured  by  mortgage.  Pico  to  extinguish  all  liens 
and  taxes  outstanding  on  the  land,  so  as  to  give  the 
settlers  a  clear  title.  The  settlers  were  to  withdraw 
all  opposition  to  the  confirmation  of  the  survey  now 
pending  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 


246 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


for  the  Northern  District  of  California.  In  case  of 
disagreement  as  to  the  class  of  the  lands  in  question, 
each  party  interested  was  to  name  one  person,  and 
these  two  a  third,  if  necessary  to  effect  a  classifica 
tion. 

This  was  about  one-fourth  of  the  price  at  which  the 
lands  were  valued,  yet  very  few  seemed  to  be  willing 
to  accept  the  terms.  If  the  land  was  theirs,  they 
wanted  it  without  paying  a  greaser  for  it.  Ten  dol 
lars  an  acre  for  a  person  who  had  already  taxed 
himself  twice  that,  to  oppose  the  grant,  was  no  easy 
matter  to  raise.  It  was  hard  to  bring  the  men  to 
concert  of  action.  The  moderate  terms  which  Pico 
offered  were  considered  as  indicating  a  consciousness 
of  a  weak  case,  and  so  the  matter  remained  unde 
cided. 

SALE   TO   J.    MORA    MOSS    &    CO. 

Pico,  as  well  as  the  settlers,  had  become  exhausted 
with  the  long  effort.  Twenty-three  hundred  head 
of  cattle  had  been  driven  into  market  and  sold,  to 
maintain  the  suit,  and  a  mortgage  for  thirty-five 
thousand  dollars  was  resting  on  the  grant,  as  an 
evidence  of  further  expenditure.  Tired  of  the  profit 
less  contest,  and,  perhaps,  disgusted  with  the  dilatory 
action  of  the  people,  he  sold  on  the  10th  day  of 
December,  1861,  to  J.  Mora  Moss,  H.  W.  Carpentier. 
E.  F.  Beales,  Herman  Wohler,  and  others.  This 
firm  was  composed  of  men  who  had  become  noto 
rious  in  connection  with  land  grants.  They  had 
even  then  acquired  the  reputation  of  hesitating  at 
nothing  which  would  forward  their  suits. 

Bribery  and  perjury  were  openly  talked  of.  The 
suits,  or  contests,  whatever  they  may  be  called,  still 
at  this  date,  1881,  overshadow  whole  communities 
and  paralyze  the  industries  of  cities  and  towns. 
Look  at  the  cases  of  the  Sobrante  ranch,  and  the 
water  front  of  Oakland.  When  the  news  of  the 
sale  came,  and  afterwards  the  confirmation  of  the 
survey  by  Judge  Hoffman,  September,  1862, 
"Hope  for  a  season  bade  the  world  farewell." 

No  astonishment  was  felt  when,  in  1863,  Attorney- 
General  Bates  dismissed  the  appeal  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  and  swept  away  the 
last  ground  for  hope.  If  the  Central  Pacific  Rail 
road  Company  can  make  the  Sierras  reach  within 
five  miles  of  Sacramento,  perhaps  Mora  Moss  &  Co. 
may  drive  them  back  as  far. 

As  a  last- resort,  a  memorial  in  a  few  words  was 
addressed  to  President  Lincoln  and  Attorney-Gen 
eral  Bates,  asking  that  the  case  might  be  again  put 
on  the  calendar  for  a  hearing.  The  paper  was  signed 
by  several  hundred  persons,  nearly  all  the  residents 
of  the  county. 

To  Hon.  Abraliam  Lincoln,   President    of    the   United 
States,  and  Hon.  6'.  M.  Bates,  Attorney-General:— 
We,  the  undersigned  citizens  of  the  United  States 

havmgfailed  every  where,  and  under  all  circumstances' 
in  our  efforts  to  obtain  justice  in  a  matter  of  the 
deepest  moment  to  ourselves  and  families,  now  as  a 
last  resort,  appeal  to  you.  Failing  in  this,  we  will 


endeavor  to  reconcile  ourselves  to  our  hard  fate,  and 
at  once  quit  our  humble  homes,  and  make  room  for 
those  who,  by  means  of  their  greater  wealth,  have 
been  able  to  tire  us  out  and  obtain  our  little  farms 
and  poor  homes,  which  have  cost  us  long  years  of 
toil  and  privation. 

Here  are  the  facts  and  circumstances  of  our  case, 
as  briefly  as  it  is  possible  to  put  them  upon  paper  : — 

Most  of  your  petitioners  emigrated  to  California  at 
an  early  day,  bringing  with  us  our  families  and  all 
we  possessed,  intending  in  the  far-off  land  to  make 
homes  for  ourselves  and  our  children. 

We  located  where  we  now  reside,  in  Amador  county, 
and  upon  lands  then  claimed  by  none  but  Indians, 
arid  as  we  honestly  believed,  owned  by  the  general 
government. 

Here  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  under  the  laws 
of  the  State  of  California,  we  took  up  for  ourselves 
homes  in  small  parcels,  varying  from  fifty  to  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  each.  Being  upon  mineral 
land  we  have  enjoyed  our  possessions  uninterruptedly, 
save  when  the  miners  saw  fit  to  prospect  and  mine 
within  our  enclosures. 

Upon  these  lands  we  have  planted  trees,  built 
fence?,  and  erected  houses.  In  our  midst  churches 
and  school-houses  have  sprung  up. 

Years  after  our  location,  and  when  the  eastern 
border  of  the  tract  was  found  valuable  because  of  its 
mineral  deposits,  and  when  the  whole  face  of  our 
section  had  become  a  community  of  happy  families, 
the  rumor  reached  us  that  a  Spanish  grant  covered 
our  homes. 

We  consulted  and  employed  lawyers;  we  have  ex 
hausted  ourselves  and  been  beaten.  Now  we  think 
we  are  wrongfully  defeated,  and  appeal  to  you  for 
interposition  in  our  behalf,  so  far  as  is  consistent  and 
proper. 

The  private  claim  which  overwhelms  us  like  a  pall, 
and  of  which  we  complain,  is  the  "  Arroyo  Seco 
Grant." 

This  claim  was  defeated  before  the  Board  of  Land 
Commissioners. 

The  decree  of  the  Board  was  reversed  by  the 
United  States  District  Court. 

The  decision  of  the  District  Court  was  appealed 
from  by  the  Government  under  the  administration 
of  Attorney- General  Black. 

The  appeal  was  dismissed  without  a  hearing. 

Then  came  the  location  of  the  grant.  Surveyor- 
General  Mandeville  located  the  grant,  extending  the 
eastern  boundary  into  the  foot-hills  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  to  a  point  (improperly  as  we  insist)  which 
embraces  our  homes  within  the  location. 

The  Government  was  heard  in  a  review  of  Man- 

deville's  proceedings  before  the  Hon. McAllister, 

who,  after  deliberating  upon  the  case,  modified  or 
changed  the  location  made  by  Mandeville,  and 
thereby  relieved  us  from  the  scourge. 

About  this  time  the  grant  changed  hands,  passing 
from  Andres  Pico  to  the  present  proprietors,  con 
sisting  of  the  following  gentlemen  :  J.  Mora  Moss, 
H.  W.  Carpentier,  Surveyor-General  Beale,  and  Her 
man  Wohler. 

This  party,  men  of  great  wealth,  procured  a  re 
hearing  of  the  case  before  the  Hon.  Ogden  Hoffman, 
District  Judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court. 

Judge  Hoffman  upset  the  decree  of  Judge  McAllis 
ter,  and  confirmed  the  location  made  by  General 
Mandeville. 

An  appeal  was  taken  by  the  Government  to  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court. 

We  are  just  now  informed  that  the  appeal  has  been 


ARROYO  SECO  GRANT. 


247 


dismissed,  and  we  are  therefore  deprived  of  a  fair 
hearing  before  the  Tribunal  of  last  resort,  whither 
we  supposed  we  were  advancing  according  to  the 
rules  and  practices  of  the  Courts  of  our  country,  and 
from  which  Tribunal  we  were  fondly  hoping  to  re 
ceive  the  relief  from  litigation  and  oppression  from 
which  we  have  suffered  so  long. 

Now  all  we  ask  from  you,  gentlemen,  is  that  the 
case  may  be  reinstated  upon  the  calendar,  treated  as 
a  new  case,  and  passed  upon  by  the  Court.  The  de 
cision  of  that  high  Tribunal,  though  adverse  to  us, 
will  be  cheerfully  acquiesced  in. 

FIRST   ATTEMPTS   AT   DISPOSSESSION. 

Soon  after  the  dismissal  of  the  appeal  a  United 
States  patent  was  obtained,  and  an  attempt  was  made 
to  dispossess  the  settlers.  It  was  wisely  resolved 
not  to  bring  the  people  of  the  county  into  collision 
with  their  own  officers,  and  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Benjamin  Bellock,  said  to  be  a  Peruvian  citizen,  was 
put  forward,  so  as  to  throw  the  case  into  the  hands 
of  a  United  States  Marshal,  though  Bellock's  inter 
est  must  have  been  very  remote,  as  his  name  does 
not  appear  on  record  as  an  owner  of  any  part  of  the 
grant.  The  Marshal  put  in  an  appearance  one  day, 
and  was  in  the  act  of  evicting  Thomas  Rickey  when 
quite  a  number  of  men  (the  Marshal  estimated 
them  at  fifty),  armed  with  rifles  and  pistols,  went 
along  to  see  how  the  thing  was  to  be  done.  It  is 
said  that  Turner,  one  of  the  settlers,  used  some 
threatening  language,  but  no  violence  was  used. 
The  appearance  of  opposition  was  expected,  and, 
perhaps,  desired.  The  Marshal  went  back  to  San 
Francisco. 

SETTLERS'  LEAGUE. 

This  has  been  referred  to  before.  Its  organization 
was  a  secret  one,  and  the  proceedings  were  never 
published.  Public  notices  were  printed  in  an  odd 
kind  of  type,  and  were  signed  with  a  numeral  as 
Secretary.  It  was  supposed  that  the  members  num 
bered  three  hundred  or  more.  It  was  not  known, 
of  course,  what  measures  were  contemplated.  Resist 
ance  to  dispossession  was  openly  talked  of.  It  was 
thought  that  the  grant  company  would  have  to  pay 
the  expense  of  keeping  the  soldiers  in  the  field. 
Others  said  that  we  should  be  compelled  to  yield; 
that  successful  resistance  to  one  company  of  soldiers 
would  only  bring  a  regiment,  to  oppose  which  would 
be  an  insurrection,  another  rebellion;  but  that  we 
might  murder  the  proprietors,  and  annoy  those  who 
should  undertake  the  cultivation  of  the  land,  so  as 
to  make  it  worthless.  The  feeling  was  very  bitter, 
and  a  little  indiscretion  might  have  brought  on 
bloodshed. 

THE    SOLDIERS    HAVE    COME. 

On  the  eleventh  of  February  the  sullen  boom  of  the 
cannon,  heard  for  miles  around,  announced  the  arrival 
of  the  soldiers.  Why  the  cannon  was  fired  does  not 
appear,  but  every  one  knew  the  meaning.  There 
was  no  gathering,  no  appearance  of  resistance. 
What  might  have  happened  if  a  smaller  number  had 
commenced  the  dispossession,  can  only  be  imagined. 


The  seventy -five  might — coujd  have  been  beaten, 
but  these  were  the  "  boys  in  blue,"  who  had  been 
battling  so  bravely  for  the  Union,  who  had  borne 
the  flag  aloft  mid  shot  and  shell  in  many  a  bloody 
field,  who  had  saved  our  country.  It  is  quite  likely 
that  grief  as  well  as  anger  pervaded  the  league,  and 
no  resistance  was  offered.  The  people  were  deter 
mined  to  lose  no  point  by  vacating  voluntarily,  but 
quietly  suffered  their  goods,  household  utensils,  their 
wives  and  children,  to  be  removed  into  the  streets, 
in  the  storm,  even,  for  the  eviction  took  place  in  Feb 
ruary,  the  month  of  rains.  Some  formed  camps, 
others  went  to  the  houses  of  friends,  and  some  went 
back  to  the  houses  from  which  they  had  been 
ejected.  The  fastenings  were  slight,  and  perhaps 
it  was  expected  that  they  would  return,  though  as 
tresspassers.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Clark,  venera 
ble,  respectable  and  prudent,  was  made  custodian 
and  superintendent  of  the  property.  So  far,  the  dis 
possession  of  the  settlers  had  gone  on  without 
violence.  The  dispatches  sent  to  the  principals  were 
congratulatory. 

SHOOTING   OP    HERMAN    WOHLER. 

Wohler  was  perhaps  the  smallest  owner  in  the 
grant,  and,  likely,  the  smallest  capitalist  in  the  com 
pany,  and  was  probably  put  forward  to  manage  the 
eviction  on  account  of  having  no  moral  weakness  or 
humane  feelings  which  should  prevent  him  turning  a 
multitude  of  men,  women  and  children  out  of  their 
homes.  If  he  had  feelings  to  gratify,  if  he  wished 
to  avenge  the  long  and  persistent  fight  the  settlers 
had  made  for  their  homes,  his  opportunity  was  ample. 
His  pitiless  face  was  seen  everywhere  directing  the 
soldiers  in  their  work — the  only  one  in  the  whole 
crowd  who  did  not  show  disgust  with  the  business. 
Every  man  who  had  been  driven  out  marked  his 
overbearing  and  unfeeling  demeanor.  The  dispos 
session  was  complete.  The  Arroyo  Seco  steal  was  a 
fixed  fact.  Any  settler  now  who  wished  to  have  his 
rights  would  have  to  wade  through  an  awful  quag 
mire  of  law  and  technicalities.  A  big  dinner  was 
given,  to  celebrate  the  successful  termination  of  the 
matter,  which  was  attended  by  some  of  the  county 
officers,  among  whom  was  the  District  Attorney, 
Briggs.  Hare,  stewed  in  wine,  was  said  to  be  one  of 
the  extraordinary  dishes  set  at  this  entertainment. 
The  celebration  was  generally  known,  and  was  con 
sidered,  in  view  of  the  distress  of  the  people,  heart 
less,  and  even  insulting.  It  passed  off,  however, 
without  disturbance,  the  guests  leaving  about  ten 
o'clock  p.  M.  Wohler  was  about  retiring,  and  went 
to  raise  the  window,  to  let  out  some  of  the  cigar 
smoke  which  filled  the  room.  While  he  stood  for  a 
moment  looking  into  the  darkness,  the  report  of  a 
rifle,  in  the  direction  of  the  blacksmith  shop,  was 
heard;  he  felt  the  sting  of  a  ball  in  his  chest  and  fell 
back  seriously  wounded.  It  was  supposed  to  be 
mortal,  but  he  so  far  recovered,  in  a  few  days,  as  to 
be  removed  to  San  Francisco. 


248 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


The  news  that  a  man  had  been  shot  in  lone  on 
account  of  land  matters,  soon  found  its  way  over  the 
State,  and  throughout  the  East.  The  settlers  were 
now  put  on  the  defense.  Those  who  were  unac 
quainted  with  the  previous  facts  denounced  it  as  an 
atrocious  act.  Those  who  knew  something  of  the- 
circumstances,  which  have  been  related  in  this  his 
tory,  will  find  some  reasons  for  a  mild  sentence.  "To 
forgive  is  divine,"  they  say.  Forgiveness  may  be  an 
attribute  of  divinity,  but,  though  the  lone  Valley 
people  are,  perhaps,  as  moral  and  as  well-behaved  as 
any  community  in  the  State,  they  have  never  made 
any  pretensions  to  a  divine  nature.  Let  no  one  pass 
judgment  on  the  act  until  he  has  first  put  himself  in 
the  place  of  a  settler,  ejected,  with  his  wife  and  chil 
dren,  from  a  home  which  he  has  wrested  from  a 
desert. 

Wohler  recovered  from  this  wound,  and  died  about 
two  years  since  in  Sonoma  county.  The  agent, 
Clark,  put  in  possession  of  the  property  was  prudent 
and  obliging,  as  far  as  his  position  would  permit, 
renting  the  land  to  the  former  owners  at  a  nominal 
figure.  In  a  few  years  the  ill-feeling  seemed  to  abate, 
the  new  owners  were-permitted  to  occupy  the  lands 
in  security,  and  peace  and  industry  once  more  re 
sumed  their  sway. 

THE    LAST    EFFORT 

To  get  justice  was  made  at  the  session  of  the  Legis 
lature  in  1865-66.  Through  the  instrumentality,  prin 
cipally,  of  A.  H.  Rose,  State  Senator  from  Amador 
county,  Congress  was  memorialized  on  the  subject. 
On  hearing  it  read,  many  members  of  Congress 
denounced  the  system  of  grunts  as  a  store-house  of 
fraud,  but  nothing  beneficial  to  the  settlers  ever  came 
of  it. 

The  memorial  will  conclude  this  chapter  on  the 
"Arroyo  Seco  Grant." 

MEMORIAL   TO   CONGRESS. 

The  Memorial  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Cali 
fornia  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  respect 
fully  represents — 

That  at  the  time  California  was  acquired  by  the 
United  States,  a  tract  of  arable  land,  containing 
pome  fifty  thousand  acres,  well  watered  and  exceed 
ingly  fertile,  had  remained,  from  its  secluded  position 
and  its  distance  from  the  sea-coast,  if  not  undiscov 
ered,  entirely  unoccupied  by  civilized  man.  The 
tract  lies  near  to  the  Sierras,  and  is  surrounded  by  low 
hills,  and  beyond  them  sterile  plains,  and  it  is  quite 
probable  that  up  to  the  time  when  gold  was  discov 
ered  it  had  never  been  visited  by  white  man; 
it  is  entirely  certain  that  no  vestige  of  civiliza 
tion  was  ever  found  on  it.  In  1848,  when  General 
Sutter  prospected  for  gold  two  miles  above  in 
the  foot-hills,  the  principal  stream  which  irri 
gates  and  fertilizes'this  valley  had  not  even  a  name 
to  designate  it.  It  has  been  known  from  that 
time  as  Sutter  creek.  The  same  is  true  of  its 
second  principal  stream,  named  for  an  early  miner, 
Jackson.  Another,  still,  from  a  miner,  Amador;  and, 
curiously  enough,  the  grant,  which  will  be  hereafter 
mentioned,  takes  its  name  from  a  stream  christened 
by  the  Mexican  miners,  after  eighteen  hundred  and 
forty-eight,  Arroyo  Seco,  or  Dry  creek,  and  the  vil 


lage  in  which  they  lived  is  still  known  as  Dry  town. 
The  valuable  belt  of  mineral  lands  embracing  the 
villages  of  Drytown,  Amador,  Sutter  Creek  and 
Jackson,  lies  ten  miles  to  the  above  and  to  the  east 
of  this  valley,  and  was  prospected  by  Amador,  Sutter, 
Jackson,  and  others,  in  the  fall  and  winter  of  1848-49, 
and  at  that  time  the  valley  was  entirely  -unoccupied. 

In  1849  it  attracted  the  attention  of  enterprising 
men,  who  found  it  as  nature  had  left  it,  unoccupied 
and  unclaimed.  They  believed,  and  were  justified  by 
all  appearances  in  this  belief,  that  this  was  public 
land,  belonging  to  the  United  States.  They  were 
principally  Western  men,  who  had  from  their  youth 
been  familiar  with  the  beneficent  system  of  land 
laws  in  the  new  and  unoccupied  Territories  of  the 
Union,  and  they  settled  at  once  in  the  beautiful  val 
ley,  each  making  out,  as  near  as  he  could,  his  hundred 
and  sixty  acres,  and  felt  as  certain  of  his  right  to 
do  so,  and  as  secure  of  his  possession,  as  any  heir 
could  be  to  his  ancient  inheritance.  They  knew  the 
country  had  been  ceded  to  the  United  States;  they 
knew  the  lands  were  public  lands,  for  there  was 
neither  occupant  nor  claimant — not  a  vestige  of  a 
house,  not  a  hoof  of  stock,  nor  a  settlement  nearer 
them  than  Sutters  Foi't,  forty  miles  distant.  These 
lands  were  exceedingly  fertile,  and  convenient  to  the 
best  market  for  farm  produce  in  the  world,  the 
mines  of  California..  As  soon  as  the  capacity  of 
these  lands  to  produce  both  grains  and  fruits  had 
been  tested  by  these  hardy  pioneers,  they  became  at 
once  exceedingly  valuable.  Improvements  were  com 
menced  of  the  most  permanent  character;  orchards 
and  vineyards  were  planted;  beautiful  and  expen 
sive  dwellings  were  erected  ;  steam-power  was 
introduced;  large  mills  for  converting  their  grain 
into  flour  were  built;  hotels,  stores,  and  villages 
sprang  up  from  the  plain  as  if  by  magic;  extensive 
ditches  and  costly  aqueducts,  both  for  the  purpose  of 
irrigation  and  working  the  mines  upon  the  borders 
of  the  valley,  were  constructed,  while  churches  and 
school-houses  told  plainer  than  words  could  convey, 
who  were  the  settlers  of  lone  valley  "  and  this  waste 
land,  where  no  man  came  or  had  come  since  the 
making  of  the  world,"  blossomed  as  only  California 
valleys  can  under  the  hand  of  experienced  culti 
vation. 

This  picture  is  not  overdrawn,  and  but  feebly  con 
veys  an  idea  of  the  prosperity,  progress,  and  refine 
ment  of  the  settlers  in  this  valley,  for  the  first  ten 
years  of  their  California  life.  The  value  of  the  im 
provements  which  they  had  placed  upon  the  lands 
could  not  have  been  less  than  eight  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  From  that  date  words  will  fail  to  depict  the 
calamities  of  these  most  unfortunate  families.  Their 
lands  and  improvements  have  been  taken  from  them 
without  any  compensation  whatever.  A  Mexican 
grant  to  the  whole  of  the  valley  has  been  confirmed. 
The  land  has  peen  patented  to  strangers  by  the 
United  States,  and  pioneers,  the  early  settlers,  the 
men  who  bore  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day,  have 
been  stripped  of  their  all,  and  many  of  them  in  the 
decline  of  life  turned  literally  out  of  doors. 

All  right-thinking  men  naturally  ask,  "  Is  there 
any  redress  for  this  calamity  ?  Can  any  compensa 
tion  be  made  these  families  for  their  great  loss?"  In 
plain  words,  ought  the  general  government  to 
stretch  forth  its  powerful  arms  for  the  relief  of  this 
distressed  community  ?  If  it  can  be  shown  that  they 
settled  these  lands  under  encouragement  from  the 
United  States,  all  questions  will  be  at  an  end.  That 
many  of  them  did  so  is  a  fact  recorded  in  the  archives 
of  the  government. 


CAif. 


KM^X 

OPTHE  A. 

(UNIVERSITY) 


\*^s 


ARROYO  SECO  GRANT. 


249 


To  establish  the  right  of  this  community  to  relief 
from  the  general  government,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
give  a  brief  history  of  the  Arroyo  Seco  Grant,  upon 
which  a  patent  to  their  lands  has  been  issued. 

It  appears  from  the  records  that  in  the  year  1852, 
on  the  1st  of  November,  Andreas  Pico  filed  a  peti 
tion  before  the  Land  Commissoners  for  eleven  leagues 
of  land,  known  as  the  Arroyo  Seco  Grant,  and  lying 
in  whole  or  in  part,  as  the  petition  states,  in  Sacra 
mento  county,  but  giving  only  certain  external 
boundaries,  which  embraced  a  scope  of  country  con 
taining  at  least  six  times  the  required  amount  of 
land;  and  at  this  time  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  lone 
valley  and  the  lands  referred  to  in  the  memorial,  lay 
not  in  Sacramento  but  in  Oalaveras  county,  which 
barely  cornered  on  Sacramento.  The  question  is  now, 
not  whether  Pico  had  any  valid  grant,  but  did  his 
claim  for  eleven  leagues  of  land,  lying  in  whole  or  in 
part  in  Sacramento  county,  impart  any  notice  whatever 
to  the  settlers  of  Calaveras  county  ?  If  they  ever 
heard  that  such  a  petition  had  been  filed  before  the 
Land  Commissioners  in  San  Francisco,  they  certainly 
never  once  thought  it  referred  to  their  valley,  for  the 
boundaries  claimed  by  Pico,  as  well  as  the  county, 
seemed  clearly  to  exclude  them.  Pico's  eastern 
boundary  came  only  to  the  foot-hills,  which  rise,  sharply 
defined,  to  the  west  of  lone.  It  is  confidently  asserted 
that  this  claim  was  never  at  that  time  heard  of  in 
the  valley;  if  it  ever  was,  the  next  news  heard  from 
it  was  that  it  had  been  rejected  by  the  Land  Commis 
sion  on  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  February,  1855. 
Six  years  had  now  passed  in  undisturbed  possession, 
with  no  adverse  claims  to  the  lands  on  which  they 
resided;  for  Pico  stated  in  his  petition  to  the  Land 
Commissioners,  that  there  were  no  adverse  claimants 
to  the  lands  which  he  desired,  and  as  there  was  at 
least  fifty  leagues  of  land  vacant  and  unoccupied 
within  the  external  boundaries  which  his  petition  set 
forth,  it  neither  imparted  notice  nor  gave  a  hint  of 
danger  to  these  bona  fide  and  actual  settlers.  Pico 
said:  "Somewhere  in  that  space  of  country  bounded 
on  the  north  by  the  Cosumnes  river,  on  the  east  by 
the  foot-hills,  on  the  south  by  the  Mokelumne  river, 
and  on  the  west  by  the  old  Sacramento  and  Stockton 
trail,  I  claim  eleven  leagues  of  land,  and  the  land  I 
desire  is  vacant,  unoccupied  land — there  is  no  other 
to  claim  it."  And  his  claim  could  have  been  satisfied 
four  times  over  and  never  have  touched  them.  Ought 
they,  as  the  most  scrupulously  prudent  men,  to  have 
thought  the  shaft  was  aimed  at  their  peace?  They 
did  not  think  it  was,  and  they  continued  to  build, 
and  improve,  and  enter  into  the  fruit  of  their  labors. 
They  had  the  most  unbounded  confidence  that  the 
general  government  would  now,  as  she  always  had, 
protect  her  hardy  pioneers. 

On  the  12th  of  May,  1855,  notice  of  appeal  from 
the  Land  Commission  was  filed,  followed  on  the 
llth  of  June  by  a  petition  for  review;  and  on  the 
21st  of  April,  1856,  the  Court  reversed  the  action 
of  the  Land  Commission,  and  confirmed  to  Andreas 
Pico  eleven  leagues  of  land,  somewhere  within  his 
said  external  boundaries.  No  survey  had  yet  been 
made;  the  grant  had  been  confirmed,  but  not  located. 
And  it  must  be  steadily  borne  in  mind  that  there 
was  abundance  of  land  to  satisfy  the  grant,  and 
leave  the  settlers  alone.  Would  not  the  United 
States  undoubtedly  see  that  this  was  done?  Before 
proceeding,  however,  to  the  history  of  the  surveys, 
we  will  complete  the  legal  history  of  this  calamitous 
grant.  On  the  third  of  October,  1856,  an  appeal 
to  the  "United  States  Supreme  Court  was  perfected, 
and  the  transcript  sent  up,  and,  without  ever  com- 
32 


ing  to  a  hearing,  was,  May  4,  1858,  on  motion  of 
Attorney-General  Black,  dismissed,  and  the  mandate 
of  dismissal  filed  in  San  Francisco  on  the  3d  of  Sep 
tember,  of  the  same  year.  This,  of  course,  ended 
the  litigation.  It  must  steadily  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  United  States,  during  all  this  time,  was  the 
party  in  interest,  and,  by  her  highest  officers,  man 
aged  this  important  suit,  involving,  it  is  true,  only 
the  price  of  the  land,  some  sixty  thousand  dollars; 
to  her  citizens — her  children — the  increased  value 
of  improvements  and  cultivation,  amounting  to 
nearly  or  quite  a  million.  We  have  now  reached 
the  Autumn  of  1858,  ten  years  subsequent  to  the 
discovery  of  gold,  and  nine  since  the  valley  was  first 
settled.  Many  of  the  farms  were  worth  a  hundred 
dollars  an  acre,  and,  in  the  character  and  value,  of 
their  improvements,  would  not  suffer  by  comparison 
with  the  most  highly  cultivated  sections  of  the  older 
States. 

The  United  States  had  surveyed  and  laid  off  into 
townships  and  sections  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
valley,  and  have  actually  sold,  as  the  records  of  the 
Land  Office  at  Stockton  show,  four  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-six  and  forty-nine  one  hundredths 
acres;  the  balance  had  been  all,  or  nearly  all,  pre 
empted.  We  now  ask,  in  all  candor  and  kindness, 
if  the  United  States  could  have  so  located  these 
eleven  leagues  of  land  belonging  to  Pico,  so  as  not 
to  disturb  these  settlers,  and  did  not  do  it,  ought 
she  not  to  reimburse  them  for  their  losses?  To 
determine  this  question,  so  vital  to  their  hopes,  let 
us  proceed  with  the  history  of  the  surveys. 

Sometime  during  the  Summer  of  1856,  Andreas 
Pico  himself  came  with  surveyors  into  the  district, 
and  proceeded  to  select  and  mark  out  his  eleven 
leagues.  It  would  seem  that  if  any  person  knew 
where  the  land  was  he,  the  grantee,  was  most  likely 
to  possess  this  information.  "He  located  his  eastern 
boundary  ten  miles  further  east  than  the  line  of  the 
present  survey,  and  included  within  his  boundaries 
all  the  rich  belt  of  mineral  lands  heretofore  spoken 
of,  and  with  the  invaluable  mines,  assumed  owner 
ship  of  the  thriving  villages  of  Amador,  Sutter 
Creek,  and  Jackson,  the  county  seat  of  the  new 
county,  which,  in  1854,  had  been  carved  from  Cala 
veras.  He  established  his  boundaries  by  permanent 
monuments,  and  proceeded  to  sell  and  deed  lands,  as 
the  records  of  Amador  county  will  show,  to  numer 
ous  purchasers,  across  all  this  range.  The  wealth 
iest  and  most  intelligent  quartz  miners  in  this  State 
bought  his  title. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  this  survey  of  1856  left 
out  a  large  number  of  those  persons  who  are  now 
included  in  the  present  survey,  and  these  facts  are 
stated  to  render  the  position  impregnable  that  these 
settlers  believed,  and  were  justified  by  the  facts 
surrounding  them  in  this  belief,  that  they  were 
upon  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  meantime  to  render  this  belief  a  certainty, 
the  United  States  surveyed  all  the  valley  lands  to 
the  west  of  Pico's  location,  and  sold  them  to  these 
very  men  who  now  are  memorializing  Congress  for 
relief. 

But  time  rolled  on;  the  survey  had  not  yet  been 
confirmed;  the  mines  were  growing  poorer  and  the 
valley  richer,  and  Pico  in  his  great  anguish,  when  he 
discovered  that  he  had  not  included  within  his  lines 
all  the  valuable  property  between  the  Cosumnes  and 
Mokelumne  rivers,  and  the  old  Stockton  trail  and  the 
foot-hills,  proceed  at  once  to  change  the  lines  of  the 
survey. 


250 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


In  August,  1859,  that  grant  was  surveyed  by  the 
United  States  Surveyor-General  for  the  State  of 
California,  J.  W.  Mandeville,  Esq.  The  eastern  line 
of  Pico's  first  survey  was  carried  ten  miles  west,  and 
of  necessity,  included  many  of  the  settlers  who  had 
purchased  these  lands  of  the  United  States.  It  must 
constantly  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  was  a  floating 
grant]  that  there  was  at  least  six  times  as  much 
land  contained  within  its  exterior  lines  as  the  grant 
called  for;  that  all  the  lands  outside  of  this  valley 
were  vacant  lands,  and  that  this  survey  was  per 
sistently  and  openly  made  to  include  the  most  val 
uable  farms,  and  was  made  by  a  United  States  Sur 
veyor-General,  and  confirmed  by  a  United  States 
District  Judge. 

This  survey  was  confirmed  September,  1862.  An 
appeal  was  taken  from  the  order  of  confirmation, 
and  this  appeal,  on  motion  of  Attorney-General 
Bates,  was  dismissed  February  3, 1863.  Not  until  this 
date  were  the  settlers  left  without  hope. 

Soon  after  this  confirmation,  a  patent  was  issued, 
and  a  company  of  United  States  dragoons  ordered 
into  the  valley  to  assist  the  United  Status  Marshal 
in  ejecting  the  settlers.  Let  us  quickly  draw  a  veil 
over  this  sad  picture,  and  state  at  once  the  plan  we 
propose  for  redress. 

We  appeal  to  Congress,  and  respectfully  pray  that 
a  commission  of  disinterested  and  qualified  men  be 
selected  and  authorized,  at  the  expense  of  the  gen 
eral  government,  to  visit  the  land  in  question; 
to  inquire  into  and  ascertain  all  the  facts  of  the  case; 
to  take  testimony  in  relation  thereto,  and  to  award 
to  each  settler  such  amount  as  may  be  deemed  by 
said  commission  to  bejust  and  right.  And  Congress 
is  further  requested  to  make  such  appropriation  as 
will  be  necessary  to  carry  out  the  objects  of  said 
commission. 

Such  proceedings  on  the  part  of  Congress  your 
memorialists  believe  to  be  consonant  with  reason  and 
justice,  and  to  be  sanctioned  by  precedent. 

His  Excellency,  the  Governor,  is  requested  to  for 
ward  a  copy  of  the  above  memorial  to  each  of  our 
delegation  in  Congress. 


CHAPTER     XXXVIII. 
FARNHAM'S  HISTORY  OF   ALVARADO. 

SINCE  writing  the  foregoing  chapter,  the  writer 
found  in  an  old  history  of  California,  a  further 
account  of  Juan  B.  Alvarado,  which  may  be  interest 
ing  as  throwing  some  light  on  the  character  of  those 
persons  who  were,  as  is  now  believed,  instrumental 
in  the  manufacture  of  the  fraudulent  "  Arroyo  Seco 
Grant." 

J.  T.  Farnham,  a  man  who  had  been  an  extensive 
traveler,  arrived  in  the  Bay  of  Monterey  on  board 
the  bark  Don  Quixote  in  1840,  at  the  time  that  Alva 
rado,  acting  as  Governor  of  California,  had  im 
prisoned  all  the  foreign  population  on  the  charge  of 
conspiring  against  the  government.  They  were  con 
fined  in  narrow  quarters  and  treated  with  the 
utmost  inhumanity,  and  our  author's  statements,  in 
consequence  of  his  sympathy  for  the  unfortunate 
prisoners,  may  have  been  colored  more  than  facts 
warrant.  His  history  of  the  affair  places  Alvarado 
in  no  enviable  light.  It  may  be  found,  commencing 


page  sixty,  "  Early   Days  of   California,"  by  J.  T. 
Farnham. 

In  1836,  a  Mexican  general  by  the  name  of 
Echuandria  was  the  commandant  general  of  Upper 
California.  Some  years  previous,  as  will  be  partic 
ularly  shown  in  another  place,  he  had  come  up  from 
.Mexico  with  a  band  of  fellow  myrmidons,  and,  hav 
ing  received  the  submission  of  the  country  to  the 
authorities  of  that  Republic,  commenced  robbing  the 
government  for  which  he  acted,  and  the  several 
interests  which  he  had  been  sent  to  protect. 
Nothing  escaped  his  mercenary  clutches.  The  peo 
ple,  the  missions,  and  the  revenue  were  robbed  indis 
criminately  as  opportunity  offered.  A  few  of  the 
white  population  participated  in  these  acts.  But 
generally  the  Californians  were  the  sufferers,  and,  as 
is  id  ways  the  case  with  unhonored  rogues,  raised  a 
perpetual  storm  of  indignation  about  the  dishonest 
deeds  of  those  they  desired  to  supplant  for  the  pur 
pose  of  enacting  the  same  things.  An  occurrence  of 
this  kind  was  the  cause  of  the  revolution  in  1836. 

A  vessel  had  cast  anchor  in  the  harbor  of  Monte 
rey.  General  Echuandria,  not  having  that  honor 
able  confidence  in  the  integrit}^  of  the  Custom  House 
officers  which  thieves  are  accustomed  to  have  in  one 
another,  placed  a  guard  on  board  the  craft  to  pre 
vent  them  from  receiving  bribes  for  their  own 
exclusive  benefit.  To  this  the  officers  demurred; 
and,  in  order  to  free  their  territory  from  the  crea 
tures  of  one  whose  conscience  would  compel  him  to 
receive  bribes  for  his  own  pockets  instead  of  theirs, 
they  sent  their  own  clerk,  a  young  rascal  of  the  coun 
try  by  the  name  of  Juan  Baptiste  Alvarado,  to  inform 
the  general  that  it  was  improper  to  suggest,  by  put 
ting  a  guard  on  board,  that  the  officers  of  the  ship 
which  lay  under  the  fort,  either  attempted  or  dared 
to  attempt  the  payment  of  duties! 

The  general,  however,  was  too  well  acquainted 
with  his  inalienable  rights  to  be  wheedled  out  of 
them  in  this  manner,  and  manifested  his  indignation 
towards  the  clerk  for  attempting  to  obtrude  his 
plebeian  presence  on  his  golden  dream,  by  ordering 
him  to  be  put  in  irons.  Alvarado,  however,  escaped. 

On  page  two  hundred  and  eighty-six  he  again 
refers  to  this  transaction  in  the  following  terms: — 

In  the  year  1836,  a  quarrel  arose  between  the 
Mexican  Governor  at  Monterey,  and  Custom  House 
officer  by  the  name  of  Juan  Baptiste  Alvarado,  in 
regard  to  the  division  of  certain  bribes  which  had 
been  paid  to  the  officers  by  the  supercargo  of  a 
foreign  ship,  as  a  remuneration  for  entering  upon 
the  Government  books  only  half  the  cargo,  and 
admitting  the  remainder  for  a  certain  sum  in  specie 
and  goods,  paid  to  themselves;  and  the  first  result 
of  the  difficulty  was  a  revolutionary  movement  under 
Alvarado  and  Graham,  as  I  have  heretofore  related. 

To  continue  the  narrative  in  Farnham's  own 
words: — 

He  (Alvarado)  fled  into  the  country,  rallied  the 
farmers,  who  still  loved  the  descendants  of  Philip 
the  II.  more  than  El  Presidenfe,  and  formed  a  camp 
at  the  Mission  of  San  Juan,  thirty  miles  eastward 
from  Monterey. 

Near  this  mission  lived  an  old  Tennessoean  by  the 
name  of  Graham;  a  stout,  sturdy  "backwoodsman, 
of  a  stamp  which  existed  only  on  the  frontiers  of 
the  American  States—  men  with  the  blood  of  the 
ancient  Normans  and  Saxons  in  their  veins — with 
hearts  as  large  as  their  bodies  can  hold,  beating 


FARNHAM'S  HISTORY  OF  ALVARADO. 


251 


nothing  but  kindness  till  injustice  showed  its  fangs, 
and  then,  lion  like,  striking  for  vengeance.  This 
trait  of  natural  character  had  been  fostered  in  Gra 
ham  by  the  life  he  had  led.  Early  trained  to  the 
use  of  the  rifle,  he  had  learned  to  regard  it  las  his 
friend  and  protector;  and  when  the  season  of  man 
hood  had  arrived,  he  threw  it  upon  his  shoulder  and 
sought  the  wilderness,  where  he  could  enjoy  its  pro 
tection,  and  be  fed  by  its  faithful  aim.  He  became 
a  beaver  hunter — a  cavalier  of  the  wilderness — that 
noble  specimen  of  brave  men,  who  have  muscles  for 
riding  wild  horses  and  warring  with  wild  beasts,  a 
steady  brain  and  foot  for  climbing  the  icy  precipice. 
a  strong  breast  for  the  mountain  torrent,  an  unre 
lenting  trap  for  the  beaver,  a  keen  eye  and  deadly 
shot  for  a  foe.  A  man,  was  this  Graham,  who  stood 
boldly  up  before  his  kind,  conscious  of  possessing 
physical  and  mental  powers  adequate  to  any  emer 
gency.  He  had  a  strong  aversion  to  the  elegant 
edifices,  the  furniture,  wardrobe,  and  food  of  pol 
ished  life,  coupled  with  a  vivid  love  of  mountain 
sublimity,  the  beautiful  herbage  on  uncultivated  dis 
tricts,  the  wild  animals,  and  the  streams  of  water 
roaring  down  the  frozen  heights.  Even  the  gray 
deserts,  with  the  hunger  and  thirst  incident  to  trav 
eling  over  them,  had  wild  and  exciting  charms  for 
him.  On  these  his  giant  frame  had  obstacles  to 
contend  with  worthy  of  its  powers.  A  projecting 
rock,  against  which  blazed  his  camp-fire,  a  crackling 
pine-knot  his  light,  a  roasting  sirloin  of  elk  or  a 
buffalo  hump  for  a  supper,  and  a  sleep  in  his  blankets 
on  the  green  sward  in  the  open  air  after  a  day's 
exciting  hunt,  were  the  objects  sought  with  the 
keenest  zest,  and  enjoyed  with  the  greatest  pleasure. 

lie  forced  his  way  over  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
located  himself  in  Upper  California.  This  country 
was  suited  to  his  tastes.  Its  climate  allowed  him  to 
sleep  in  the  open  air  most  of  the  year;  an  abundance 
of  native  animals  covered  the  hills,  and  nature  was 
spread  out  luxuriantly  in  wild,  untrodden  freshness. 

As  I  have  said,  this  brave  man  resided  near,  the 
Mission  of  San  Juan.  He  had  there  erected  a  rude 
dwelling  and  a  distillery.  On  the  neighboring  plains 
he  herded  large  bands  of  hoi'ses,  mules  and  cattle. 
To  this  fine  old  fellow  Alvarado  made  known  his  peril 
and  designs  ;  whereupon  the  foreigners  assembled 
at  Graham's  summons,  elected  him  their  captain,  an 
Englishman  by  the  name  of  Coppinger  lieutenant, 
and  repaired  to  San  Juan.  A  council  of  war  was 
held  between  the  clerk  and  the  foreigners.  The 
former  promised  that  if  by  the  aid  of  the  latter  he 
should  successfully  defend  himself  against  the  acting 
Governor,  and  obtain  possession  of  the  country,  it 
should  be  declared  independent  of  Mexico,  and  that 
the  law  which  prevented  foreigners  from  holding 
real  estate  should  bo  abrogated.  The  foreigners 
agreed,  on  these  conditions,  to  aid  Alvarado  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power.  The  next  morning  the  united 
forces,  fifty  foreigners  and  twenty-five  Californi- 
ans,  marched  against  Montei'ey.  They  entered  the 
town  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  and  took 
up  their  position  in  the  woods,  one  hundred  rods  in 
the  rear  of  the  castello  or  fort.  No  event  of  impor 
tance  occurred  till  the  night  came  on,  when  the  awe 
with  which  darkness  sometimes  inspires  even  the 
bravest  minds,  fell  with  overwhelming  power  on  the 
valorous  garrison,  that,  notwithstanding  they  were 
supported  by  the  open  mouths  of  the  guns,  the  bark 
ing  of  their  dog,  the  roar  of  the  surf,  and  the  hooting 
of  an  owl  on  a  neighboring  tree-top,  they  were  abso 
lutely  compelled  to  forsake  the  ramparts,  for  the 
more  certain  protection  of  unmolested  flight. 


Graham  and  his  men  perceiving  the  discomfiture 
of  their  enemies,  availed  themselves  of  their  absence 
by  taking  possession  of  the  evacuated  fort.  Alva 
rado,  meantime,  actuated,  it  is  to  be  presumed,  by  a 
desire  to  save  life,  and  philosophical  conviction  of 
the  dangers  incident  to  bullets  rendered  crazy  by 
burning  powder,  restrained  the  fiery  ardor  of  his 
twenty-five  Californians,  and  held  his  own  person 
beyond  the  reach  of  harm,  in  case  some  luckless 
horse  or  cow  straying  over  hostile  ground  on  that 
memorable  night,  should  scare  the  fleeing  garrison 
into  an  act  of  defense.  The  next  morning  he  and 
his  brave  men  were  found  peering  from  their  hiding- 
places  in  a  state  of  gT-eat  anxiety  and  alarm!  A  battle 
had  almost  been  begun  in  Monterey!  The  blood  of 
their  enemies  had  almost  begun  to  fatten  the  soil  of 
California!  They  themselves  had  nearly  stepped  in 
blood  knee  deep,  among  the  carcasses  of  the  hated 
Mexicans.  The  besom  of  destruction  had  shaken 
itself,  and  had  barely  missed  commencing  the  havoc 
of  bone  and  flesh,  which  would  have  crushed  every 
mote  of  Mexican  life  within  their  borders!  Thus  they 
gloried  among  the  bushes! 

Old  Graham  stood  at  sunrise  on  the  earth  embank 
ments  of  the  castello.  A  hunting  shirt  of  buckskin, 
and  pants  of  the  same  material,  covered  his  giant 
frame;  a  slouched  broad- brimmed  hat  hung  around 
his  head  and  half  covered  his  quiet,  determined  face! 
In  his  right  hand  he  held  his  rifle,  the  tried  com 
panion  of  many  fearful  strifes  among  the  savages! 
Four  or  five  of  his  men  sat  on  a  dismounted  thirty- 
two  pounder,  querying  whether  they  could  repair  its 
wood-work  so  as  to  bring  it  to  bear  on  the  presidio 
or  Government  House.  Others  stood  by  a  bucket  of 
water  swabbing  out  their  rifle  barrels  and  drying  the 
locks.  Others  of  them  were  cooking  beef;  others 
whittling,  swearing  and  chewing  tobacco. 

About  nine  o'clock  flags  of  truce  began  their  oner 
ous  duties.  Alvarado  came  from  the  woods  and  took 
part  in  the  councils.  The  insurgents  demanded  the 
surrender  of  the  government;  whereat  the  cavaliers 
of  the  presidio  considered  themselves  immeasurably 
insulted.  Two  days  were  passed  in  parleying,  with 
out  advancing  the  interests  of  either  party.  They 
were  days  big  with  the  fate  of  the  future;  and  who 
could  weary  under  the  dreadful  burthens  ?  Not 
such  men  as  Alvarado.  He  bore  himself  like  the 
man  he  was,  through  all  this  trying  period.  He 
uniformly  preferred  delay  to  fighting!  He  was  sus 
tained  in  this  preference  by  his  right-hand  villain, 
Captain  Jose  Castro.  Indeed  it  was  the  unanimous 
choice  of  the  whole  California  division  of  the  insur 
gent  forces,  to  wit.,  the  twenty-five  before  men 
tioned,  to  massacre  time  instead  of  men.  For  not  a 
single  one  of  them  manifested  impatience  or  insub 
ordination  under  the  delay — a  fact  which,  perhaps, 
demonstrates  the  perfection  of  military  discipline  in 
California!  The  foreigners  seemed  different  from 
their  illustrious  allies.  Graham  thought  "  two  days 
and  nights  awaiting  on  them  bars  was  enough." 
Accordingly,  taking  the  responsibility  on  himself, 
after  the  manner  of  his  distinguished  fellow  states 
man,  he  sent  a  flag  to  the  presidio,  with  notice  that 
two  hours  only  would  be  given  the  Governor  and  his 
officers  to  surrender  themselves  prisoners  of  war. 
The  demand  of  the  old  Tennesseean,  however,  was 
disregarded.  The  appointed  time  passed  without  a 
surrender.  Forbearance  was  at  an  end.  The  lieu 
tenant  of  Graham's  rifle  corps  was  ordered  to  level 
a  four-pound  brass  piece  at  the  presidio.  A  ball  was 
sent  through  its  tiled  roof,  immediately  over  the 
heads  of  the  Mexican  magnates. 


252 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


It  is  wonderful  how  small  a  portion  of  necessity 
mingled  with  human  aft'airs  will  quicken  men's  per 
ception  of  duty.  No  sooner  did  the  broken  tiles 
rattle  around  the  heads  of  these  valiant  warriors 
than  they  became  suddenly  convinced  that  it  would 
be  exceedingly  hazardous  to  continue  their  resist 
ance  against  such  an  overwhelming  force;  and  that 
the  central  government  at  Mexico  would  not  be  so 
unreasonable  as  to  expect  four  or  five  hundred 
troops  to  hold  out  against  "  Los  Rifteros  Americanos." 
This  view  of  the  case,  taken  through  the  shat 
tered  roof  of  the  presidio  was  conclusive.  They 
surrendered  at  discretion!  Alvarado  marched  into 
the  citadel  of  government!  The  Mexicans  laid  down 
their  arms!  The  emblems  of  office  were  transferred 
to  the  Custom  House  clerk!  When  these  things  had 
transpired,  General  Ecliuandra  was  pleased  to  say 
with  the  most  exalted  good  sense,  "  had  we  known 
we  were  thrice  as  many  as  you,  we  would  not  have 
surrendered  so  soon;"  thereby  demonstrating  to  the 
future  historian  of  Alta  California  that  he  and  his 
friends  would  either  have  fought  the  seventy-five 
with  the  five  hundred,  or  protracted  the  siege  of  bra 
vado  much  longer,  had  they  been  able  to  count  the 
seventy-five  at  the  distance  of  seventy-five  yards, 
during  the  lapse  of  two  days!  Difficulties  in  the  use 
of  optics  often  occur  in  the  Californian  warfare 
which  are  not  treated  of  in  the  books. 

The  end  of  this  revolution  came.  The  schooner 
Clarion,  of  New  Bedford,  was  purchased,  and  the 
Mexican  officers  shipped  to  San  Bias.  Juan  Bap- 
tiste  Alvarado,  custom  clerk,  proclaimed  El  Alta 
California  an  independent  republic,  and  himself  its 
governor.  But  more  of  this  on  a  subsequent  page. 
It  suffices  my  present  purpose  to  have  shown  how 
far  this  Alvarado  was  indebted  to  the  foreigners 
dying  in  his  prisons  for  the  station  and  power  which 
he  was  using  for  their  destruction.  He  could  never 
have  obtained  possession  of  Monterey  without  them. 
And  had  they  not  slept  on  their  arms  for  months 
after  that  event;  a  party  in  the  south  under  his 
uncle,  Don  Carlos  Carillo,  or  another  in  the  north 
under  his  uncle,  Guadalupe  Viego  (Vallejo),  would 
have  torn  him  from  his  ill-gotted  elevation. 

Thus  California  became  an  independent  State,  and 
Alvarado  its  governor.  The  central  government  at 
Mexico  was,  of  course,  much  shocked  at  such  unpol 
ished,  ungloved  impudence;  threatened  much,  and 
at  last,  in  September,  1837,  induced  Alvarado  to  buy 
a  ship,  send  dispatches  to  Mexico,  and  become  Ml 
Goubernador  Constitutional  del  Alia  California,  asso 
ciated  with  his  uncle  Viego,  as  commandante  general. 
After  this  adhesion  to  the  Mexican  government, 
Alvarado  became  suspicious  of  the  foreigners  who 
had  aided  him  in  the  "  revolution,"  and  sought  every 
means  of  annoying  them.  They  might  depose  him 
as  they  had  done  Echuandra.  And  if  vengeance 
were  always  a  certain  consequent  of  injustice,  he 
reasoned  well.  The  vagabond  had  promised,  in  his 
day  of  need,  to  bestow  lands  on  those  who  had 
saved  his  neck  and  raised  him  to  power.  This  he 
found  convenient  to  forget.  Like  Spaniards  of  all 
ages  and  all  countries,  after  having  been  well  served 
by  his  friends,  he  rewarded  them  with  the  most 
heartless  ingratitude. 

Graham  in  particular  was  closely  watched.  A 
bold,  open-handed  man,  never  concealing  for  an 
instant  either  his  love  or  hatred,  but  with  the  frank 
ness  and  generosity  of  those  great  souls,  rough  hewn, 
but  majestically  honest,  who  belong  to  the  valley 
States,  he  told  the  Governor  his  sins  from  time  to 
time,  and  demanded,  in  the  authoritative  tone  of  an 


affectionate  elder  brother,  that  he  redeem  his  pledges. 
He  asked  for  justice,  and  received 
what  we  shall  presently  see. 

Graham  loved  a  horse.  He  had  taken  a  fine 
gelding  with  him  when  he  emigrated  to  the  country, 
and  trained  him  for  the  turf.  Every  year  he  had 
challenged  the  whole  country  to  the  course,  and  as 
often  won  everything  wagered  against  his  noble 
steed.  Jose  Castro  *  *  and  his  Excel- 

lentissimo  were  among  Graham's   heaviest  debtors. 
Behold  the  reasons  of  their  enmity. 

Another  cause  of  the  general  feelings  against  the 
Americans  and  Britons  in  California  was  the  fact 
that  the  sefioritas,  the  dear  ladies,  in  the  plenitude 
of  their  taste  and  sympathy  for  foreigners,  preferred 
them  as  husbands.  Hence  Jose  Castro  was  heard  to 
declare  a  little  before  the  arrest  of  the  Americans 
and  Britons,  that  such  indignities  could  not  be  borne 
by  Castilian  blood;  "fora  Californian  cavaliero  can 
not  woo  a  senorita  if  opposed  in  his  suit  by  an  Amer 
ican  sailor,  and  these  heretics  must  be  cleared  from  the 
land."  Such  were  the  causes  operating  to  arouse 
the  wrath  and  ripen  the  patriotism  of  the  Californians. 
The  vengeance  of  baffled  gallantry  bit  at  the  ear  of 
Captain  Jose  Castro;  the  fear  of  being  brought  to 
justice  by  Graham  tugged  at  the  liver  of  Alvarado; 
and  love,  the  keenest,  and  hate,  the  bitterest,  in  a 
soul  the  smallest  that  was  ever  entitled  to  the  breath 
of  life,  burnished  the  little  black  eyes  and  inflamed 
the  thin  nose  of  one  Corporal  Pinto.  These  were  the 
worthies  who  projected  the  onslaught  on  the  foreign 
ers.  Their  plan  of  operations  was  the  shrewdest  one 
ever  concocted  in  California. 

Since  the  "revolution"  of  1836  the  California 
Spaniards  had  been  convinced  that  the  Americans 
and  Britons  were  vastly  their  superiors  in  courage 
and  skill  in  war.  From  the  beginning,  therefore,  it 
was  apparent  that  if  they  were  to  get  one  or  two 
hundred  of  these  men  into  their  power  it  must  be 
done  by  strategem.  Accordingly  Graham's  annual 
challenge  for  the  Spring  races,  in  1840,  was  conven 
iently  construed  into  a  disguised  attempt  to  gather 
his  friends  for  the  purpose  of  overthrowing  Alvara- 
do's  government.  This  suggestion  was  made  to  the 
minor  leading  interests,  civil  and  military,  and  a 
junta  was  formed  for  the  safety  of  the  State;  or  in 
plain  truth,  for  the  gratification  of  the  several  per 
sonal  enmities  and  jealousies  of  half  a  dozen  scoun 
drels  who,  disregarding  the  most  sacred  pledges  to 
their  friends,  would  rob  them  of  their  property  and 
sacrifice  their  lives. 

This  junta,  marshalling  their  forces  at  Monterey, 
adopted  the  following  plan  for  accomplishing  their 
fiendish  designs:-  The  soldiers  were  detailed  into 
corps  of  two,  three,  and  four  in  number,  to  which 
were  attached  several  civilized  Indians.  These  bands 
were  secretly  sent  to  the  abodes  of  the  foreigners, 
with  instructions  to  convey  them  with  dispatch  to 
the  Alcaldes  of  the  neighboring  missions.  This  they 
accomplished.  The  victims,  on  receiving  information 
that  the  Alcaldes  wished  to  see  them,  repaired  to  their 
presence  willingly,  and  without  suspicions  of  evil  in 
tentions  against  them.  As  soon,  however,  as  they 
arrived  they  were  loaded  with  irons  and  cast  into 
the  loathesomc  cells  of  these  establishments,  in  which 
the  padres  formerly  confined  their  disobedient  con 
verts. 

Thus,  one  by  one,  they  succeeded  in  arresting  one 
hundred  and  sixty  odd  Americans  and  Bi-itons — brave 
old  trappers,  mechanics,  merchants,  whalemen  and 
tars — men  who,  if  embodied  under  Graham,  with 
rifles  in  their  hands,  could  have  marched  from  San 


FARNHAM'S  HISTORY  OF  ALVARADO. 


253 


Francisco  to  St.  Lucas,  conquered  nine  hundred  miles 
of  coast,  and  held  the  government  in  spite  of  the 
dastards  who  were  opposing  them.  But  they  were 
caught  in  a  net,  skillfully  thrown  over  them,  and 
were  helpless.  After  each  man  was  bolted  safely  in 
his  dungeon,  the  harpies  proceeded  to  his  house,  vio 
lated  his  family,  plundered  his  premises,  and  drove 
away  his  live-stock  as  private  booty — the  reward  of 
the  brave! 

Having  in  this  manner  collected  these  unhappy 
men  in  the  prisons  of  the  several  missions,  Alvarado 
and  Castro  marched  their  whole  disposable  force  to 
one  mission  after  another,  and  brought  them  in,  a  few 
at  a  time,  to  the  Government  dungeons  at  Monterey. 
The  names  of  these  men,  with  their  places  of  resi 
dence,  are  given  below. 

Here  follows  a  list  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  names, 
which  will  be  omitted,  as  the  object  is  more  to  show 
something  of  the  character  of  Alvarado  than  to  give 
a  detailed  account  of  the  transaction. 

Farnham  afterwards  got  a  full  account  of  the 
method  of  arrest  of  forty-one  of  these  prisoners. 
The  statement  of  Isaac  Graham  will  serve  to  sample 
the  lot  and  show  the  atrocious  character  of  Alvarado. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Graham  was  the  one  who 
assisted  Alvarado  to  his  position,  so  that  in  treating 
Graham  as  he  did,  he  proved  himself — well,  no  term 
sufficiently  expressive  occurs  at  this  moment. 

I,  Isaac  Graham,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  came  across  the  continent  to  California, 
with  a  passport  from  the  Mexican  authorities  of  Chi 
huahua,  and  obtained  from  the  general  commanding 
in  Upper  California  a  license  to  run  a  distillery  in 
that  country  for  the  term  of  eight  years;  this  busi 
ness  I  have  followed  since  that  time. 

On  the  6th  of  April  last  (1840)  there  appeared  to 
be  mischief  brewing.  But  what  it  would  prove  to  be 
none  of  us  could  tell.  The  California  Spaniards  usually 
travel  much  about  the  country,  and  converse  with 
foreigners  rather  shyly.  They  had  threatened  to 
drive  us  out  of  California  several  times,  and  we 
tried  to  guess  whether,  at  last,  they  were  preparing 
to  accomplish  it;  but  from  what  we  saw,  it  was 
impossible  to  form  a  correct  conclusion. 

On  the  same  day,  however,  Jose  Castro,  Bicenta 
Contrina,  Ankel  Castro,  and  a  runaway  Botany  bay 
English  convict  by  the  name  of  Garner,  a  vile  fellow, 
and  an  enemy  of  mine,  because  the  foreigners  would 
not  elect  him  their  captain,  passed  and  re-passed  my 
house  several  times,  and  conversed  together  in  low 
tones  of  voice.  1  stopped  Jose  Castro  and  asked 
him  what  was  the  matter.  He  replied  that  he  was 
going  to  march  against  the  commandante  general, 
Viego,  at  San  Francisco,  to  depose  him  from  the 
command  of  the  forces.  His  two  companions  made 
the  same  assertion.  I  knew  that  Alvarado  was 
afraid  of  Viego,  and  that  Jose  Castro  was  ambitious 
for  the  place;  and  for  these  reasons  I  partly  con 
cluded  that  they  spoke  the  truth. 

A  little  later  in  the  day,  however,  the  vagabond 
Garner  called  at  my  house,  and,  having  drunk  freely 
of  whisky,  became  rather  boisterous,  and  said  sig 
nificantly,  that  the  time  of  some  people  would  be 
short;  that  Jose  Castro  had  received  orders  from 
the  Governor  to  drive  the  foreigners  out  of  Califor 
nia,  or  to  dispose  of  them  in  some  other  way.  He 
boasted  that  he  himself  would  have  a  pleasant  par 
ticipation  in  the  business.  I  could  not  persuade  him 
to  tell  me  in  what  manner,  or  when  this  business 


was  to  take  place.  I  had  heard  the  same  threats 
made  a  number  of  times  within  the  past  year,  but  it 
resulted  in  nothing.  Believing,  therefore,  that  Gar 
ner's  threats  proceeded  from  the  whisky  he  had 
drunk,  rather  than  the  truth,  I  loft  him  in  the  yard, 
and  in  company  with  my  partner,  Mr.  Niel,  went  to 
bed.  Messrs.  Morris  and  Barton,  as  usual,  took  to 
their  couches  in  the  still-house. 

We  slept  quietly  until  about  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  when  I  was  awakened  by  the  discharge  of 
a  pistol  near  my  head,  the  ball  of  which  passed 
through  the  handkerchief  around  my  neck.  I 
sprang  to  my  feet  and  jumped  in  the  direction  of  the 
villains,  when  they  discharged  six  other  pistols,  so 
near  that  my  shirt  took  fire  in  several  places. 
Fortunately,  the  darkness  and  the  trepidation  of  the 
cowards  prevented  their  taking  good  aim,  for  only 
one  of  the  shots  took  effect,  and  that  one  in  my  left 
arm. 

After  firing,  they  fell  back  a  few  paces  and  com 
menced  reloading  their  pieces.  I  perceived  by  the 
light  of  their  pistols  that  they  were  too  numerous 
for  a  single  man  to  contend  with,  and  determined  to 
escape.  But  I  had  scarcely  got  six  paces  from  the 
door  when  I  was  overtaken  and  assailed  with  heavy 
blows  from  their  swords.  These  I  succeeded  in 
parrying  off  to  such  an  extent,  that  I  was  not  much 
injured  by  them.  Being  incensed  by  my  successful 
resistance,  they  grappled  with  me,  and  threw  me 
down,  when  an  ensign  by  the  name  of  Joaquin 
Terres  drew  his  dirk,  and,  saying  with  an  oath  that 
he  would  let  out  my  life,  made  a  thrust  at  my  heart. 
God  saved  me  again.  The  weapon,  passing  between 
my  body  and  my  left  arm,  sunk  deep  in  the  ground, 
and  before  he  had  an  opportunity  of  repeating  his 
blow,  they  dragged  me  up  the  hill  in  the  rear  of  my 
house,  where  Jose  Castro  was  standing.  They 
called  to  him — "Here  he  is!  here  he  is!  "  whereupon 
Castro  rode  up  and  struck  me  with  the  back  of  his 
sword  so  severely  as  to  bring  me  to  the  ground,  and 
then  ordered  four  balls  to  be  put  through  me.  But 
this  was  prevented  by  a  faithful  Indian  in  my  serv 
ice,  who  threw  himself  upon  me,  declaring  that  he 
would  receive  the  balls  in  his  own  heart. 

Unwilling  to  be  thwarted,  however,  in  their  designs 
to  destroy  me,  they  next  fastened  a  rope  to  one  of 
my  arms,  and  passed  it  to  a  man  on  horseback,  who 
wound  it  firmly  around  the  horn  of  his  saddle.  Then 
the  rest  of  them,  taking  hold  of  the  other  arm, 
endeavored  to  haul  my  shoulders  out  of  joint;  but 
the  rope  broke.  Thinking  the  scoundrels  bent  on 
killing  me  in  some  way,  I  begged  for  liberty  to  com 
mend  my  soul  to  God.  To  this  they  replied:  "You 
shall  never  pray  till  you  kneel  over  your  grave." 
They  then  conducted  me  to  my  house,  and  permitted 
me  to  put  on  my  pantaloons.  While  there,  they 
asked  where  Mr.  Morris  was.  I  told  them  I  did  not 
know.  They  then  put  lances  to  my  breast,  and  told 
me  to  call  him  or  die.  I  answered  that  he  had  made 
his  escape.  While  I  was  saying  this,  Mr.  Niel  came 
to  the  house,  pale  from  the  loss  of  blood,  and  vomit 
ing  terribly.  He  had  a  lance  thrust  through  his 
thigh,  and  a  wound  in  his  leg,  nearly  separating  the 
cord  of  the  heel. 

They  next  put  Mr.  Niel  and  myself  in  double 
irons,  carrying  us  a  half  a  mile  into  the  plain,  left 
me  under  guard,  and  returned  to  plunder  the  house. 
After  having  been  absent  a  short  time,  they  came 
and  conducted  me  back  to  our  rifled  home.  As  soon 
as  we  arrived  there,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Manuel 
Larias  approached  me  with  a  drawn  sword,  and 
commanded  me  to  inform  him  where  my  money  was 


254 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


buried.  I  told  him  I  had  none.  He  cursed  me,  and 
turned  away.  I  had  some  buried  in  the  ground,  but 
I  determined  they  should  never  enjoy  it.  After 
having  robbed  me  of  my  books  and  papers,  which 
were  all  the  evidence  1  had  that  these  very  scoun 
drels,  and  others,  were  largely  indebted  to  me,  and 
having  taken  whatever  was  valuable  on  my  premises, 
and  distributed  it  among  themselves,  they  proceeded 
to  take  an  inventory  of  what  was  left,  as  if  it  were 
the  whole  of  my  property,  and  then  put  me  on  horse 
back,  and  sent  me  to  this  prison.  You  know  the 
rest.  I  am  chained  like  a  dog,  and  suffer  like  one. 

The  testimony  of  the  other  prisoners  shows  that 
the  same  cowardly,  cruel  spirit  prevailed  every 
where  in  making  the  arrests.  It  was  at  this  period 
in  the  revolution  that  the  bark  Don  Quixote  came 
into  the  harbor  of  Monterey,  from  Honolulu.  Though 
usually  there  were  plenty  of  white  men  at  Monterey, 
none  were  to  be  seen  now.  Thomas  O.  Larkin, 
afterwards  the  American  Consul,  was  the  only  man 
to  be  seen,  and  a  Spanish  hombre  was  detailed  to 
listen  to  every  word  that  should  be  said  to  or  by 
him,  even  sitting  down  to  tea  with  them.  It  was 
with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  the  strangers  were 
informed  that  the  country  was  in  a  state  of  revolu 
tion,  that  it  was  probable  that  all  the  foreigners 
arrested  would  be  shot  in  the  cells  where  they  were 
confined.  The  question  naturally  arose,  whether 
anything  could  be  done  for  them?  Can  they  be 
saved?  though  the  numbers  on  the  bark  were  few. 
It  was  resolved  to  make  the  attempt,  though  they 
might  all  be  shot  in  an  hour. 

The  first  duty  on  setting  foot  in  California  is  to 
report  ones  self  to  the  Governor,  and  obtain  from  him 
a  written  permission  to  remain  in  the  country.  This 
I  proceeded  to  do.  Mr.  Larkin  was  obliging  enough 
to  accompany  me  to  the  Governor's  residence.  We 
found  before  it  a  small  number  of  men  who  were 
usually  complimented  with  the  cognomen  of  "  guard." 
They  consisted  of  five  half-breed  Indians,  and  what 
passed  for  a  white  corporal,  lounging  about  the  door 
in  the  manner  of  grog-shop  savans.  Their  outer 
man  is  worth  a  description.  They  wore  raw,  bull's 
hide  sandals  on  their  feet,  leathern  breeches,  blankets 
about- their  shoulders,  and  anything  and  everything 
about  their  heads.  Of  arms  they  had  nothing  which 
deserved  the  name.  One  made  pretensions  with  an  . 
old  musket  without  a  lock;  and  his  lour  comrades 
were  equally  heroic  with  kindred  pieces  so  deeply 
rusted  that  the  absence  of  locks  would  have  been  an 
unimportant  item  in  estimating  their  value. 

We  passed  this  formidable  body,  ascended  a  flight 
of  stairs,  and  entered  the  presence  of  the  Governor, 
Juan  Baptiste  Alvarado,  a  well-formed,  full-blooded 
Californian  Spaniard,  five  feet  eleven  inches  in  height, 
with  coal-black  curly  hair,  deep  black  eyes,  fiercely 
black  eyebrows,  high  cheek  bones,  an  aquiline  nose, 
fine  white  teeth,  brown  complexion,  and  the  clearly- 
marked  mien  of  a  pompous  coward,  clad  in  the  broad 
cloth  and  whiskers  of  a  gentleman. 

When  we  entered  he  was  sitting  behind  a  kind  of 
writing-desk  in  the  farther  corner  of  the  room.  He 
rose  as  we  entered  and  received  us  with  the  charac 
teristic  urbanity  of  a  Spanish  body  without  a  soul; 
waved  us  to  chairs,  when  he  would  have  seen  us 
ling  from  the  balcony;  smiled  graciously  at  us 
one  corner  of  his  mouth,  while  he  cursed  us 


with  the  other;  seated  himself,  laid  his  hands  and 
arms  on  the  upper  shelf  of  his  abdomen,  and  asked 
if  the  ship  had  anchored. 

It  seems  that  he  had  urgent  reasons  for  asking 
this.  The  coming  of  a  merchant  vessel  had,  when 
he  was  a  Custom  House  clerk,  and  since  he  was 
Governor,  been  the  means  of  filling  his  exhausted 
exchequer  and  paying  his  debts.  When  he  was 
informed  that  the  vessel  was  not  laden  with  mer 
chandise,  and  did  not  propose  to  make  any  long  stay, 
his  disappointment  was  evident.  He  threw  some 
red-tape  formalities  in  the  way  of  giving  Farnham 
a  permit  to  reside  on  shore.  Farnham  was  a  six- 
footer,  looked  like  a  man  of  nerve  and  power.  In  the 
present  delicate  situation  of  affairs  he  did  not  court 
the  presence  of  such  men;  neither  did  he  dare  to 
refuse  him.  The  vessel  was  standing  in  and  out  of 
the  harbor;  might  be  one  of  a  fleet  outside.  Farnham 
was  referred  to  the  Alcalde,  whom  he  found  after 
passing  the  guard,  which  was  a  big  dog,  asleep  on  a 
rawhide  in  the  corner  of  an  adobe  shanty.  A  full 
hour  was  consumed  in  writing  the  permit,  an  instru 
ment  of  four  lines,  which  had  to  be  countersigned 
by  the  Governor.  When  this  was  accomplished  he 
took  up  his  residence  with  Mr.  Larkin,  the  Consul, 
whose  house- was  not  far  from  some  of  the  prisons 
where  the  prisoners  were  confined. 

The  shouts  of  the  prisoners  for  water,  food  and 
air  were  distinctly  audible. 

"  Breathe  fast,  for  God's  sake.  I  must  come  to  the 
grate  soon,  or  I  shall  suffocate!  " 

"  Give  me  water,  you  merciless  devils!  Give  me 
water! " 

"  You  infernal  sons  of  the  Inquisition,  give  me 
water  or  fire  on  me!  " 

"Give  us  something  to  eat!  O  God!  we  shall  die 
here!  We  can't  breathe!  Half  of  us  can't  speak!  " 
And  so  on  the  night  through. 

Four  hundred  troops,  such  as  they  were,  consti 
tuted  the  army.  Old  Graham,  with  fifty  of  his  rifle 
men,  would  have  sent  them  flying  like  a  herd  of  sheep, 
but  the  old  fellow  was  double  chained.  Through  the 
influence  of  Larkin,  who  stretched  the  facts  about 
the  vessel  several  points  to  make  Alvarado  believe  it 
was  a  government  explorer  connected  with  a  fleet, 
Farnham  was  permitted  to  interview  the  prisoners, 
when  he  took  the  statements  before  referred  to.  It 
was  noticed  that  the  vessel  went  out  of  the  harbor 
every  night  and  returned  in  the  morning,  as  if  com 
municating  with  a  fleet;  that  Farnham  was  making 
signals  of  some  kind  when  the  vessel  was  in  the  har 
bor,  though,  in  fact,  the  signals  were  a  sham,  as 
neither  party  understood  the  other.  Mr.  Larkin 
professed  to  be  in  ignorance  with  regard  to  the  vis 
itors,  said  they  certainly  appeared  to  be  persons  high 
in  authority.  By  thus  working  on  the  fears  of  Al 
varado,  Larkin  was  permitted  to  feed  the  prisoners. 
Sixty  were  found  confined  in  a  pen  twenty  feet 
square,  where  there  was  not  room  to  lie  down,  the 
floor  being  knee  deep  in  mud  and  filth.  During  the 


THE  ABORIGINES. 


255 


time  it  was  learned  that  the  authorities  were  consid 
ering  the  proposition  of  shooting  all  the  prisoners  in 
the  pens.  Farnham  wore  a  sword  with  the  Ameri 
can  eagle  on  the  hilt,  and,  assuming  some  airs  of  im 
portance,  resented  any  restraint  on  his  movements, 
even  refusing  to  give  audience  to  Alvarado  when  sent 
for.  Farnham  had  managed  to  communicate  some 
courage  to  the  prisoners,  who  defiantly  sung  some  of 
the  patriotic  songs  of  their  land.  Pinto,  before 
referred  to,  was  commander  of  the  guard,  and  became 
alarmed  when  the  shouts  of  defiance  reached  his  ears. 
He  was  told  from  the  jail  that  the  government  of 
California  had  better  commit  suicide  than  to  bring 
the  British  Lion  and  the  American  Eagle  to  war  with 
them.  Alvarado  was  finally  moved  to  give  them  a 
trial,  or  at  least  a  form  of  one. 

On  the  morning  of  the  22d  of  April,  1840,  twenty- 
one  of  the  prisoners  were  brought  before  the  Gov 
ernor,  and,  one  after  another,  questioned  about  the 
supposed  conspiracy.  Among  the  others  was  Gra 
ham,  who  also  denied  any  knowledge  of  the  conspir 
acy.  A  miserable  tool  of  the  Governor,  who  under 
stood  so  little  English  as  to  fail  to  make  himself 
understood  by  the  prisoners,  was  the  interpreter.  By 
his  aid  a  case  was  made  against  them.  Garner,  a 
Botany  Bay  convict,  instrumental  in  the  arrest  of 
Graham,  testified  as  to  the  existence  of  a  conspiracy 
which  was  to  exterminate  the  whole  Spanish  people 
of  the  province!  Under  this  kind  of  testimony  and 
trial  forty-six  were  found  guilty  of  conspiracy  and 
were  sent  to  Tepic  for  the  Mexican  government  to 
deal  with.  Graham  and  Morris  were  so  heavily 
ironed  that  four  Indians  were  required  to  carry  their 
emaciated  bodies  aboard  the  vessel  which  was  char 
tered  to  take  them  away.  Many  of  these  persons 
had  native  wives  who  clung  to  the  departing  prison 
ers  with  cries  of  despair.  They  followed  the  prisoners 
from  the  jails  as  far  as  they  could,  helping  to  bear  up 
the  chains.  They  were  driven  away  with  blows. 
They  had  no  homes  to  return  to,  as  the  soldiers  had 
plundered  their  houses  when  the  arrests  were  made, 
and  stood  wailing  on  the  shore  as  the  ship  left  the 
harbor. 

A  general  thanksgiving  was  ordered  and  mass  was 
sung  in  the  churches  for  the  yrent  deliverance!  It  is 
said  that  Alvarado  was  much  disappointed  that  he 
did  not  shoot  Graham,  and  thus  cancel  twenty-two 
hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars  owing  to  him  in  mer 
cantile  transactions.  This,  and  other  events  con 
nected  therewith,  occupied  Alvarado  the  rest  of  the 
month.  On  the  Sih  of  the.  following  month  he  made  the 
famous  Arroyo  Seco  Grant. 

Much  that  is  bitter  denunciation  has  been  left  out 
of  this  narrative.  It  must  be  remembered  that  when 
Farnham  arrived  one  hundred  and  sixty  pei'sons 
were  lying  in  jail  for  an  imaginary  offense;  that 
these  were  the  persons  who  had  helped  Alvarado  to 
power;  that  the}'  had  been  arrested  without  warrant, 
confined  in  filthy  pens,  their  families  maltreated,  and 
their  homes  destroyed,  and  we  can  excuse  some  of 


the  writer's  indignation.  That  Alvarado  was  mak 
ing  land  grants  in  the  mountains  at  this  time,  where 
no  Mexican  dared  set  his  foot,  is  improbable.  That 
he  was  capable  of  fixing  up  the  records,  in  connec 
tion  with  others,  so  as  to  show  a  grant  at  that  time, 
may  be  possible. 


CIIAPTEE    XXXIX. 

THE   ABORIGINES. 

Origin — Probable  Antiquity — Indian  Eelics — Personal  Character 
of  California  Indians — Division  of  Tribes — Indian  Huts — 
Food — Indian  Mills — Indian  Cooking — Meal  Time — Cloth 
ing — Legal  Tender — Grizzlies — Arms — Principles  of  Gov 
ernment — Family  Delations — Marriage — Small  Hands  and 
Feet —  Religion —  Funerals  —  Military  Reviews  —  Numbers 
Assembled — Military  Evolutions — Games — Sweat  House — 
Fandango  at  Yeomet  1851 — Diseases  and  Treatment — Scourge 
of  1832-33 — Anecdotes  of  the  Indians. 

MANY  attempts  have  been  made  to  identify  the 
Aborigines  with  the  people  of  the  eastern  hemisphere, 
or  at  least  to  prove  their  descent  therefrom.  A  Jap 
anese  junk  sunk  on  our  coast  is  taken  as  evidence  of 
a  Mongolian  immigration.  The  figure  of  a  cross  on 
one  of  the  temples  of  Central  America  is  taken  as 
proof  of  a  former  Christian  worship,  though  the  tem 
ples  themselves  antedate  Christianity  by  centuries. 
Learned  linguists  find  a  resemblance  in  some  words 
of  the  Welsh  and  a  tribe  of  Indians  in  New  Mexico, 
and  forthwith  a  treatise  or  volume  appears  to  prove 
that  in  the  year  731,  Ap  Gllyyss  and  a  hundred  other 
Welshmen,  driven  out  by  the  tyranny  of  a  despotic 
prince,  sailed  away  and  were  never  heard  of  more 
until  they  were  found,  one  thousand  years  afterward, 
settled  on  the  head-waters  of  the  Colorado  in  New 
Mexico,  living  in  stone  houses  such  as  are  found  in 
Wales.  It  would  seem  that  common  sense  in  regard 
to  such  matters  might  be  called  in  without  detri 
ment  to  the  results. 

PROBABLE   ANTIQUITY. 

The  facts  are,  the  populations  of  the  New  World 
show  as  much  divergence  of  character  as  those  of 
the  Old  World,  and  can  lay  about  as  good  claim  to 
antiquity.  Portions -of  the  American  continent  are 
older  in  geological  formation  than  Asia,  and  may 
have  been  peopled  as  early.  From  the  north  to  the 
south,  from  the  east  to  the  west,  on  both  Ameiicas, 
are  the  indisputable  traces  of  ancient  empire.  The 
thousands  of  mounds  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
the  ruins  of  temples  in  Central  America,  which  ap 
pear  to  be  as  ancient  as  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  the 
ruins  of  buildings  in  Arizona,  all  prehistoric,  speak  of 
the"  rise  and  growth  of  nations;  of  the  struggles  of 
infancy,  of  the  dominion  of  maturity;  of  nations 
exterminated  and  others  taking  their  place.  The 
colossal  character  of  these  ruins,  and  the  extent  of 
ground  covered  by  them,  are  evidences  of  thousands 
of  years  of  growth,  which  may  have  been  cotem- 
porary,  previous  or  subsequent  to  the  Asiatic  or 
European  civilization.  Even  in  California,  though 
no  granite  temples  record  the  ancient  power  and  cul 
tivation  of  the  tribes,  there  is  evidence  of  their 


256 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


possession  of  the  country  for  ages.  The  shell  mounds 
along  the  sea  shore  are  the  accumulation  of  centuries. 
Indian  implements  are  found  buried  beneath  mounds 
of  earth  and  debris  of  rivers,  which  prove  their  an 
tiquity  beyond  all  doubt. 

INDIAN    RELICS. 

In  1853,  while  mining  out  a  portion  of  Humbug 
gulch,  near  Volcano,  in  Amador  county,  the  writer  of 
•  this  historj^  found  an  Indian  mortar  similar  to  those  in 
use,  buried  under  ten  or  twelve  feet  of  soil,  on  which 
timber  of  considerable  size  was  growing.  The  place 
seemed  to  have  been  used  as  a  spring,  burnt  sticks 
and  other  trash  indicating  a  camp  near  by.  The  spot 
was  quite  rich,  having  a  hundred  dollars  or  more  in 
a  little  spot  a  yard  square.  If  the  squaws  who  used 
this  spring  had  ever  cleaned  it  out,  they  could  hardly 
help  finding  some  of  the  gold  which  was  mixed  with 
the  trash.  Others  have  had  a  similar  experience. 
Indian  relics,  consisting  of  mortars,  pestles,  etc.,  were 
taken  out  of  the  ground  at  a  depth  of  eighteen  feet, 
by  J.  F.  M.  Johnston,  showing  a  great  antiquity. 

PERSONAL   CHARACTER. 

The  Indians  of  California  are  rather  shorter  in 
stature  and  stouter  built  than  the  Indians  east  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  though  occasionally  one  might  be 
found  who  was  tall  and  slender,  like  some  of  the 
Sioux  or  Pawnees.  The  Indians  of  the  Pacific  coast 
were  also  of  a  more  dusky  hue,  but  tho  same  long, 
straight,  coarse,  black  hair,  beardless  faces,  and  dark, 
dreamy  eyes,  characterized  all  the  North  American 
races.  The  divergence  from  the  general  type  was 
not  greater  than  can  be  seen  in  any  race  of  men,  in 
fact,  it  appears  to  be  true  that  the  less  the  cultiva 
tion  the  more  uniformity  of  character. 

DIVISION    OP   TRIBES. 

The  Indians  of  the  Sacramento  and  San  Joaquin 
valleys  were  divided  into  several  tribes,  though  there 
seemed  to  be  a  blending  by  intermarriage  so  that 
the  lines  were  not  rigidly  drawn.  It  is  probable 
that  individuals  could  change  their  allegiance  with 
out  much  trouble.  The  Indians  living  in  the  vicin 
ity  of  the  upper  Cosumnes,  including  the  Dry  Creek 
Indians,  called  themselves  Neshenams.  The  Poo- 
soones  lived  about  the  mouth  of  the  American  river; 
the  Quotoas,  around  Placerville,  the  Colomas, 
around  Sutter's  old  mill,  the  Wapumnes,  near 
Latrobe.  The  Mokelkos  occupied  that  portion  of 
San  Joaquin  county,  lying  east  and  north  of  Stock 
ton.  From  Staples' Ferry  to  Athearn's,  they,  called 
themselves  the  La-las.  The  Indians  of  the  lone 
valley  called  themselves  Lucklum-las.  The  - 
Machacos  occupied  the  Mokelumne  river  to  Campo 
Seco.  The  La-las  were  absorbed  by  the  Mokel 
kos,  who  were  the  most  powerful  of  all  tho  tribes, 
and  had  nearly  a  score  of  towns,  with  a  total  popu 
lation  of  three  or  four  thousand.  They  were  con 
tinually  at  war,  sometimes  against  the  Machacos, 
sometimes  against  the  Cosos  (Cosumne  Indians)  and 
the  Jackson  Valley  Indians  combined.  The  Mokel 


kos  claimed  to  be  Christianized,  and  had  for  chiefs 
four  brothers — Sanato,  at  Staples'  ferry;  Loweno  at 
Woodbridge;  Antonio,  on  the  Calaveras,  and  Maximo, 
still  living  near  Terry's  mill.  A  favorite  battle 
ground  was  near  the  old  brick  church  not  far  from 
Staples'  ferry.  The  Walla  Wallas  from  Oregon  some 
times  came  into  the  valley,  in  which  case  the  tribes 
all  combined  to  expel  them.  This  is  supposed  to 
have  happened  about  1833,  as  the  Walla  Wallas  are 
charged  with  having  poisoned  the  waters  and  pro 
duced  a  general  sickness. 

HOUSES. 

They  had  no  houses  worthy  of  the  name,  their 
camps  being  a  collection  of  brush  shanties,  with 
pieces  of  bark,  sticks,  and  perhaps  skins,  put  on  the 
exposed  side  to  protect  them  from  the  wind  and 
rain.  They  were  generally  on  the  move,  pulling  up 
camp  whenever  game,  fish  or  acorns,  became  scarce- 
FOOD. 

They  never  cultivated  the  soil  until  taught  to  do  so 
by  the  whites.  Nearly  everything  was  at  times  con 
verted  into  food.  In  times  of  plenty  they  feasted 
and  wasted;  in  tirnes  of  scarcity  starved,  the  weak 
and  aged  dying.  The  acorn,  pine  nut,  and  seeds 
from  plants  furnished  them  with  substantial  food  in 
the  season. 

INDIAN    MILLS. 

The  acorn  was  gathered  by  the  squaws  and 
reduced  to  a  powder,  bv  pounding  in  mortars  or 
holes  worn  into  the  rocks  by  the  stone  pestles.  The 
seeds  of  plants  were  also  reduced  to  flour  the  same 
way,  as  also  was  corn,  wheat  and  barley  after  the 
advent  of  the  white  man.  The  mortars  were  holes 
pounded  or  dug  out  with  infinite  labor  in  boulders, 
generally  of  volcanic  rock.  These  seemed  to  have 
been  selected  as  much  for  shape  of  the  boulder 
which  needed  no  dressing  on  the  outside,  as  for  the 
quality  of  the  rock.  These  mortars  were  carried  from 
camp  to  camp  by  the  squaws,  and  were  a  necessity 
in  the  valleys  and  in  other  portions  of  the  country 
where  there  was  no  hard  rock.  In  the  mountains, 
where  granite  or  other  hard  rocks  were  found,  the 
custom  was  to  pound  the  acorns  in  holes  in  the 
rocks,  which  by  constant  use  had  become  worn  to 
a  depth  of  several  inches,  large  enough  to  hold  a 
gallon  or  more.  Sometimes  a  dozen  or  more  of  these 
holes  can  be  found  in  a  space  of  a  square  rod,  show 
ing  the  sociable  habits  of  the  women,  who,  while 
pounding  their  acorns  would  chat,  tell  stories,  and 
laugh  with  the  greatest  glee.  These  mill-sites  may 
be  found  in  the  vicinity  of  every  oak  or  nut-pine 
grove. 

INDIAN    COOKING. 

When  the  acorns  or  seeds  were  reduced  to  powder, 
the  mass  was  mixed  with  water  and. boiled  in  baskets 
made  of  reeds.  These  were  the  only  kettles  and  culi 
nary  vessels,  though  this  boiling  was  sometimes  done 
in  a  hole  in  the  ground,  which  was  lined  with  clay 
and  patted  down  until  it  would  hold  water,  the  clay 


P   N.  PECK. 


wear   PUB  OAHIAND 


€* 
OF  THE 
VERSITY 
k 


THE  ABORIGINES. 


257 


soon  becoming  tight  by  the  soaking  into  it  of  the 
pulp  or  mush  to  be  cooked.  The  boiling  in  either 
case  was  effected  by  dropping  in  the  mass 'smooth 
stones,  previously  heated  to  a  proper  point  in  a  fire. 
Stones  were  selected  which,  by  experience,  were 
found  to  stand  the  effect  of  the  fire.  When  the  mass 
was  sufficiently  boiled  it  was  put  away  to  cool,  for 
the  Indian  never  spoils  his  teeth  or  stomach  with 
hot  food,  both  being  kept  in  the  best  condition  to 
old  age. 

MEAL   TIME. 

When  the  meal  time  arrived  the  setting  of  the 
table  was  but  a  short  affair.  No  dishes  to  wash,  no 
table  cloth  to  spread  or  shake  out.  The  family 
gathered  around  the  basket  and  the  open  hand 
served  for  a  spoon,  and  the  open  mouth  (an  Indian's 
mouth  has  a  tremendous  expansion)  received  the 
load  and  disposed  of  it  without  trouble.  The  acorn 
season  was  a  time  for  rejoicing.  When  the  harvest 
was  over  the  different  tribes  visited  each  other  and 
feasted  until  the  acorns  were  gone.  When  this 
occurred  they  hunted  rabbits,  quail  and  deer,  and 
when  game  was  scarce  would  live  on  bugs,  snails, 
lizards  and  gophers.  Rats  and  mice  came  in  with 
the  white  man,  and  probably  were  never  used  as 
food  by  them.  Occasionally  a  daring  raid  would  be 
made  on  the  cattle  ranches,  and  a  supply  of  beef 
obtained.  Grasshoppers  and  young  wasps  or  yellow 
jackets  were  esteemed  an  especial  delicacy,  and  no 
boy  of  the  Northern  States  ever  dug  out  and  fought 
a  swarm  of  "bumble  bees"  with  more  zeal  than  a 
young  digger  would  a  hornet's  nest.  The  squirming 
innocents  (innocent  of  stings)  would  vanish  in  a 
hurry,  the  Indian's  face  always  asking  for  more. 
The  young  Indians  were  turned  out  early  to  hunt 
for  themselves.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  win 
ter,  especially  if  the  winter  was  cold,  they  suffered 
greatly,  and  many  would  perish.  Whenever  any  of 
them  were  hired  on  the  ranches  and  ate  the  food  of 
the  white  people,  they  usually  suffered  sickness  of 
some  kind. 

CLOTHING. 

It  has  been  asserted  that,  previous  to  the  advent 
of  the  whites,  they  went  naked.  I  think  this  is  a 
mistake.  The  young  ones  from  childhood  to  near 
maturity  wore  no  clothing  except  for  ornament,  and 
many  of  the  males  went  naked  or  without  any 
attempt  to  conceal  their  persons.  The  women  wore 
a  covering  over  the  loins  made  of  buckskin,  or 
perhaps  bark  plaited.  Considerable  taste  was  dis 
played  in  ornamenting  the  very  short  breeches,  for 
such  they  were,  with  pieces  of  quills  or  shells.  The 
limbs  and  body  were  usually  fully  exposed.  The 
young  squaws  soon  learned  to  conceal  their  well- 
developed  bosoms  from  the  admiring  gaze  of  a 
white  man  by  donning  a  shirt,  and,  soon,  a  skirt,  for 
modesty  is  to  woman  born,  and  is  aroused  by  the 
first  glance  of  passion,  whether  in  a  gilded  saloon  or 
in  a  pine  forest.  Both  sexes  wore  shell  ornaments, 
33 


wrought  out   with   much   labor,   in    fact,   pieces  of 
abalone  shells,  strung  on  sinews,  was  the 

LEGAL    TENDER. 

An  Indian  possessing  three  or  four  coils,  long 
enough  to  hang  on  his  arm,  was  rich.  Soon  after  the 
coming  of  the  whites,  beads  took  the  place  of  shells, 
but  the  supply  becoming  too  abundant  they  soon 
ceased  to  circulate  as  money,  and  were  used 
chiefly  as  ornaments.  A  very  successful  hunter  was 
able  to  wear  a  necklace  of  bears'  claws.  This 
would  give  him  a  right  to  the  highest  seat  in  the 
council. 

GRIZZLIES. 

A  grizzly  was  a  full  match  for  a  band  of  Indians, 
and  the  latter  generally  let  the  grizzly  alone.  When 
an  attack  was  made,  the  result  was  somewhat  uncer 
tain.  An  old  Indian  said,  "Sometimes  Indians  eat 
bear,  sometimes  bear  eat  Indians;  don't  know." 
Bears  abounded  in  all  the  valleys  of  the  foot-hills. 
According  to  Powell,  the  Jackson  valley  chief,  six 
or  seven  would  come  into  the  valley  at  a  time,  to 
eat  the  young  clover.  Three  or  four  years  before 
the  discovery  of  gold,  a  big  one  was  killed  by  a 
strong  bowman  in  Jackson  valley,  and  a  great  feast 
was  made,  a  hundred  warriors  toning  up  their  cour 
age  by  helping  to  eat  him. 

ARMS. 

The  bow  of  the  California  Indian  is  a  marvel  of 
strength  and  efficiency.  Although  so  small  and 
light,  it  will,  when  well  constructed,  stand  a  pull 
of  two  hundred  pounds.  I  have  seen  strong  men 
place  them  under  their  feet,  and  lift  with  all  their 
strength,  and  still  fail  to  break  them.  They  are 
made  of  wood,  generally  yew,  sometimes  cedar,  and 
derive  most  of  their  elasticity  from  a  covering  on 
the  back  made  of  sinew,  nicely  laid  on  with  glue. 
The  string  is  made  of  the  bark  of  the  wild  hemp, 
and  is  superior  in  strength  to  the  best  linen  or  silk. 
The  arrows  are  made  of  wood,  or  reeds,  a  email  bush 
growing  along  the  creeks  furnishing  favorite  sticks 
for  this  purpose.  The  points  were  formerly  made 
of  obsidian,  and  were  about  three  inches  long,  flat, 
ovoid  in  shape,  with  a  notch  on  either  edge  for  a 
piece  of  sinew  to  hold  it  to  the  shaft;  the  feather, 
or  thumb  end,  had  some  half  feathers  tied  to  it,  to 
give  it  a  rotary  motion,  like  a  rifle  ball.  This  was 
the  style  of  the  best  arrows,  which  were  used  only 
for  war  or  large  game.  The  arrows  used  for  birds 
and  rabbits  were  destitute  of  the  obsidian  point  and 
feathers.  An  Indian  brave  will  carry  his  arrows 
in  an  otter  or  beaver  skin,  and,  with  a  quiver  full, 
is  a  match  for  a  white  man  with  a  navy  revolver. 
After  the  advent  of  the  whites,  the  points  were 
often  made  of  glass.  If  you  want  to  try  your 
patience  and  skrll,  make — or  attempt  to — an  arrow 
head  out  of  an  old  junk  bottle;  yet  an  expert  Indian 
will  have  no  trouble  in  doing  it.  The  light  arrows 
of  the  Indians  have  only  a  short  flight,  and  the 
natives  soon  obtained  rifles  and  shot  guns. 


258 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


PRINCIPLES   OF   GOVERNMENT. 

Personal  prowess  was  the  foundation  of  authority.  " 
Though  the  government  was  hereditary,  the  heir 
must  prove  himself  before  he  could  rule.  He  had 
to  chastise  the  refractory  and  disorderly,  and  in 
some  instances  take  the  life  of  a  subject,  direct  the 
tribe  to  new  hunting  grounds,  arrange  the  hunting 
parties,  and  take  the  lead  in  all  things,  if  a  rival 
warrior  or  hunter  disputes  his  authority,  a  duel  is 
imperative,  the  survivor  taking  his  place.  Powell, 
of  Jackson  valley,  won  his  position  in  this  way. 
He  is,  or  was,  a  person  of  immense  strength,  and, 
when  not  full  of  whisky,  had  much  self-respect  and 
dignity,  and  with  the  advantages  of  education  and 
training,  would  have  made  himself  respected  in  any 
community. 

FAMILY   RELATIONS. 

The  family  relations  were  quite  binding.  The  In 
dian  considered  his  children  as  a  species  of  property. 
They  did  not  hesitate  to  commit  infanticide  when 
the  means  of  living  was  scarce,  believing  with  the 
Chinese,  that  an  infant  had  better  die  than  to  grow 
up  to  starvation.  There  seems  to  be  no  want  of 
affection,  however,  for  when  the  child  is  permitted 
to  live,  it  never  perishes  from  neglect.  It  is  wrapped 
in  soft  grass,  tied  to  a  kind  of  frame,  which  keeps 
it  straight.  Over  the  child's  head  is  placed  a  hoop, 
as  a  sort  of  protection  from  accidental  thumps,  also 
to  furnish  a  resting  place  or  support  for  a  shade,  to 
protect  the  babe's  eyes  when  traveling.  The  squaw 
will  place  a  strap  or  band  over  her  head  and  around 
their  conical  baskets,  and  carry  a  whole  family,  or, 
if  necessary,  pack  a  hundred  pounds  of  flour,  appar 
ently  with  all  ease,  on  a  journey,  while  the  buck 
leads  the  way,  with  his  bow  strung  and  arrow  in 
place,  for  game  or  an  enemy.  The  labor  falls  on 
the  women.  They  gather. acorns,  though  the  buck 
will  sometimes  climb  the  tree  to  shake  them  off, 
pound  and  cook  them,  transport  the  baggage  from 
one  camp  to  another,  fix  up  the  hut,  and  do  all  the 
work  except  hunting  and  fighting. 

MARRIAGE. 

When  old  enough  to  marry,  the  daughter  is  sold 
to  some  agreeable  bidder,  for  a  sum  perhaps  equiva 
lent  to  the  price  of  a  pony.  The  sale  is  generally 
agreeable  to  all  parties,  and  the  purchase  money  is 
regarded  much  in  the  light  of  a  dower.  The 
marriage  ceremony  is  very  slight.  If  with  a  neigh 
boring  tribe,  the  bridegroom  usually  resides,  for  a 
time,  with  her  tribe.  A  chief  may  have  several 
wives,  each  in  a  different  camp.  Infidelity  is,  or  was, 
comparatively  unknown  among  them,  the  penalty 
being  death  to  both  parties.  A  squaw  was  stoned  to 
death  in  Sacramento  county  in  1850,  for  yielding  to 
a  white  man.  It  is  incumbent  on  tke  injured  party 
to  inflict  the  penalty. 

SMALL   HANDS   AND   FEET. 

When  young,  the  squaws  have  good  shaped  limbs, 
small  hands  and  feet,  which  are  the  envy  of  white 


women.  As  they  get  older  they  take  on  fat,  have 
Durham  backs,  large,  flabby  faces,  and  get  terribly 
coarse.  *  As  they  get  old  they  loose  their  fat,  become 
wrinkled  and  attenuated,  and  are  no  more  lovely. 
They  never  get  bald,  and,  as  the  hair  turns  white 
and  learns  to  stand  on  end,  they  become  absolutely 
hideous.  Their  voices  are  generally  soft  and  sweet. 
Such  a  thing  as  scolding  is  never  heard  among  them. 

RELIGION. 

Their  religious   notions  are   very   dim.      An   old 
Indian  says:  "  White  man  die,  he  go  up;  don't  know 
where  Indian  go  to."     On  the  death  of  an  Indian, 
the  news  is  communicated  from  one  camp  to  another 
by  a   peculiar,  dismal   howl  by  the  squaws.      It  is 
heard  for    miles    around,  traveling   from   camp    to 
camp.     Soon  the  Indians  begin  to  pour  in  to  assist 
in  the  burial.     Every  trail  brings  a  howling  party. 
A  grave  is  dug  near,  in  fact,  in  the  camp,  four  or  five 
feet  deep;  the  corpse  is  wrapped  in  a  blanket,  in  as 
small  compass   as  possible,  the   bones   being   often 
broken  to  effect  the  purpose.     The  body  is  placed  in 
the  hole  in  a  sitting  position,  and  the  soil  pressed 
thoroughly  around  it,  a  small   mound  raised,  and  a 
few  trinkets  placed  thereon.    The  mourners  (women) 
keep  up  the  while  the  noise,  which    bears  a  great 
resemblance  to  the  laments  of  the  wild  Irish   over 
their  dead.     The  lament,  sung  or  howled  within  a 
compass  of  two  or  three  notes  with  minor  intervals, 
was  translated:  "  Where  is  our  brave  man  ?  who  now 
will  hunt  for  us  and  kill  meat?  who  will  lead  us  to 
catch  the  fish  ?  who  will  now  kindle  his  fire  ?  who  will 
make  his  bed  ?  who  will  comfort  him  ?  who  will  make 
him  happy?  he  was  a  brave  man;    he  was  a  good 
man;  we  will  perish  without  you;  we  all  love  you; 
come  back  to  your  wife,  your  children."     The  elderly 
women  performed  the   part   of   chief  mourners   or 
howlers;  and  though  it  was  evident  that  much  of  the 
grief  was  a  formality,  perhaps   paid  for,  the  cere 
monies  were  rather  impressive.     After  the  funeral 
services   were  completed,  the  whole   tribe  left  that 
place,  not  coming     back    for   months.      Occasional 
visits   were   made,    however,  and    a    few   mournful 
words  chanted  over  the  grave.     Sometimes  the  body 
was  burned  on  a  large  pile  of  wood,  in  which  case 
the  mourning  was  kept  up  during  the  whole  time  of 
the  cremation.     The   widow  is  said  to    anoint  her 
face  with  a  black  paint  made  of  the  charred  remains 
of  the  husband,  and  it  is  also  said  that  it  is  never 
washed  off,  but  is  left,  to  wear  off,  after  which  she  is 
ready  to  marry  again.     The  children  are  put  up  in  a 
tree,  on  something  like  a  crow's  nest,  to  waste  away. 
James  and  John  Surface  of  lone,  when   boys,  found 
such  a  grave,  and  with   boyish  curiosity  climbed  the 
tree  and  peeped  in  the  nest,  but  the  staring  face  of  a 
half-decayed  child  made  them  hurry  down. 

MILITARY   REVIEWS. 

The  war  dance  was  the  great  event  in  Indian  life, 
though  the  name  is  about  as  appropriate  for  the 
exercise  as  it  would  be  for  the  evolutions  of  cavalry 


THE  ABORIGINES. 


259 


or  artillery.  The  war  dance  is  of  a  gymnastic  char 
acter,  and  is  performed  wholly  by  the  most  vigorous 
males  in  the  tribe,  anJ  is  about  as  well  calculated 
to  develop  muscular  power  and  endurance  as  any 
gymnastic  exercise  taught  at  our  schools.  When  it 
was  determined  to  hold  a  military  review,  invitations 
were  sent  to  such  tribes  as  it  was  deemed  proper  to 
invite,  to  come  prepared  at  a  certain  day.  The  cards 
of  invitation,  or,  perhaps  proclamation  would  be  a 
better  word,  was  a  string  with  knots  in  it,  each  knot 
representing  a  night  and  day,  the  announcement  be 
ing  made  some  fifteen  or  twenty  days  before  the  time 
of  meeting.  Every  morning  a  knot  was  cut  oif,  and 
thus  the  coming  of  the  day  recorded.  On  the  event 
ful  morning  the  camp  was  deserted  by  all  except 
three  or  four  of  the  aged  and  infirm.  The  warrior 
put  on  his  necklace  of  bear  claws  or  his  belts  of 
wampum  (strings  of  shells);  his  arrows  were  burn 
ished  and  straightened  anew;  his  bow  put  in  the  best 
condition;  a  plume  of  eagle  feathers  adorned  his 
head,  and  his  fur  cloak,  made  from  the  animals  he 
had  slaughtered,  was  thrown  over  his  shoulders.  If 
he  was  rich  enough  to  own  a  horse,  he  mounted  his 

O  ' 

steed  and  led  the  way  to  the  rendezvous,  followed  by 
his  braves,  on  foot  or  mounted,  with  drawn  bows. 
The  squaws  and  children  followed  with  the  supplies 
of  acorn  mush,  rabbits,  deer  or  other  meat,  and  man- 
zanita  berries  for  making  their  cider.  All  the  wealth 
of  the  tribe  was  displayed.  The  squaws  wore  their 
best  ornaments,  and  everj'thing  was  done  to  enter 
the  camp  in  a  superior  style. 

NUMBER   ASSEMBLED. 

As  many  as  a  thousand  Indians  would  gather  at 
these  reviews.  Eating,  drinking  and  gambling  were 
of  course  prominent  events.  The  Indian  is  a  good 
feeder  when  he  has  opportunity,  though  he  can  go 
without  or  subsist  on  a  minimum  when  necessary. 
His  capacious  mouth,  perfect,  white  teeth,  and 
enormous  chest,  attest  his  eating  capacity,  and  his 
sleek,  plump  look,  the  power  of  digestion.  Before 
the  introduction  of  whisky  and  the  vices  of  civiliza 
tion,  he  was  a  splendid  animal.  After  a  general 
interchange  of  civilities  and  current  news,  prepara 
tions  for  the  fete  were  made.  A  space  of  ground 
sixty  feet  or  more  across  was  made  smooth  and  hard. 
A  hollow  log  was  brought  to  be  used  as  a  drum  for 
regulating  the  movements. 

MILITARY    EVOLUTIONS. 

From  ten  to  twenty  of  the  warriors  desirous  of 
the  honors  would  step  into  the  ring  and  form  a  circle 
around  the  precentor,  and,  at  a  sign  from  him,  com 
menced  jumping,  with  lungs  inflated  and  muscles 
contracted,  jumping  stiff-legged — as  we  Bay  of  a 
bucking  horse — at  each  jump  expelling  a  portion  of 
the  air  from  the  lungs,  with  a  sort  of  ugh!  ujh!  mov 
ing  slowly  around  the  circle,  occasionally  reversing 
their  circular  movement  with  loud  shout  and  a  flour 
ish  of  the  bows  which  they  hold  in  their  hands.  The 
movements,  moderate  at  first,  each  moment  become 


more  vigorous;  the  contracted  muscles  stand  out  in 
knots;  the  perspiration  rolls  off  the  bodies,  and 
the  air  is  redolent  of  the  perfume  of  Indian,  accumu 
lated  dirt  and  smoke. 

It  is  now  evident  that  this  is  no  capering  to  the 
soft  tinklings  of  a  lute.  It  is  work,  the  hardest  kind 
of  work.  The  multitude  gather  around,  and  encour 
age  the  performers.  Tbey  redouble  their  exertions; 
they  bound  upwards  with  the  mere  spring  of  the 
toes  without  bending  a  limb,  leaping  a  foot  or  more 
from  the  ground.  When  human  nature  is  about 
exhausted,  a  signal  is  made,  a  few  grand  jumps  are 
given,  the  performance  ends  with  a  shout,  and  the 
braves  are  taken  away  and  rubbed  down  by  the 
admiring  squaws.  After  an  hour's  intermission, 
another  band  will  repeat  the  performance,  and,  if 
possible,  surpass  it.  This  continues  for  several  days, 
or  until  the  provisions  are  exhausted,  when  the 
homeward  march  is  made,  and  the  ordinary  life 
resumed. 

GAMES. 

The  Indians  had  games  involving  feats  of  strength 
and  activity,  which  were  played  one  camp  against 
another,  one  of  which  was  much  like  foot-ball,  which, 
however,  was  said  to  have  been  learned  from  the  San 
Diego  Indians,  about  1850,  so  that  it  might  have 
been  introduced  by  the  whites.  The  ball  was  made 
of  skins,  tied  into  a  compact  form,  and  was  about  as 
large  as  a  child's  head.  It  was  rather  hard  on  the 
naked  toes  of  the  Indians,  occasionally  breaking 
them.  The  Indians  made  as  much  noise  while  play 
ing  this  as  would  a  crowd  of  school-boys  playing  base 
ball. 

THE    SWEAT- HOUSE. 

Every  central  camp  had  a  council  house,  or  fort, 
or  sweat-house  as  the  whites  called  it.  It  was  prob 
ably  used  for  many  purposes;  as  a  shelter  in  bad 
weather;  as  council  room  when  important  business 
called  the  braves  together,  and  as  a  fort  when 
attacked.  It  was  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet  across, 
circular,  sunk  three  feet  or  more  into  the  ground, 
was  covered  with  branches  and  afterwards  with  dirt, 
so  that  at  a  distance  it  had  the  appearance  of  a 
mound  of  earth.  There  was  an  opening  in  the  top 
for  the  escape  of  smoke,  and  had  one  entrance,  long, 
low  and  narrow. 

The  middle  portion  of  the  room  might  be  eight  or 
nine  feet  high,  sloping  to  four  or  five  feet  at  the 
sides.  The  roof  was  sustained  on  forked  posts  upon 
which  rested  the  cross-timbers.  In  a  storm,  or  when 
attacked,  a  large  number  could  take  refuge  in  this 
house.  It  would  be  almost  impossible  to  dislodge  a 
body  of  Indians  from  one  of  these  houses  without 
large  guns  to  shell  them  out.  They  are,  in  fact,  a 
sort  of  bomb-proof.  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  of 
them  remain  in  the  county  at  this  time. 

FANDANGO  AT   YEOMET. 

At  the  time  of  the  opening  of  the  mines,  the  rela 
tions  of  the  white  man  and  Indian  was  somewhat 


260 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


doubtful.  The  Indian  mostly  kept  oat  of  the  way 
of  the  rifle  of  the  far-west  man,  who  would  as  soon 
draw  on  him  as  a  deer.  The  Indian  soon  found  that 
he  was  safer  in  the  town  than  in  the  woods,  and  soon 
learned  to  pan  out  and  exchange  his  dust  for  sugar 
or  meat.  It  was  the  policy  of  the  government,  for  a 
while  at  least,  to  gather  them  on  reservations,  as  the 
easiest  way  of  maintaining  the  peace.  Many  of  the 
natives  had  retreated  to  the  mountains,  and  occa 
sionally  a  white  man  was  murdered  in  retaliation  for 
the  sla}*ing  of  an  Indian  by  some  thoughtless  miner. 
Expeditions  were  undertaken  to  bring  them  in.  Some 
were  found  far  up  among  the  snows,  starving  and 
freezing.  When  assured  of  safety  they  were  not 
unwilling  to  surrender  and  be  fed.  On  one  occasion 
an  old  chief  of  gigantic  size,  being  entirely  naked, 
was  induced  to  put  on  clothing,  lie  was  given  a 
coat  too  small  and  short  to  cover  much  of  his  person. 
He  observed  that  the  commander  of  the  party  of 
white  men  who  came  after  him  wore  a  pair  of  spec 
tacles  and  a  plug  hat,  and  manifested  a  desire  to  do 
the  same  himself,  supposing  these  things  to  be  marks 
of  authority.  He  was  gratified,  and  took  great 
pleasure  in  strutting  around  in  his  uniform  of  small 
coat,  plug  hat  and  brass-bowed  spectacles.  A  party 
of  several  hundred  Indians  were  collected  at  the 
forks  of  the  Cosumnes  in  1851,  by  a  government 
agent  by  the  name  of  Belcher,  who  fed  them  for 
some  weeks  on  beef.  This  was  about  the  first  oppor 
tunity  of  the  miners  of  that  vicinity  to  study  the 
Indian  in  his  peaceful  relations,  and  a  great  many 
took  advantage  of  it.  Even  at  this  time  most  of  the 
Indians  had  put  on  clothing,  and  the  men  as  well  as 
the  squaws  had  some  sense  of  modesty. 

When  a  beef  was  killed  it  was  quickly  skinned 
and  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Indians,  and  the  gorging 
commenced.  The  bucks  got  most  of  the  meat;  the 
squaws,  whether  from  choice  or  necessity,  probably 
the  latter,  got  the  intestines.  Those  persons  who 
desire  to  remember  the  Indian  maiden  as  a  model  of 
beauty,  purity  and  neatness,  had  better  skip  this  arti 
cle.  The  -women  would  carry  the  intestines  to  the 
fire,  rip  them  open,  empty  them  of  the  undigested  con 
tents,  and  then  proceed  to  cut  them  into  long  strips, 
holding  on  to  the  intestines  with  their  toes  for  this 
purpose.  They  laid  these  strips,  without  washing  or 
other  preparation,  on  the  fire,  and  when  warmed 
through,  would  eat  them  with  much  gusto.  I  have 
witnessed  the  same  thing  at  other  times.  Those  who 
think  that  an  artificial  style  of  life  begets  a  love  for 
stimulants  will  have  to  find  some  other  reason  with 
the  Indian,  for  he  takes  to  whisky  as  a  babe  does  to 
milk.  A  drunken  Indian  is  not  less  foolish,  noisy 
and  brutal,  than  his  white  brother.  In  spite  of  all 
laws  to  the  contrary,  the  sale  of  whisky  to  the  In 
dian  goes  on  and  is  doing  as  much  as  anything  else 
to  thin  out  the  race. 

PREVAILING   DISEASES   AND    TREATMENT. 

Like  all  tribes  of  uncivilized  people,  the  Indians 
treated  disease  with  a  mixture  of  herbs  and  sorcery. 


Starvation,  gluttony  and  exposure  were  the  sources 
of  most  of  their  ailings.  The  survival  of  the  fittest 
was  a  thing  of  course.  There  were  few  lame  or  de 
formed.  The  squaw  about  to  become  a  mother 
would  retire  from  the  camp  for  a  day  or  two  and  live 
in  a  hut  prepared  for  the  occasion  in  some  secluded 
place.  A  "  lying-in  hospital  "  of  this  kind,  for  the 
Buena  Vista  Indians,  was  a  nest  under  the  brow  of  a 
rock  on  the  south  side  of  the  mountain,  so  hidden  by 
the  bushes  that  no  indication  of  it  appeared  to  a  per 
son  casually  passing. 

Some  Indian  in  the  tribe  usually  administered 
herbs  and  incantations  when  too  much  clover  in  the 
Spring,  or  too  much  meat  after  a  successful  hunt 
overtasked  the  powers  of  the  stomach.  Occasionally 
epidemics  would  sweep  away  half  the  population. 

GREAT   SCOURGE,  1832-33. 

Colonel  J.  J.  Warner,  now  of  Los  Angeles,  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Ewing  trapping  expedition,  which  passed 
north  through  these  valleys  in  1832,  and  back  again 
in  1833,  says:— 

In  the  Fall  of  1832,  there  were  a  number  of  Indian 
villages  on  Kings  river,  between  its  mouth  and  the 
mountains;  also  on  the  San  Joaquin  river,  from  the 
base  of  the  mountains  down  to  and  some  distance 
below  the  great  slouch.  On  the  Merced  river,  from 
the  mountains  to  its  junction  with  the  Sun  Joaquin 
there  were  no  Indian  villages;  but  from  about  this 
point  on  the  San  Joaquin,  as  well  as  on  its  principal 
tributaries,  the  Indian  villages  wrere  numerous,  many 
of  them  containing  from  filly  to  one  hundred  dwell 
ings,  built  with  poles  and  thatched  with  rushes. 
With  some  few  exceptions,  the  Indians  were  peace 
ably  disposed.  On  the  Tuolumne,  Stanislaus,  arid 
Calaveras  rivers  there  were  Indian  villages  above 
the  mouths,  as  also  at  or  near  their  junction  with 
the  San  Joaquin.  The  most  hostile  were  on  the 
Calaveras  river.  The  bunks  of  the  Sucrumento 
river,  in  its  whole  course  through  the  valley,  was 
studded  with  Indian  villages,  the  houses  of  which, 
in  the  Spring,  during  the  day-time,  were  red  with 
the  salmon  the  aborigines  were  curing. 

At  this  time  there  were  not,  on  the  San  Jouquin  or 
Sacramento  rivers,  or  any  of  their  tribuiaries,  nor 
within  the  valleys  of  the  two  rivers,  any  inhabitants 
but  Indians.  On  no  part  of  the  continent  over 
which  I  had  then  or  have  since  traveled  was  so 
numerous  an  Indian  population,  subsisting  upon  the 
natural  products  of  the  soil  and  waters,  as  in  the 
valleys  of  the  San  Joaquin  and  Sucramento.  There 
was  no  cultivation  of  the  soil  by  them;  game,  fish, 
nuts  of  the  forest,  and  seeds  of  the  field  constituted 
their  entire  food.  They  were  experts  in  catching 
fish  in  many  ways,  and  in  snaring  game  in  divers 
modes. 

On  our  return,  late  in  the  Summer  of  1833,  we 
found  the  vallej's  depopulated.  From  the  head  of 
the  Sucramento  to  the  great  bend  and  slough  of  the 
San  Joaquin  we  did  not  see  more  than  six  or  eight 
live  Indians,  while  large  numbers  of  their  skulls  and 
dead  bodies  were  to  be  seen  under  almost  every 
shade  tree  near  water,  where  the  uninhabited  and 
deserted  villages  had  been  converted  into  grave 
yards;  and  on  the  San  Joaquin  river,  in  the  imme 
diate  neighborhood  of  the  larger  class  of  villages, 
which  the  preceding  year  were  the  abodes  of  large 
numbers  of  these  Indians,  we  found  not  only  many 


THE  ABORIGINES. 


261 


graves,  but  the  vestiges  of  a  funeral  pyre.  At  the 
mouth  of  Kings  river  we  encountered  the  fhvt  and 
only  village  of  the  stricken  race  that  we  had  seen 
after  entering  the  great  valley;  this  village  contained 
a  large  number  of  Indians  temporarily  stopping  at 
that  place. 

We  were  encamped  rear  the  village  one  night 
only,  and  during  that  time,  the  death  angel  passing 
over  the  camping  ground  of  the  plague-stricken  fugi 
tives,  waved  his  wand,  summoning  from  a  littl#  rem 
nant  of  a  once  numerous  people  a  score  of  victims  to 
muster  in  the  land  of  the  Munitoa;  and  the  cries  of 
the  dying,  mingling  with  the  wails  of  the  bereaved, 
made  the  night  hideous  in  that  veritable  valley  of 
death. 

ANECDOTES   OP   THE   INDIANS. 

Captain  Charlie  was  quite  a  character  in  his  way. 
He  had  seen  the  foreign  mining  tax  collector  going 
about  among  the  Chinamen  collecting  $4  a  month 
from  them,  and  he  concluded  to  try  it  himself. 
Knowing  the  value  of  an  impressive  appearance,  he 
put  on,  in  addition  to  his  rather  short  hickory  shirt 
which  constituted  his  usual  dress,  a  naval  coat  much 
too  small  for  his  well-rounded  body,  which  had 
the  effect  of  hauling  his  arms  back  and  giving  a 
peculiar  strut  to  his  walk.  He  also  put  on  a  pair  of 
brass  bowed  spectacles.  He  managed  to  get  a  large 
book,  a  Bible  as  it  was  said,  and  with  some  pencils 
and  paper  he  started  out,  backed  by  some  half  a 
dozen  of  his  braves,  to  enforce  the  collection.  His 
usual  salutation  was,  "  This  my  dirt,  my  countlee, 
my  gold;  you  pay  me  folin  miners  tax,"  which  they 
usually  did  without  much  dispute.  He  gave  them, 
in  exchange  for  their  money,  a  paper  full  of  pictures 
of  arrows,  bows,  knives,  and  other  warlike  imple 
ments.  This  continued  for  some  days,  when  the 
officers  of  the  county  interfered  and  told  Jack  that 
ho  must  not  do  it  any  more.  Jack  was  not  to  be 
thwarted  so  easily,  however. 

One  morning,  when  Bill  Gist,  Deputy  Sheriff,  col 
lector  of  the  foreign  miners  tax,  was  on  his  daily 
round,  he  visited  a  camp  where  he  had  every  reason 
to  think  a  large  number  of  Chinamen  were  at  work, 
but  none  were  in  sight.  Captain  Charlie  was  perched 
on  a  rock,  singing  in  his  happiest  mood  tome  of  his 
triumphs  over  the  Indians,  or  perhaps  a  love  ditty  to 
some  fascinating  squaw.  "  No-wa-ha-har  Neshean. 
No-wa-ha-har  Mokelke-,"  etc. 

Gist — "  Good  morning,  Charlie." 

Charlie — "  Good  day.  No-wa-ha-har  Neshean" — 
(in  a  most  indifferent  manner). 

Gist — "Charlie,  where  are  the  Chinamen?" 

Charlie — "  Do  no;  me  no  see.  No-wa-ha-har,  No- 
wa-ha-har  Neshean." 

Gist  suspected  something  wrong,  and  told  Charley 
that  he  knew  where  the  Chinamen  were,  but  he  denied 
knowing  anything  about  it,  and  kept  his  song  going 
in  a  provokingly  cool  way.  He  thought  he  would 
leave  and  come  some  other  time,  but  Captain  Charlie 
was  on  the  watch. 

"  Bill  Gist,  how  much  you  give  me  show  you 
twenty  Chinamen  ?" 


"Five  dollars,"  says  Bill. 

"You  think  Indian  d n  fool,  you  catchlee 

eighty  dollars;  give  five  dollars?  no-wa-ha-har, 
Neshean." 

"  Ten,"  says  Gist. 

"No-wa-ha-har,  Neshean." 

Gist   offered  fifteen,   but    Charlie    was   unmoved. 

Gist  was  about  to  leave,  but  Charley  had  not  played 
all  his  trumps. 

"  You  give  me  twenty  dollars,  make  sixty  dollars 
easy." 

Gist  offered  the  twenty,  and  had  to  pay  the  money 
down,  for  Charley  had  learned  to  distrust  a  white 
man's  promise. 

After  Jack  got  his  money  he  told  Gist  "  to  go  into 
chaplul,"  meaning  the  brush  near  by,  "  and  go  sleep; 
bime-by  Chinaman  he  come." 

Giwt  hid  him&elf  in  the  bushes,and  soon  the  Chinaman 
came  to  work,  when  he  pounced  them,  and  exacted 
the  eighty  dollars  in  full.  Soon  afterwards,  meeting 
Charlie,  he  learned  that  the  rascal  had  hidden  the 
Chinamen  in  a  tunnel  for  twenty  dollars,  and  after 
getting  twenty  out  of  him,  had  told  the  Chinamen 
to  come  out,  saying  to  them, 

'•  Folin  miner  tax-klector,  he  gone;  no  more  come 
back." 

The  last  seen  of  him  he  was  showing  his  twenties 
with  the  remark  that,  "  Chinamen  heap  good  men. 
Catchee  twenty  dollars  hide  um;  catchee  twenty 
dollars  find  um;  heap  good  Chinamen." 

At  another  time,  he  undertook  to  run  a  boarding- 
house,  at  so  much  per  week.  He  got  a  cabin,  some 
flour  and  meat,  table  utensils,  and  a  bell,  and  opened 
in  style,  ringing  the  bell  three  times  a  day;  "  all  the 
same  as  white  men."  His  institution  flourished  until 
the-following  Sunday  (pay-day),  when  it  stopped  for 
the  reason,  as  Charley  said, 

"D n  Indian  no  'count,  no  pay." 

He  also  engaged  in  mining.  He  found  some  good 
ground  up  on  a  side-hill,  and  undertook  to  carry 
water  in  a  ditch  to  the  place,  but  he  failed  to  make 
the  water  run  to  it. 

"  White  men  make  water  run  up  hill,  Indian  no 
can  do.  AVhite  man  heap  sale" 


CHAPTER  XL. 

CANALS. 

Kilham  Ditches — Ham  Ditch — Amador  and  Sutter  Ditch — Wil 
low  Spring  Ditch — Floating  Lumber — Novel  Passenger  B  mt 
— Empire  Ditch — Amador  Ditch — Buena  Vista  Ditch — 
Lancha  Plana  Ditch— The  Nigger  Ditch— Poverty  Bar  Ditch 
— Volcano  Ditch — Cosumnes  VVater  Company — The  Amador 
Canal. 

SOON  after  the  coming  of  the  miners,  the  want  of 
water  and  the  means  to  supply  it  were  often  the 
subjects  of  consideration.  From  turning  the  water 
out  of  a  river  or  gulch  to  mine  out  the  bed,  to  carry 
ing  it  a  mile  or  two  to  wash  rich  dirt,  was  but  a 
small  step.  The  season  of  1850-51,  was  dry,  little 
or  no  rain  falling  until  April.  During  the  Winter 


262 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


many  short  ditches  were  cut,  and  many  more  con 
templated.  The  Johnston  family,  who  settled  around 
the  Gate,  cut  a  ditch  about  one  mile  long  in  the 
Spring  of  1851,  from  the  north  fork  of  Jackson  to 
the  gulch  below  the  Kennedy  mill.  This  is  said  to 
have  been,  at  the  time,  the  longest  ditch  in  the 
county.  The  most  important  system  of  ditches  in 
the  vicinity  of  Jackson  was  inaugurated  by  Horace 
Kilham  and  his  associates.  The  following  able 
account  of  them  is  furnished  by  Mr.  H.  L.  Loveridge, 
who  has  been  connected  with  them  from  their 
inception  to  the  present  time: — 

KILHAM    DITCHES. 

The  first  ditch  constructed  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Jackson  was  for  the  conveyance  of  water  to  the 
placer  mines  in  the  vicinity  of  Hunt's  gulch,  Mur 
phy's  gulch  and  ridge,  and  Butte  City,  and  was 
surveyed  by  two  brothers  by  the  name  of  Watkins, 
in  the  Fall  of  1851,  the  head  of  the  ditch  beginning 
at  a  point  some  three  and  a  half  miles  above  the 
town  of  Jackson,  on  the  south  fork  of  Jackson  creek. 
After  the  filing  of  a  claim  to  the  right  of  way,  and 
the  completion  of  the  survey  of  the  ditch,  the  con 
struction  work  was  deferred  till  the  Spring  of  1852, 
at  which  time  Horace  Kilham,  William  Lewis, 

Thomas  Campbell,  and  Merrill,  purchased  the 

interests  of  the  Watkins  brothers  to  the  right  of  way 
for  the  ditch,  as  well  as  the  right  to  diversion  of 
the  waters  of  the  creek  for  its  supply;  and  they  at 
once  commenced  the  work  of  construction,  doing 
the  principal  portion  of  the  labor  themselves,  com 
pleting  the  ditch  to  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Scotts- 
ville,  about  the  20th  of  November  of  that  year 
which,  by  the  ditch  line,  was  seven  miles  in  length, 
with  an  outlay,  besides  their  own  labor,  of  two 
thousand  dollars,  the  most  of  the  money  being 
expended  in  the  construction  of  flumes. 

During  the  Winter  and  Spring  of  1852,  Kilham, 
Lewis  and  Merrill  appropriated  the  most  of  their 
share  of  the  water  supply  in  mining  in  Ken  tuck  and 
Rich  gulches,  located  north  and  west  of  Gold  hill, 
while  Campbell  sold  his  portion  of  the  water  to  the 
miners  about  Scottsville  and  Butte  City,  the  ditch 
being  completed  to  the  latter-mentioned  locality  in 
January,  1853.  During  the  Spring  of  the  same  year 
a  branch  ditch  was  constructed  to  Murphy's  gulch 
and  ridge,  where  the  owners  of  good  paying  claims 
were  anxiously  awaiting  the  coming  of  the  much- 
needed  water.  The  price  charged  for  water  during 
the  first  season  of  its  introduction,  was  one  dollar  per 
inch  per  day. 

Late  in  the  Spring  of  1853  Campbell  and  Lewis 
sold  their  interests  in  the  ditch  to  Kilham  and  Mer 
rill,  and  returned  to  their  homes  in  the  East,  while 
Kilham  and  Merrill  remained  to  reap  a  rich  harvest 
of  gold  in  their  sales  of  water,  which  averaged,  dur 
ing  the  full  water  supply  of  eight  months  each  season, 
for  two  years,  five  thousand  dollars  per  month.  In 
the  Spring  of  1855  Merrill  returned  to  his  old  home 
in  Wisconsin,  in  company  with  Braxton  Davenport, 


a  prominent  miner  of  Scottsville,  to  whom  Merrill 
sold  his  interest  in  the  ditch  property.  Davenport 
soon  returned,  and  after  a  brief  period  disposed  of 
his  one-half  interest  in  the  ditch  to  Kilham. 

One  ditch  being  inadequate  to  supply  the  exten 
sive  mining  region  covered  by  its'  construction,  a 
second  ditch  from  Jackson  creek,  covering  the  same 
territory  of  mineral  wealth,  with  an  additional  alti 
tude  of  thirty  feet,  was  soon  considered  to  be  a 
remunerative  investment,  and  early  in  the  Spring  of 

1853  Major  Cunningham,  W.  V.  Clark,  and Mun- 

son,  commenced  the  construction  of  a  ditch,  with  its 
head  on  the  south  fork  of  Jackson  creek,  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  above  the  Kilham  ditch,  and  on  the 
middle  fork,  six  miles  above  the  town  of  Jackson; 
and  pushing  their  work  ahead  with  all  possible  speed, 
their  ditch  reached  completion  in  May  of  that  year. 
East  of  Tunnel  hill,  in  the  Alpi  ranch,  a  spacious 
distributing  reservoir  was  built,  which  has  ever 
proved  a  most  valuable  water  depository  in  connec 
tion  with  the  water  supply  of  Butte  basin  and  its 
surrounding  country.  From  this  reservoir  to  the 
point  where  the  ditch  heads  on  the  south  fork,  the. 
distance  is  seven  miles,  and  from  the  head  of  the 
middle  fork  branch,  fifteen  miles;  the  cost  of  con 
struction,  not  including  the  labor  of  its  proprietors, 
was  six  thousand  dollars.  After  the  completion  of 
this  enterprise,  water  was  sold  at  seventy-five  cents 
per  inch. 

In  the  Fall  of  1855  Mr.  Kilham  bought  the  Cun 
ningham  (so  called)  ditch  property,  and  its  retiring 
owners  entered  into  the  pursuit  of  mining — Cunning 
ham  and  Munson  remaining  in  the  vicinity  of  Butte 
City  for  a  couple  of  years,  following  their  avocation 
successfully,  while  Mr.  Clark  became  a  mining  pro 
prietor  in  a  wealthy  mineral  district  of  West  Point, 
Calaveras  county,  where,  we  believe,  he  still  resides. 
Cunningham  and  Munson  left  Butte  City  in  the 
Spring  of  1857,  and  became  interested  soon  there 
after  in  some  extensive  mining  projects  in  Placer 
county. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Kilham  assumed  the  sole  proprie 
torship  of  both  of  the  Jackson  creek  ditches,  ho 
became  involved  in  a  lawsuit  with  a  party  on  both 
the  middle  and  south  forks,  in  consequence  of  the 
attempt  of  some  miners  to  divert  the  waters  from 
the  creeks  above  the  head  of  his  ditches  to  neigh 
boring  mining  localities,  from  which  places  the  water 
would  flow  into  the  streams  below  where  be  could 
utilize  it;  and  after  a  protracted  siege  of  litigation, 
Kilham  beat  his  water  contestants,  since  which  time 
no  trouble  of  a  similar  character  that  is  worthy  of 
note  has  occurred. 

And  now,  in  order  to  make  an  intelligible  connec 
tion  with  all  these  ditch  interests,  it  becomes  neces 
sary  to  digress  a  little  for  the  moment  and  chronicle 
the  addition  of  a  new  ditch  enterprise — the  Butte 
ditch — stretching  its  lengthy  and  rugged  line  twenty 
miles  above  Tunnel  hill,  where  it  was  fed  by  the 
cold,  crystal  waters  of  the  north  fork  of  the  Mokel- 


CANALS. 


263 


umne  river.  This  work  was  commenced  in  tho 
Spring  of  1856,  and  finished  late  in  the  Fall  of  the 
same  year,  at  a  cost  of  one  hundred  thousand  dol 
lars.  The  main  trunk  of  the  ditch  was  capable  of 
conveying  seven  hundred  inches  of  water,  while 
its  lateral  branches  were  constructed  to  carry  a 
sufficient  quantity  to  accommodate  the  demands  of 
the  several  mining  sections  which  they  supplied. 
Slabtown  and  Iowa  Flat,  hitherto  without  water 
facilities  for  mining  purposes,  were,  by  this  ditch, 
favored  with  an  ample  supply,  and  during  the  few 
years  that  these  placers  lasted,  the  water  sales  were 
a  handsome  income  to  the  ditch  company.  The 
uniform  price  established  for  water  was  fifty  cents 
per  inch. 

In  the  Spring  of  1858,  after  six  years  of  almost 
uninterrupted  prosperity  in  the  sales  of  water,  Mr. 
Kilham  sold  all  his  ditch  interests  to  the  Butte  Ditch 
Company  for  twenty-two  thousand  dollar^,  the  sale 
including  an  orchard  and  vineyard  belonging  to  the 
property,  which  was  soon  thereafter  sold  by  its  late 
purchasers  to  Dr.  Samuel  Page  and  Peter  A.  Martin 
for  two  thousand  dollars.  The  price  of  water  from 
the  creek  ditches  was  at  this  time  dropped  from 
seventy-five  to  forty  cents  per  inch. 

During  the  Summer  of  1858,  a  suspension  flume 
was  constructed  from  a  point  half  a  mile  west  of  C. 
J.  Kuffuer's  residence  to  the  north  end  of  Tunnel 
hill,  a  distance  of  thirty-three  hundred  feet,  and 
which  was,  at  its  highest  point  from  the  surface  of 
the  ground,  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet.  The  flume 
was  built  by  Conrad  &  Holt  for  fifteen  thousand  dol 
lars,  and  was  not  entirely  a  success  to  its  contractors, 
for  they  warranted  the  structure  to  stand  for  one  year 
from  the  date  of  completion,  and  a  portion  of  it  broke 
down  before  the  expiration  of  the  year,  and  the 
burden  of  rebuilding  fell  upon  its  contractors.  The 
flume  was  repaired  in  the  Spring  of  1860,  and  stood 
till  November,  1863,  when  it  was  entirely  thrown 
down  by  a  heavy  wind-storm  then  prevailing.  In 
consequence  of  the  heavy  expense  incurred  in  bring 
ing  the  water  on  Tunnel  hill,  the  price  established 
was  fifty  cents  per  inch — ten  cents  more  than  for 
other  sections.  In  the  year  of  1861,  water  fo.r  dig 
gings  other  than  Tunnel  hill,  was  reduced  to  thirty 
cents  per  inch,  and  two  years  thereafter  to  twenty- 
five  cents  per  inch.  About  this  time  the  company 
became  financially  embarrassed,  and  the  two  mort 
gages  hanging  over  the  property  had  to  be  paid, 
when  three  members  of  the  company,  Isaac  Tripp, 
William  Stickle,  and  A.  M.  Harris,  who  held  the 
second  mortgage,  paid  the  first  one  and  took  the 
property.  In  the  Fall  of  1864,  C.  D.  Home  pur 
chased  a  fourth  interest  in  the  property,  and  at  once 
became  its  active  manager.  In  the  Spring  of  1866, 
water  was  again  conducted  to  Tunnel  hill  by  an 
eleven-inch  iron  pipe,  but  the  sales  of  water  there 
did  not  justify  the  expense  incurred  in  conducting  the 
water  where  the  paying  portion  of  the  hill  had 
before  become  so  nearly  exhausted. 


In  February,  1870,  the  river  ditch  was  sold  to  the 
Amador  Canal  Company  for  twenty  thousand  dollars 
— the  creek  ditches  not  being  included  in  the  sale. 
The  purchase  of  the  Butte  ditch  by  the  canal  com 
pany  was  no  doubt  for  the  object  of  securing  the 
water-right  of  the  former,  as  no  portion  of  the  old 
river  ditch  has  ever  been  used  by  the  canal  company. 

In  a  financial  point  of  view,  the  Butte  ditch  was  a 
failure,  for  it  never  paid  one-fourth  the  cost  of  its 
construction,  for  its  water  market  was  too  limited  to 
warrant  the  expensive  outlay  of  its  building.  But 
the  Kilham  ditches  always  proved  a  source  of  remun 
erative  profit  to  their  owners.  For  several  years 
past  the  lower  creek  ditch  has  not  been  in  use,  as  the 
upper  ditch  is  of  sufficient  capacity  (five  hundred 
inches)  to  furnish  the  needed  water  supply  along  its 
entire  line — the  water  being  used  for  mining  and 
irrigating  purposes.  The  price  of  water  for  several 
years  past  has  been  for  the  irrigation  of  alfalfa, 
twelve  and  a  half  cents,  and  for  trees  and  vegetables, 
twenty  cents  per  inch,  while  for  mining  the  price 
varies  from  four  to  ten  cents  per  inch,  according  to 
the  quantity  used. 

The  ownership  of  the  entire  ditch  interests  have, 
within  the  past  few  years,  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Mr.  C.  D.  Home,  under  whose  superintendence  the 
property  has  been  managed  since  his  first  connection 
with  the  ditch. 

THE    HAM    DITCH. 

This  canal,  so  called  from  the  name  of  the  con 
structor,  the  most  costly  and  extensive,  as  well  as 
unprofitable,  of  all  the  water  projects  inaugurated  in 
Amador  county,  was  surveyed  in  1852  by  Alon/io  Platt 

and Hubbard.  The  intention  was  to  supply  all 

the  middle  and  western  portion  of  the  county  with 
water,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and  lumber  as  well, 
for  it  was  to  be  a  flume,  four  feet  wide  at  the  bottom 
and  five  at  the  top,  and  three  feet  deep,  with  gradi 
ents  and  curves  that  should  permit  the  floating  of 
lumber  of  any  dimensions  likely  to  be  required  in  the 
mines.  The  project  involved  the  building  of  several 
mills  at  the  different  branches  of  the  north  fork  of  the 
Mokelumne  river.  The  first  mill  was  put  up  on  Mill 
creek,  and  the  work  inaugurated  in  1854.  The  mill, 
a  water-power,  was  a  splendid  piece  of  mechanism, 
running  a  sash  saw,  two  hundred  and  fifty  strokes  a 
minute,  cutting  twenty-three  thousand  feet  a  day. 
In  1853  J.  C.  Ham  took  the  contract  to  build  eleven 
and  a  half  miles  of  flume,  at  the  following  rates: 
Earth  grading,  fifty  cents  per  yard;  hard-pan,  two 
dollars  per  yard;  rock,  five  dollars  per  yard;  lumber, 
eighty  dollars  per  thousand;  nails,  twenty-five  dol 
lars  per  hundred  weight. 

The  mill  was  constructed  with  edger  and  mortising 
|  saws,  so  that  the  entire  work,  except  laying  the 
flume,  was  done  by  the  machinery.  By  these  appli 
ances  eleven  thousand  feet  could  be  put  into  the 
flume  every  day,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  being  laid  on 
a  wager  in  five  hours  and  a  half.  This  mill  was 
burned  up  in  1856,  by  a  fire  set  to  burn  the  slabs 


264 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


and  other  trash  which  had  accumulated  around  the 
mill.  Water  was  carried  to  Aqueduct  City,  across 
the  divide,  in  1856.  Much  of  the  grading  had  been 
paid  for  in  scrip,  which  entitled  the  holder  to  a  pre 
ferred  right  to  water  when  the  flume  should  be 
finished.  When  the  work  was  finished,  the  cost  was 
estimated  at  three  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand 
dollars.  Mill  creek  proving  insufficient  to  supply 
the  flume,  the  water  failing  in  the  Summer,  an 
extension  was  determined  on.  To  complete  this 
extension  the  property  was  mortgaged  to  James 
Birch,  for  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  Being 
unable  to  pay  this,  the  property  was  mortgaged  to 
J.  Mora  Moss  &  Co.,  for  fifty  thousand  dollars,  the 
payment  of  the  Birch  lien  with  the  accrued  interest 
being  effected  in  this  way.  The  interest  of  the  last 
named  mortgage  was  fixed  at  one  and  one-half  per 
cent,  per  month.  The  property  eventually  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Pioche,  Bayurque  &  Co.,  who  were  said 
to  be  handling  the  money  of  Louis  Napoleon.  The 
project  was  disastrous  to  every  one  investing  in  it. 
The  water  scrip,  or  certificates  for  work  done,  pay 
able  in  water  on  the  completion  of  the  ditch,  were 
not  recognized  by  the  last  owners.  The  flume  was 
not  capable  of  carrying  lumber  to  any  extent,  and 
damages  and  breaks  by  storms,  failure  of  the  mines, 
cost  of  necessary  lateral  branches,  with  expensive, 
perhaps  extravagant  management,  soon  bankrupted 
the  company,  and  a  few  years  since  the  property 
was  purchased  by  Chas.  McLaughlin  of  San  Fran 
cisco,  for  a  few  thousand  dollars,  or  less  than  five 
per  cent,  of  the  original  cost,  which  must  have  been 
near  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  country 
at  large  derived  some  benefit  from  the  distribution 
of  water,  which,  however,  was  sold  at  high  rates, 
being  fifty  cents  an  inch  outlet,  under  six  inches 
pressure.  None  of  the  originators  made  anything 
out  of  the  affair.  J.  C.  Ham,  now  an  old  man,  who 
put  such  a  portion  of  his  active  life  as  well  as  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  in  cash  into  the  project,  is 
comparatively  poor,  though  still  full  of  gigantic 
plans  for  utilizing  the  lumber  forest  of  the  Sierras. 

THE   AMADOR    AND    SUTTER   DITCH 

Was  surveyed  in  the  Spring  of  1853,  by  Emanuc1 
Wise  and  the  Howard  brothers,  Lyman,  Jerry,  and 
Martin.  The  water  was  taken  out  of  Sutter  creek 
about  four  miles  below  Volcano,  and  carried  to  the 
towns  of  Sutter  and  Amador.  The  cost  was  about 
twenty-two  thousand  dollars.  It  did  not  prove  a 
profitable  investment,  and  was  afterwards  sold  to  a 
company  of  Italians  for  six  thousand  dollars,  who 
got  their  money  back  in  the  first  run  of  bix  months. 
The  Keystone  mining  company  now  own  it. 

THE    WILLOW    SPRING    DITCH. 

Surveying  commenced  in  1851.  The  ground  was 
broken  the  following  year.  The  original  proprietors 
were  A.  Wood,  J.  Riddle,  John  Cursner,  Joe  Jack 
son,  Fitzgeral  and  others,  twenty  in  all,  most  of  the 
proprietors  being  engaged  in  the  work.  The  cost 


was  estimated  at  forty  thousand  dollars,  but  it 
swelled  to  eighty  thousand  dollars  before  completion. 
It  took  the  water  from  the  south  fork  of  the  Cosum- 
nes  and  distributed  it  through  the  north-western 
part  of  the  county,  including  the  camps  of  Plymouth, 
Forest  Home,  Puckerville,  Ai'kansas  diggings,  etc. 
Porter,  who  was  afterwards  murdered  and  robbed 
while  engaged  in  his  duties,  was  made  superintendent. 
Though  managed  economically  the  property  did 
not  pay  according  to  expectations,  and  in  1854  it  was 
sold  to  William  Ritter  and  John  O'Brien,  for  about 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  who  enlarged  the  channel 
and  extended  it  to  the  middle  fork  of  the  Cosumnes,  at 
a  cost  of  twenty-four  thousand  dollars  more.  In 
June,  1872,  the  property  was  purchased  by  Alvinza 
Hayward  &  Co.,  for  eighteen  thousand  dollars.  The 
channel  was  enlarged  to  three  feet  on  the  bottom, 
five  at  the  top,  with  a  depth  of  three  feet.  Grades 
and  curves^were  arranged  with  reference  to  floating 
lumber  and  mining  timbers,  for  which  purpose  it 
proved  well  adapted,  millions  of  feet  having  been 
successfully  sent  through  to  the  works  at  Plymouth. 

FLOATING  LUMBER. 

Thus  after  twenty  years  of  experiment  a  part  of 
the  hopes  of  ditch  projectors  of  carrying  lumber 
was  realized. 

As  this  was  the  first  successful  operation  of  the 
kind  in  the  county  a  few  words  as  to  the  former 
expectations  and  failures  may  be  permissible.  The 
carrying  of  freight  in  artificial  rivers  is  as  old  as  the 
age  of  man.  It  is  most  successful  in  moderately 
level  countries.  The  first  great  project  of  the  kind 
in  the  United  States  was  the  Clinton  ditch  (as  it  was 
called  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  was  unsparing  in 
his  ridicule  of  it),  which  was  projected  three-quar 
ters  of  a  century  since  by  the  New  York  settlers 
from  Holland,  where  they  had  been  accustomed  to  see 
artificial  rivers  made  the  channels  of  a  national  com 
merce.  But  Holland  is  a  flat  country.  New  York, 
though  not  flat,  is  by  no  means  a  Sierra  Nevada- 
The  canal  meanders  through  valleys  and  occasionally 
along  a  gentle  slope,  and  when  an  aqueduct,  as  at 
Little  Falls,  Rochester,  or  Lockport  is  required,  it 
is  constructed  of  granite  in  a  substantial  manner,  and 
even  then  a  break  will  sometimes  occur  which  neces 
sitates  costly  repairs.  Let  one,  who  has  seen  the 
successful  artificial  water  channels,  pass  along  the 
line  of  a  ditch  in  the  Sierras,  and  compare  the 
scarcely-flowing  stream  with  only  three  or  four 
inches  grade  to  the  mile,  through  a  comparatively 
level  country,  with  a  stream  in  the  Sierra  Nevadas, 
diverted  from  its  channel  and  carried  around  sharp 
ledges  of  rock,  across  ravines  a  hundred  feet  deep  on 
a  slender  tressle  work,  winding  its  way  until  a  dizzy 
height  of  hundreds  of  feet  is  attained,  and  the 
absurdity  of  trying  to  make  it  a  channel  for  trans 
portation  will  be  apparent.  The  canal,  to  be  suc 
cessful  as  a  supply  of  water,  must  have  as  much  fall 
as  is  possible  without  washing  the  banks.  A  stick 
of  timber  turned  crosswise  in  the  ditch  would,  in 


JAME3  tESSLEY. 


CANALS. 


265 


five  minutes,  cause  an  overflow  that  might  wash 
away  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  ditch,  where  digging  a 
new  channel  on  the  grade  was  nearly  impossible. 
The  slight  manner  in  which  many  of  the  ditches 
were  constructed  was  the  cause  of  many  failures.  It 
is  even  now  no  unusual  thing  to  see  a  flume  of  a 
capacity  of  several  hundred  inches,  standing  on  one 
leg  away  up  on  the  side  of  a  mountain,  in  such  a 
precarious  situation  that  a  man  with  a  family 
depending  on  him  for  support  would  have  no  right  to 
walk  over  the  shaky  concern.  The  utility  of  ditches 
as  a  means  of  transportation  is  undoubted,  and  suc 
cess  will  result  from  numberless  trials  and  failures. 
Engineering  will  overcome  the  difficulties,  and  the 
Sierras  will  be  induced  to  give  up  their  treasures  of 
sugar  and  other  pines  without  the  weary  dragging 
through  the  dusty  roads,  now  incident  to  the  lumber 
trade. 

NOVEL   PASSENGER  BOAT. 

While  the  Ham  flume  was  building  it  was  pro 
posed  to  carry  passengers  up  as  well  as  down  by 
means  of  the  stream.  The  passengers  could,  of 
course,  float  comfortably  down  in  a  boat.  To  get  up 
stream  was  provided  for.  A  car,  running  on  a  track, 
which  was  to  be  laid  on  the  sides  of  the  flume,  was 
to  have  paddle  wheels  at  each  end,  which,  turned 
by  the  water,  would  turn  the  car  wheels,  attached  to 
the  same  axle,  and  thus  propel  the  carriage  up  the 
stream.  The  model  was  tried,  but  no  reporters  being 
permitted  to  witness  the  experiment,  the  result  can 
only  be  conjectured. 

To  return  to  the  Plymouth  or  Willow  Spring  ditch. 
It  was  extended  to  Irish  hill  in  the  western  part  of 
the  county,  to  work  some  gravel  beds  on  the  Arroyo 
Seco  grant. 

THE   EMPIRE   DITCH 

Was  constructed  by  George  and  Eichard  Withington, 
Charles  Hutz,  Samuel  Ewing,  Perrin  and  Crowell, 
taking  water  out  of  Sutter  creek,  about  one  mile 
below  the  town  of  Sutter  Creek,  distributing  it 
around  the  country  between  Dry  creek  and  Sutter 
creek,  including  the  diggings  around  Muletown  and 
vicinity.  This  eventually  became  consolidated  with 
the  Amanor  canal,  owned  by  the  Johnstons. 

THE   AMADOR   DITCH, 

Said  to  be  the  first  ditch  of  any  length  con 
structed  in  the  county,  was  made  to  take  water  from 
Sutter  creek  to  the  placers  in  the  vicinity  of  lone. 
It  was  thirteen  miles  in  length,  and  cost  about  twenty 
thousand  dollars. 

THE   BUENA   VISTA   DITCH 

Also  was  supplied  by  water  taken  out  of  Sutter  creek. 

This  was  surveyed  by Munger,  and  built  by  J. 

Foot  Turner,  a"bout  1856,  at  a  cost  of  eighteen  thou 
sand  dollars.  The  main  ditch  was  fifteen  miles  in 
length,  and  carried  the  water  to  the  rich  placers  dis 
covered  between  Buena  Bista  and  lone,  about  1854 
and  1855.  Extensions  were  made  to  Chaney  hill, 
also  to  Lincoln  gulch,  at  a  cost  of  several  thousand 
34 


dollars,  which,  however,  did  not  prove  remunerative. 
Water  at  first  was  sold  for  twenty -five  cents  an  inch, 
but  as  the  better  claims  were  worked  out,  it  was 
reduced  to  ten  cents.  The  property  was  generally 
remunerative. 

A  few  years  since  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  some 
Italians,  at  a  valuation  of  some  fifteen  hundred 
dollars. 

THE   LANCHA   PLANA   DITCH 

Took  water  from  Jackson  creek,  carrying  it  across 
the  dividing  ridge  near  AVaters'  ranch.  It  supplied 
Camp  Opera,  French  Camp,  Steven's  gulch  and  China 
gulch,  and  was  also  extended  to  the  hills  in  the 
vicinity  of  Putt's  bar.  The  entire  length  was  about 
thirty  miles,  costing  about  thirty  thousand  dollars. 
Walker,  Proctor  and  Lancaster  were  the  builders. 
When  it  was  built  water  was  sold  at  fifty  cents  per 
inch.  This  was  one  of  the  few  ditches  which 
proved  remunerative. 

THE    NIGGER   DITCH 

Was  built  by  a  colored  man,  who  had  made  several 
thousand  dollars  as  a  rag  pieker.  It  took  water  from 
Stony  creek  to  the  Buena  Vista  placers.  It  was 
about  eight  miles  in  length,  and  has  long  been 
abandoned. 

POVERTY-BAR   DITCH 

Was  mostly  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mokelumne 
river,  in  Calaveras  county.  A  branch,  by  means  of  a 
suspension  flume  ninety  feet  high,  was  carried  across 
the  river  into  Amador  county  near  the  famous  Butler 
claim.  The  whole  work  cost  ninety  thousand  dol 
lars,  and  was  built  by  McNeely,  Davis,  Morrow  and 
McCarty,  in  1857.  The  branch  into  Amador  county 
came  into  competition  with  the  Proctor  and  Walker 
ditch,  and  caused  a  reduction  of  the  price  of  water. 

THE   VOLCANO    DITCH 

Was  projected  in  1855,  by  George  Monkton,  B.  F. 
Wheeler,  James  T.  Farley,  J.  C.  Shipman,  M.  W. 
Gordon,  William  Eoberts,  and  W.  A.  Eliason,  the 
latter  person  acting  as  the  engineer.  It  connected 
Volcano  with  the  head-waters  of  Panther  and  Tiger 
creeks  and  Mokelumne  river,  and  had  the  greatest 
altitude  of  any  of  the  canals  in  the  county.  The 
work  was  commenced  in  1855,  and  completed  the  fol 
lowing  year.  The  cost  was  estimated  at  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  the  length  being  thirty-six  miles. 
It  was  proposed  to  pay  for  the  construction  one- 
third  cash,  one-third  notes,  and  one-third  water  scrip, 
or  paid-up  certificates,  calling  for  water  when  the 
work  was  completed.  The  ditch  ran  over  loose 
gravel  a  great  deal  of  the  way;  the  water  supply 
was  not  equal  to  the  expectation,  and  the  company 
got  involved.  They  borrowed  ten  thousand  dollars 
of  Charles  D.  Home  at  ten  per  cent,  per  month,  ex 
pecting  to  be  able  to  pay  it  in  a  short  time,  but  the 
mortgage  took  the  ditch.  Dr.  E.  B.  Harris  also 
loaned  the  company  some  ten  thousand  dollars,  but 
it  was  not  so  well  secured,  to  him  at  least,  and  the 
money  stayed  loaned.  Four  or  five  years  after  it 


266 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


passed  into  the  possession  of  Bayerque  &  Pioche,  and 
within  the  last  few  years  was  transferred  to  Charles 
McLaughlin,  with  the  Ham  ditch  and  other  property, 
for  a  consideration  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 
The  first  cost  of  the  property  so  conveyed  is  esti 
mated  as  follows  :  Jackson  ditch,  four  hundred  thou 
sand  dollars;  Open  Cut  flume,  ninety  thousand  dol 
lars;  Volcano  ditch,  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand 
dollars;  total,  six  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  dollars. 
The  water  scrip  was  not  recognized  by  the  subse 
quent  owners  of  the  ditch,  and  the  notes  given  by 
the  company  were  worthless  after  the  property, 
bad  passed  out  of  their  hands,  and  the  whole  matter 
of  building  and  running  it  was  the  source  of 
much  dissatisfaction.  The  water-rights  conveyed  by 
the  sale  of  these  ditches  to  McLaughlin  are  immense 
and  may  seriously  affect,  perhaps  jeopardize,  the 
prosperity  of  the  community. 

COSUMNES    WATER    COMPANY. 

The  ditch  belonging  to  this  company  was  com 
menced  in  1852,  by  Samuel  Loree  and  twenty  others. 
They  brought  water  into  Fiddletown  from  the  south 
fork  of  the  Cosumnes  in  1853,  the  length  of  the  ditch 
being  about  forty-five  miles,  costing  forty-five  thou 
sand  dollars.  The  ground  over  which  the  ditch  ran 
was  very  favorable  for  the  construction,  but  some 
bad  management  involved  the  company  in  debt.  The 
lumber  for  the  flumes  was  sawed  at  the  forks  of  the 
Cosumnes,  so  far  away  from  the  work  that  the  haul 
ing  cost  two  hundred  dollars  per  thousand  feet.  The 
company  borrowed  money  at  ten  percent,  per  month, 
which  soon  took  the  property.  The  ditch  passed 
into  the  hands  of  C.  A.  Purinton,  who  still  owns  it. 
A  branch  from  Dry  creek,  called  the  Eagle  ditch, 
running  to  Quartz  mountain  and  the  G-over  mines, 
costing  about  seven  thousand  dollars,  was  added  after 
Purinton's  purchase  of  the  property.  Water,  for 
merly  sold  for  thirty  cents,  is  now  sold  at  eight  cents 
per  inch,  with  a  probability  of  further  reduction. 
This  ditch,  running  through  an  agricultural  country, 
is  being  used  to  irrigate  orchards  and  vineyards,  and 
offers  great  inducements  for  improvements  in  that 
locality. 

THE   AMADOR   CANAL. 

The  enterprise  of  the  present  Amador  Canal  and 

Mining  Company  was  inaugurated  by Bowman 

and  others  about  the  year  1870,  under  the  name  of 
the  Sutter  Canal  and  Mining  Company,  by  the  pur 
chase  of  the  water-right  of  the  old  Butte  Ditch  Com 
pany,  which  right  controlled  a  large  proportion  of 
the  waters  of  the  north  or  main  fork  of  the  Mokel- 
umne  river. 

These  parties  nearly  completed  the  construction  of 
the  canal  from  its  lower  terminus  near  the  town  of 
Sutter  Creek  to  the  vicinity  of  Bald  Rock — a  distance 
of  over  ^hirty  miles — when,  on  account  of  financial 
embarrassment,  the  work  was  suspended. 

The  property  subsequently  went  into  the  hands  of 
a  receiver,  and  was  purchased  by  the  present  com 
pany  in  the  year  1873. 


The  construction  of  the  unfinished  portion  of  the 
works  was  commenced  in  October  of  the  same  year; 
and  being  to  a  considerable  extent  through  solid 
rock,  although  pushed  vigorously,  it  required  nearly 
a  year  for  its  completion.  In  the  Fall  of  1874  the 
water  through  it  was  first  applied  as  a  motive  power 
for  the  mills  and  mines  of  the  county;  from  that 
date  it  has  formed  a  very  important  feature  in  quartz 
mining.  Owing  to  its  cheapness  and  its  superiority 
as  a  motive  power,  much  low-grade  ore  has  been 
worked,  which,  under  the  expensive  method  of  work 
ing  by  steam-power,  would  have  still  remained  in 
the  earth. 

The  surveyor  under  whose  direction  the  work  was 
laid  out,  was  the  late  W.  L.  McKimm,  of  Jackson. 
The  length  of  the  main  ditch  is  forty-five  miles;  size, 
six  and  a  half  feet  on  the  bottom,  nine  on  the  top, 
and  three  feet  deep:  grade  about  eight  feet  to  the 
mile.  The  velocity  of  the  water  is  about  two  miles 
per  hour.  The  distributing  ditches  aggregate  about 
one  hundred  miles. 

The  ditch  and  its  branches  reach  nearly  every  por 
tion  of  the  county  where  water  is  likely  to  be  needed 
for  mining  or  agricultural  purposes,  including  in 
their  course  Clinton,  Irishtown,  Sutter  Creek,  Ama 
dor  City,  Jackson,  Butte  City,  Rancheria,  New 
Chicago,  Drytown,  and  lone.  The  towns  of  Sutter 
Creek,  Jackson  and  Amador  are  supplied  with  the 
water  for  domestic  and  other  purposes.  The  eleva 
tion  of  the  canal  at  the  head  is  about  nineteen  hun 
dred  feet  above  the  sea  level,  which  leaves  it  with  an 
elevation  sufficient  to  drive  the  heaviest  machinery 
at  all  the  towns  along  the  lines  of  extension.  The 
storage  capacity  is  about  six  billion  of  gallons.  The 
capital  invested  is  about  six  hundred  thousand  dol 
lars.  The  present  price  of  water  is  twenty  cents  per 
miners'  inch. 

The  project  has  been  managed  with  the  wisdom  of 
thirty  years'  experience.  It  was  built  with  labor  at 
reasonable  rates;  has  no  extraordinary  expenses, 
and  the  proprietors  have  no  expectation  of  extra 
ordinary  profits.  It  may  be  considered  as  the 
inauguration  of  a  new  epoch  in  Amador  county, 
which  will  witness  an  increased  production  in  min 
eral,  mechanical  and  agricultural  industries. 

The  present  officers  are  J.  S.  Emery,  president;  B. 
N.  Yan  Brunt,  secretary;  H.  H.  Towns,  general 
superintendent. 

In  reading  this  account  of  the  ditches  of  Amador 
county,  one  will  be  struck  with  their  generally 
unprofitable  character  as  a  financial  investment.  A 
few  short  ditches  were  extremely  profitable,  making 
their  owners  comfortable  fortunes  in  a  few  years. 
This  was  especially  true  of  the  Kilham  ditches, 
which  from  the  start  were  managed  with  discretion. 
The  small  ditch  running  into  Fiddletown  (Oleta)  paid 
its  owners,  in  early  days,  one  thousand  dollars  per 
month  during  the  mining  season;  so  of  other  short 
ditches  in  many  places.  Expensive  flumes,  which 
rotted  down  in  two  or  three  years ;  slides  and  wash- 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 


267 


outs,  and  constantly  decreasing  market  for  the  water, 
caused  some  of  the  ditches  to  be  abandoned  soon 
after  their  construction.  The  hope  that  was  enter 
tained,  that  they  would  be  serviceable  for  agriculture, 
has  not  been  realized.  The  long  trestle-work  on 
which  they  were  built,  which  is  now  superceded  by 
iron  pipes;  the  high  grades,  sometimes  twenty  feet 
to  the  mile,  causing  a  rapid  flow  and  great  wearing 
of  the  banks;  and  the  location  of  ditches  in  other 
agricultural  Sections,  has  prevented  those  first  con 
structed  from  being  utilized  by  the  farmers. 

The  following  list  of  ditches,  published  in  1861. 
when  placer  mining  was  in  its  zenith,  will  be  inter 
esting  as  mentioning  many  ditches  then  in  active  use 
but  now  abandoned  and  forgotten: — 

AMADOR   COUNTY. 


NAME  OF  DITCH. 

SOURCE  OF  WATER. 

i: 

COST. 

NAME  OF  OWNER. 

Sutter  Creek  

ti 

16 

6 
IS 

V) 
•1-1 
4 
10 

:. 
•2-2 

•in 

0 

a 

4 

'I 

§20,000 
400,000 
3,500 
3,000 
18,000 
125,000 
40,000 
6,000 
10,000 
2,000 
22,000 
30,000 
2,000 
1,500 
2,000 
90,000 

J.  Johnston  &  Bros. 
P'oche  &  Bayerque. 
lames  Mehan. 
White  &  Co. 
J.  Foote  Turner. 
Butte  Canal  Co. 
C.  A.  Purinton. 
Davis  &  Co. 
W.  L.  McKimm. 
Duell  &  Co. 
Butte  Canal  Co. 
Proctor  &  Bowdon. 
Samuel  Loree. 
Meeks  &  Sons. 
N.  Parsons. 
Pioche  &  Bayerque. 

Amador  County  Canal     .  . 
Bovle                       

Mokelumne  River. 

Buckeye  
Buena  Vista  
Butte  Canal        ... 

Sutter  Creek  
Sutter  Creek  
Mokelumne  River. 
Cosuinnes  River.. 
Dry  Creek  .  .  . 

Consumnes  Water  Co  

Jackson  Creek  .  .  . 

Rancheria  Creek  . 

Kullum  Ditches  (3)  

Jackson  Creek.  .  .  . 
Jackson  Creek 

Loree's  

Rancheria  Creek  .  . 
Jackson  Creek.  .  .  . 
Itaiicheria,  Creek.  . 
Sutter  Crock  
Jackson  Creek 

Mile  Gulch  
Open  Cut  Fluin  •  
Pardee'8 

Purinton's  
Phelps&Co  

Suttor  Creek  
Dry  Creek  
Cosumnes  River  . 
Dry  Creek 

26 
6 

7 
5 
14 
8 
15 
5 
•2:. 

48 

15,000 
6,000 
8,000 
2,500 
16,000 
10,000 
10,000 
4,000 
150,000 
18,000 
140,000 

Reuben  Fry,  Agent. 
Phelps  &  Co. 
Simpson  &  Co. 
Hinktuton  &  Glover. 
Walker  &  Lancaster. 
Reichling  &  Alt. 
B.  F.  Richtmyer. 
Rich  &  Co. 
Est.  of  Win.  Ritter. 
J.  E.  Warner. 
Pioche  &  Bayerque. 

Potosi  . 

Proctor,  Walker  &  Co  
Reichling  &  Alt  (2)  
Richtmyer. 

Jackson  Creek  .  .  . 
Slitter  Creek  
Drv  Creek 

Rich  &  Co.    .  .         .... 

Big  Bar  Canon  ... 
Cosumnes  River.. 

Ritter  

Sutler  Cr^ek  and  Volcano. 
Volcano  

Sutter  Creek  
Mokelumne  R.  trib 

The  water-rights  are  likely  to  be  a  source  of  liti 
gation  in  the  future.  It  is  an  open  question  whether 
the  old  riparian  customs  should  not  be  restored,  and 
the  right  to  divert  a  stream  from  its  course  be  rele 
gated  to  the  eminent  domain  from  which  it  has  been 
wrenched  by  the  temporary  necessities  born  of  min 
ing  interests.  A  water  monopoly  is  not  less  detri 
mental  to  a  country  than  a  land  monopoly,  especially 
in  a  rainless  climate  requiring  artificial  irrigation  to 
insure  the  maturity  of  fruits  and  grains. 


CHAPTEE    XLI. 
PUBLIC    SCHOOLS. 

First  School  in  the  State — School  System — First  School  Report 
— First  County  Superintendent — School-book  War — School 
Census  in  18b'3  by  Districts — School  Statistics — Condition 
of  Schools  in  1871 — Tribute  to  School-teachers. 

PROVISIONS  for  public  schools  were  made  at  the 
first  session  of  the  Legislature,  in  1849.  Five  hun 
dred  thousand  acres  of  land,  which  had  been  donated 
by  Congress  for  this  purpose,  was  to  be  used  so  as  to 
make  a  perpetual  fund,  with  a  proviso,  however,  that 
it  might  be  used  for  other  purposes  "if  the  public 
exigencies  required"  This  produced  an  animated 


debate,  it  being  justly  considered  that  "  public  exi 
gencies  "  was  rather  an  indefinite  term,  and  would 
be  found  to  endanger  the  existence  of  a  school  fund. 
The  proviso  was  striken  out  by  a  majority  of  one 
vote.  It  was  made  essential  to  have  a  three  months' 
school  in  each  year,  in  order  to  have  a  portion  of  the 
public  fund.  Mr.  Semple  of  Sonoma  seems  to  have 
had  the  clearest  ideas  of  the  necessary  details.  The 
effort  to  organize  a  general  fund  sacred  to  public 
schools  was  opposed  by  William  M.  Gwin  and  Gen 
eral  H.  W.  Halleck,  and  conditions  were  actually 
imposed  on  the  formation  of  a  fund  which  resulted 
in  the  sale  and  loss  of  fifty  thousand  acres  of  the 
school  lands  before  the  matter  was  placed  on  a  secure 
basis.  It  was  thought  by  many  that  these  school 
lands,  some  of  which  were  located  in  the  mines, 
would  furnish  a  revenue  sufficiently  large  to  run 
the  whole  State  government. 

THE    FIRST    FREE    SCHOOL    IN   THE   STATE 

Was  organized  in  San  Francisco,  April  2,  1850. 
Small  schools  were  established  in  the  mining  towns 
in  many  places.  The  writer  recollects  of  seeing  in 
Placerville,  in  1851,  a  class  of  half  a  dozen  being 
taught  by  a  carpenter  in  his  shop,  in  the  intervals  of 
nailing  together  rockers  and  long-toms.  The  school 
lands  seemed  to  benefit  the  State  very  little  during 
the  first  years,  the  system  of  surveys  being  so  bung 
ling  and  impracticable  that  it  was  difficult  to  organ 
ize  the  fund  out  of  the  sales. 

THE   FIRST    SCHOOL    REPORT. 

Was  published  in  1852,  by  John  G.  Marvin.  He 
recommended  several  important  changes  in  the 
school  law,  among  others,  that  a  tax  of  five  cents 
should  be  levied  on  each  hundred  dollars;  that  the 
office  of  County  Superintendent  should  be  created; 
that  provision  should  be  made  for  school  libraries, 
and  that  the  proceeds  of  the  swamp  and  overflowed 
lands  be  applied  to  the  school  fund.  He  estimated 
the  value  of  the  sixteenth  and  thirty-sixth  sections, 
and  the  five  hundred  thousand  acres,  (special  grant,) 
to  be  worth  eight  million  dollars.  In  his  report  is 
the  first  intimation  of  the  condition  and  number  of 
the  children  in  Calaveras  county.  He  estimates  the 
number  of  children  at  one  hundred,  and  no  school, 
El  Dorado  county  being  in  the  same  condition. 

In  the  second  annual  report,  1852,  the  number 
of  public  schools  in  the  whole  State  was  said  to  be 
only  twenty;  that  the  sales  of  land  had  produced 
a  fund  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars;  that  the 
number  of  children  in  the  State,  between  four  and 
eighteen  years,  was  seventeen  thousand  eight  hun 
dred  and  twenty-one,  three  thousand  three  hundred 
and  fourteen  attending  school.  He  recommended 
that  the  county  Assessors  be  made,  ex  officio,  County 
Superintendents;  that  no  Catholic  schools  be  allowed 
any  portion  of  the  public  fund.  In  1852, tthe  sales 
of  land  belonging  to  the  school  fund  amounted  to 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

In  1853,  the  Legislature  enacted  that  the  school 
fund  should  not  be  used  for  any  other  purpose  what- 


268 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


ever;  that  religious  and  sectarian  schools  should  not 
have  a  pro  rata  of  the  school  fund.  The  County 
Superintendent  was  authorized  to  appoint  three 
school  commissioners  for  each  school  district.  Paul 
K.  Hubbs,  State  Superintendent,  recommended  that 
the  school  fund  should  be  apportioned  according  to 
the  number  of  children  attending  school,  instead  of 
the  census  returns. 

In  1854,  the  Legislature  provided  that  fifteen  per 
cent,  of  the  poll-tax  should  be  paid  into  the  school 
fund.  An  attempt  was  made  this  session  to  repeal 
the  Article  prohibiting  the  granting  of  money  to 
sectarian  schools,  but  the  proposed  law  did  not 
reach  a  vote.  The  Superintendent  reported  the 
number  of  children  attending  school  as  having 
increased  from  two  thousand  in  1853,  to  five  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  fifty-one,  in  1854;  this  being  the 
first  attempt  made  to  get  a  tabulated  statement  of 
school  matters. 

In  1855,  D.  R.  Ashley  introduced  about  the  game 
measures  that  had  been  defeated  the  previous  ses 
sion.  This,  among  other  things,  provided  that  no 
sectarian  doctrines  should  be  taught  in  schools 
receiving  public  money.  It  also  provided  that  no 
money  should  be  apportioned  to  any  school  not 
taught  by  a  regularly  examined  and  licensed  teacher. 
It  is  likely  that  these  stringent  provisions  forever 
settled  the  question  of  maintaining  sectarian  schools 
out  of  the  public  funds. 

In  1856,  Paul  K.  Hubbs  recommended  that  a  uni 
form  series  of  text  books  be  used.  This  was  one 
great  step  in  advance,  as  previous  to  this  every 
school,  in  fact  every  pupil,  had  his  own  text  books, 
creating  much  confusion  in  all  the  schools. 

In  1857,  Andrew  J.  Moulder  became  State  Super 
intendent.  The  number  of  schools  had  now  increased 
to  four  hundred  and  eighty-six;  the  number  of  chil 
dren,  from  eleven  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty- 
two  to  thirty-five  th'ousand  seven  hundred  and 
twenty-two.  He  was  devoted  in  his  attention  to 
the  prosperity  of  the  schools,  and  did  much  to  create 
an  interest  in  the  public  mind.  He  strongly  rec 
ommended  the  establishment  of  a  polytechnic  school, 
which  should  be  able  to  turn  out  practical  metallur 
gists  and  miners;  predicted  the  immense  mining 
interests  to  be  developed.  At  this  time  no  surveys 
had  been  made,  and  the  sixteenth  and  thirty-sixth 
sections  of  land  were  practically  useless. 

Schools  had  been  established  in  1853  in  Volcano, 
Jackson,  Sutter  Creek  and  lone.  Mention  has  -been 
made  in  the  township  histories  of  schools  in  each  of 
these  places.  In  the  records  of  the  first  Court  of 
Sessions  held  in  Amador  county  may  be  found  a 
minute  that  J.  K.  Payne  was  excused  from  jury  duty 
because  he  was  engaged  in  building  a  school-house 
at  Volcano.  The  sight  of  a  child  in  early  days  would 
almost  draw  out  a  donation  for  a  school.  The  first 
School  Superintendent  of  Amador  county  was  Dr.  J. 
W.  Groodin,  who  was  appointed  in  1855.  Previous 
to  this  the  duties  of  apportionment  had  been  per 


formed  by  Henry  Eichelberger,  the  County  Assessor. 
There  were  many  persons  who  interested  themselves 
in  schools.  In  Volcano  were  Levi  Hanford  and  wife, 
John  Turner,  W.  H.  Jones,  and  others.  Mrs. 
Hanford  taught  a  school  in  the  old  Methodist  church 
in  1853,  as  did  also  Sempronius  (Pony)  Boyd  in  1855. 
S.  T.  Tackerberry  and  M.  M.  Estee,  two  young  men 
then  studying  law,  are  also  remembered  as  having 
taught  at  Volcano  in  early  days.  The  latter  is  now 
a  prominent  lawyer  in  San  Francisco;  the  former 
has  drifted  out  of  sight.  W.  T.  A.  Gibson,  now  of 
Stockton,  was  also  a  teacher  there. 

Many  dunces  as  well  as  able  men  found  their  way 
into  the  school-houses.  The  Trustees  of  the  districts 
were  appointed  by  the  County  Superintendent  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  patrons,  the  process  being  a 
virtual  election.  Sometimes  the  Trustees  were  edu 
cated  men,  in  which  case  competent  teachers  would 
be  employed.  They  were  also  the  examiners,  and 
were  compelled  to  go  through  the  form  of  an  exam 
ination,  whether  the  candidate  for  teacher  was  a 
graduate  of  Dartmouth  or  Yale,  or  some  one  whose 
muscles  were  not  adapted  to  achieving  success  in  the 
mines,  and  whose  moral  and  mental  fibre  was  still 
weaker. 

A  college  graduate  was  required  to  know  the  mul 
tiplication  table,  also  how  many  pints  make  one 
quart,  or  how  many  inches  make  one  foot,  how 
many  feet  one  rod,  etc.  If  he  was  able  to  perform 
these  mathematical  feats  he  was  permitted  to  teach 
in  the  public  schools  for  one  year,  and  so  also  of  any 
one  who  could  perform  them,  whether  a  collegian  or 
not.  The  utmost  latitude  was  allowed  in  books,  any 
kind  or  none  at  all  being  equally  permitted.  Some 
were  brought  across  the  plains,  some  "  around  the 
Horn,"  and  if  any  preference  was  shown  it  was  for 
the  voice  of  the  majority  of  pupils,  or  rather  the 
book  that  was  in  the  possession  of  the  majority. 
Sanders'  readers  were,  perhaps,  the  most  numerous, 
while  grammars  and  arithmetics  were  unlimited  in 
number.  The  incompetency  of  a  majority  of  the 
teachers,  the  diversity  of  school-books  and  the  irreg 
ular  attendance  of  pupils,  and  rate-bills,  all  tended 
to  render  the  schools,  to  a  great  extent,  failures. 
They  merely  served  as  a  starting-point  for  the  sys 
tem,  which,  under  the  management  of  such  men  as 
Geo.  W.  Minns,  Crawford,  Swett,  Denman,  Campbell, 
present  State  Superintendent,  and  others,  has  devel 
oped  into  a  wonderful  power  for  good. 

In  1856,  the 

FIRST   COUNTY    SUPERINTENDENT 

Was  elected.  E.  B.  Mclntyre  was  an  old  school 
master  in  the  Eastern  States,  and  brought  with  him 
the  notion  that  the  perpetuity  of  republican  institu 
tions  rests  on  the  general  intelligence  of  the  people. 
He  labored  hard  to  work  the  system -up  to  a  useful 
point,  but  the  indifference  of  the  public,  as  well  as 
the  organic  defects  of  the  system,  were  in  the  way. 
Successful  schools  are  growths  of  civilization,  not 
the  results  of  legal  enactments.  Not  until  officers. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 


269 


teachers,  parents  and  pupils  have,  to  some  extent, 
been  gradually  prepared  for  it,  will  a  complex, 
though  finally  useful  system,  be  successfully  put  into 
operation.  Mr.  Mclntyre  reported  that  he  expe 
rienced  great  difficulty  in  getting  the  Trustees  of  the 
schools  to  report  to  him,  although  the  failure  to  do 
so  compelled  him  to  withhold  their  pro  rata  of  the 
public  money. 

In  1857,  Paul  K.  Hubbs,  State  Superintendent, 
reported  that  no  such  thing  as  a  public  school  existed 
in  the  State;  that  the  rate  bills  and  other  expenses 
practically  excluded  many  from  the  schools,  and 
urged  a  greater  appropriation,  which  was  done  by 
the  Legislature  of  1858,  which  not  only  increased 
the  school  fund,  but  authorized  the  separate  districts 
to  raise  a  special  school  tax  on  all  the  propertj7. 
The  bill  was  so  carelessly  drawn,  however,  as  to 
render  it,  in  many  instances,  inoperative. 

Andrew  J.  Moulder  was  elected  State  Superintend 
ent  in  1858.  He  was  a  hard-working,  conscientious 
man,  and  did  much  to  arouse  the  attention  of  the 
public  to  the  condition  of  the  schools. 

He  made  the  first  able  report  of  the  condition  of  the 
schools.  The  number  of  children  had  now  reached 
29,347.  He  reported  that  the  cost  of  controlling 
and  punishing  the  criminals  had  amounted  to  $754,- 
193.80  in  the  past  five  years,  while  but  $284,183.69 
had  been  expended  for  school  purposes;  in  other 
words,  that  the  400  criminals  cost  three  times  as 
much  to  the  State  as  the  30,000  children,  each  crim 
inal  costing  $1,885,  each  child,  $9.  He  recom 
mended  that  each  district  be  required  to  have  six 
months  school  in  the  year. 


The  total  number  of  children  in  Amador 

county  under  eighteen  was 

Between  four  and  eighteen 

Boys 

Girls 

Under  four. . 

Daily  average  attendance 


2,114 
1,377 

763 

614 

737 

383 

State  funds  for  the  year" $2,336  00 

liaised  by  county  taxes 2,550  83 

"        "    bills  and  district  taxes 5,31584 


Total  expenditure  for  schools ... $10,202  67 
Estimated  value  of  school  property $12,825  00 

This  is  the  first  account  of  the  schools  in  the 
county  which  can  be  found  in  print.  H.  H.  Ehees 
was  County  Superintendent. 

The  following  list  of  School  Trustees  and  Teachers 
by  Districts,  in  1858,  will  be  interesting:— 

JACKSON — Trustees,  A.  C.  Brown,  John  Mushett, 
VV.  L.  McKimm.  Teachers,  A.  W.  Kerr,  Mrs.  A.  VV. 
Kerr. 

IONE— Trustees,  J.  F.  Turner,  J.  H.  Stevens,  S. 
Love.  Teacher,  J.  A.  Peters. 

PINE  GROVE— J.  D.  Luttrell,  A.  Leonard,  A.  P. 
Clougb.  Teacher,  Miss  Dane. 

DRYTOWN— Trustees,  D.  W.  Seaton,  E.  K.  Wick, 
C.  W.  Fox.  Teacher,  H.  P.  Hinkson. 


SUTTER  CREEK — Trustees,  N.  A.  Green,  W.  T.  Wild- 
man,  A.  Hayward.  Teacher,  E.  B.  Mclntyre. 

VOLCANO— Trustees,  A.  N.  Ballard,  John  Turner, 
S.  B.  Boardman.  Teacher,  M.  M.  Estee. 

FIDDLETOWN  (Oi/ETA)— Trustees,  John  D.  Williams, 
D.  M..  Goff,  J.  F.  Ostrum.  Teacher,  W.  J.  Cooper. 

AMADOR — Trustees,  W.  S.  Porter,  D.  Barry,  P. 
Kusart. 

BUENA  VISTA — Trustees,  P.  Y.  Cool,  J.  T.  Joiner, 
John  Kite. 

JACKSON  VALLEY — Trustees,  Simon  Prouty,  Joseph 
Lewis,  W.  H.  Amick. 

UNION  CHURCH — Trustees,  E.  K.  Sexton,  A.  F. 
Potter. 

CLINTON — Trustees,  Linus  Morgan,  Hugh  Eobin- 
son,  M.  Tynan. 

The  school  system  met  with  many  severe  attacks, 
and  had  many  battles  to  win  before  it  could  be  firmly 
established  in  a  working  condition.  The  ablest 
opponent  to  the  system  in  the  State  is  now,  and 
always  has  been,  Zachary  Montgomery,  a  lawyer, 
residence  in  Oakland.  As  a  member  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  he  fought  the  common  school  system  and 
opposed  its  establishment  with  the  same  vigor  which 
he  has  since  shown. 

In  1861  he  introduced  a  bill  providing  "  That  every 
school  numbering  thirty  pupils,  established  by  the 
parents  or  guardians  of  such  pupils,  should  have  the 
right,  on  application,  to  be  enrolled  as  a  public  school; 
that  the  common  school  branches  should  be  taught 
five  hours  a  day,  with  religious  instruction  and  cate 
chism  as  an  extra  at  the.  will  of  the  parents;  that 
the  parents  or  guardians  should  elect  the  Trustees  of 
such  school  with  full  powers  to  control;  and  that  the 
State  fund  should  be  apportioned  according  to  the 
number  of  children  attending  school." 

The  bill  was  accompanied  by  a  petition,  numer 
ously  signed.  The  Honorable  John  Coness  defended 
the  common  school  system  in  a  lengthy  speech,  recit 
ing  a  portion  of  his  own  experience.  The  measure 
was  defeated. 

The  new  school  laws  of  1863  required  the  use  of 
school  registers  for  keeping  a  record  of  the  daily 
attendance,  deportment  and  progress  of  the  scholars; 
made  provisions  and  appropriations  (one  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars)  for  holding  annual  county  teachers' 
institutes;  provided  for  the  annual  election  of  a  Trus 
tee,  who  should  hold  office  for  three  years;  made  new 
provisions  for  the  collection  of  taxes  for  building 
school-houses  and  the  maintenance  of  schools;  and 
authorized  the  issuing  of  teachers'  certificates  for  a 
term  of  years. 

The  most  decided  improvement  in  schools  was 
made  during  the  superintendence  of  John  Swett. 
He  was  a  graduate  of  the  common  schools,  and  had 
an  abiding  faith,  not  only  of  their  utility  in  society, 
but  as  a  necessity  for  a  safe  foundation  for  all  the 
essentials  of  a  republican  form  of  government.  In 
his  first  annual  report,  he  recommended  the  raising  of 
a  sufficient  sum  by  a  property  tax  to  support  the 


270 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


schools  free  from  all  rate  bills  or  local  taxes,  for  at 
least  five  months  in  the  year.  He  showed  that  but 
twenty -five  per  cent,  of  the  children  in  the  State 
attended  school,  and  contended  that,  as  the  general 
voter  had  control  of  property  in  revenue  matters,  a 
portion  of  it  should  be  taken  to  prepare  him  for 
that  responsibility;  that,  considering  the  diversified 
character  of  our  population,  California  needed  the 
benefits  of  a  free  school  more  than  any  State  in  the 
Union.  The  Legislature  of  1864  passed  new  school 
laws,  laying  an  annual  tax  of  five  mills  on  each  one 
hundred  dollars  of  property  in  the  State,  and  making 
it  imperative  on  the  counties  to  raise  enough,  in 
addition  to  the  State  appropriation,  to  maintain 
schools  five  months  in  the  year. 

The  bill  passed  the  Assembly  without  opposition, 
but  the  famous  Zachary  Montgomery  was  in  the 
Senate,  and  there  it  came  near  being  slaughtered. 
The  vote  stood: — 

Ayes  —  Benton,  Burnell.  Crane,  Cunningham, 
Foulke,  Hall,  Haswell,  Kutz,  Maddox,  McMurtry, 
Moyle,  Porter,  Roberts,  Shepherd,  Tuttle,  Wright — 
18. 

Noes — Buckley,  Dodge,  Evans,  Freeman,  Gaskill, 
Hamilton,  Hawes,  Montgomery,  Pearce,  Redington, 
Bush,  Shafter— 12. 

In  1863,  the  amount  of  money  expended  for 
schools  in  the  whole  State,  was  four  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  dollars;  in  1867  the  amount  of 
annual  expenditure  reached  the  sum  of  one  million 
two  hundred  and  eighty-seven  thousand  dollars.  The 
direct  tax  on  all  property  throughout  the  State  was 
eight  cents  on  the  one  hundred  dollars,  bringing  in 
an  income  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand 
dollars. 

Many  of  the  Eastern  States,  Iowa  and  Illinois, 
had,  about  the  same  time  as  California,  provided  for 
the  general  education  of  the  children.  A  well-to-do 
farmer,  a  bachelor  of  course,  of  the  former  State, 
became  disgusted  with  the  freedom  with  which  the 
Legislature  put  their  hands  in  his  pockets  and  helped 
themselves  to  his  cash  for  educational  purposes,  and 
sold  out  and  left  for  California,  where  the  people  were 
supposed  to  retain  some  of  the  conservative,  primi 
tive  virtues  of  old  times.  When  he  came  to  Cali 
fornia  and  found  that  the  same  system  of  robbery 
was  in  practice  here,  he  gave  a  terrible  howl  and 
turned  the  heads  of  his  flocks  and  herds  towards 
Oregon.  The  last  heard  of  him  he  was  making  with 
all  speed  towards  Alaska,  where,  it  is  confidently 
believed,  he  will  not  be  disturbed  by  a  general 
school-tax  for  at  least  ten  years. 

In  1872,  the  test  oath  requiring  teachers  to  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance,  was  repealed.  This  was, 
perhaps,  a  matter  of  unnecessary  caution;  doing 
very  little  good  or  harm,  as  no  case  is  on  record  of 
any  teachers  leaving  the  profession  on  account  of  it. 

In  1867,  the  State  Superintendent  reported  that 
every  school  in  the  State  had  become  FREE.  The 
Legislature  had  added  some  new  features  to  the 


school  law.  Formerly  teachers  were  examined  by 
incompetent  men,  and,  as  a  consequence,  men  were 
sometimes  admitted  to  the  position  of  teachers  who 
were  unfit  to  have  charge  of  dumb  brutes,  much  less 
human  beings.  The  law  now  required  the  County 
Superintendent  and  also  the  Board  of  Examiners  to 
hold  first-grade  certificates.  There  is  always  much 
difficulty  in  executing  a  law  that  is  much  in  advance 
of  public  opinion.  There  was  no  exception  to  the 
rule  in  this  case.  The  County  Superintendents 
bi'idged  over  the  obstruction,  and  things  went  much 
as  before,  though  there  was  a  manifest  improvement 
in  the  qualifications  of  teachers. 

The  system  of  free  schools  met  with  much  opposi 
tion.  There  is  a  plausibility,  at  least,  in  the  princi 
ples  that  every  man  has  a  right  to  accumulate  and 
hold  property;  that  he  is  under  no  obligation  to 
educate  or  support  his  indolent  neighbors' children; 
but  in  the  other  side  of  the  scales  is  the  fact  that,  if 
his  neighbors'  children  are  not  educated  to  some  use 
ful  purpose,  they  become  criminals  and  paupers,  and 
by  their  destructive  habits  endanger  not  only  the 
existence  of  the  property  which  was  denied  for  edu 
cational  purposes,  but  even  life  itself. 

In  1872,  Superintendent  Bolander  recommended 
compulsory  education,  and  declared  that  illiteracy 
was  incipient  crime ;  and  quoted  Beecber,  that, 
"  uneducated  mind  is  educated  vice."  Bolander  pro 
posed  five  hundred  dollars  as  the  least  sum  that 
should  be  expended  in  anjr  school  district  in  one  year. 

THE    SCHOOL-BOOK    WAR. 

The  law  requiring  a  uniformity  of  text-books  was 
no  exception  to  the  average  of  laws,  of  which  it  has 
been  said  the  unlocked  for  operations  constitute  the 
principal  results.  The  value  of  school-books  in  use 
amounted  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  A 
small  profit  on  a  book  in  general  use,  would  make  a 
fortune  for  the  publishing  house,  or  the  firm  holding 
the  agency.  Numerous  advocates  of  each  proposed 
work  traversed  the  country  proclaiming  its  merits, 
and  even  a  lobbyist  was  thought  necessary  for  the 
Legislature.  Thousands  of  dollars  were  expended 
in  getting  the  books  introduced,  all  of  which  had  to 
be  paid  for  by  the  consumers  or  purchasers  of  the 
books  in  one  way  or  another.  The  Sanders  series 
of  readers  had  been  discarded,  and  Willson's  generally 
adopted.  They  were  well  printed,  finely  illustrated, 
and  were  a  great  improvement  on  anything  before 
in  use.  During  the  Superintendency  of  Fitzgerald 
they  were  cast  aside,  and  the  McGuft'ey  series  adopted. 
Now  came  the  war.  Willson  was  a  northern  man, 
and  his  books  were  the  product  of  the  northern 
system  of  education.  McGuffey  was  President  of 
the  Virginia  University,  and  his  books  were  supposed 
to  represent  the  style  of  southern  education.  Mc- 
Gruffey's  series  were  said  to  belong  to  an  ancient 
formation,  a  sort  of  pliocene  stratum,  containing  only 
fossils  of  defunct  ideas;  the  engravings  were  said  to 
be  old  and  inferior,  having  but  one  commendable 
quality;  there  were  but  few  in  the  book.  The  change, 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 


271 


which  had  cost  the  parents  in  the  State  something 
like  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  was  brought 
about  by  the  State  Teachers'  Institute.  It  was  even 
said  by  the  Willson  advocates  that  money  had  been 
used  to  obtain  the  decision  in  favor  of  the  south 
ern  reader.  This  insinuation  was  bruited  about  by 
the  newspapers,  and  perhaps  influenced  some  in  their 
opinions,  but  the  more  candid  part  of  the  people 
scouted  the  idea,  considering  partisan  feeling  and  the 
prejudice  of  birth  amply  sufficient  to  account  for  any 
apparent  injustice  or  error  of  judgment,  in  producing 
the  exchange. 

The  result  was  a  defeat  of  Fitzgerald,  who  was 
much  grieved  about  the  matter.  The  Legislature  at 
the  next  session  took  the  control  of  text-books  away 
from  the  State  Board.  The  Willson  readers  were  not 
reinstated.  The  change  from  Willson's  toMcGuffey's 
series  received  the  condemnation  of  the  people,  yet 
having  been  introduced,  it  was  considei'ed  better  to 
retain  it  than  to  incur  a  new  expense. 

SCHOOL    CENSUS    IN    1863,    BY    DISTRICTS. 

Amador 82         Lancha  Plana 85 

Butte  City 49         Mountain  Springs     41 

Buena  Vista. .  63         Pine  Grove  . .  75 


Buckeye 56 

Clinton ...  81 

Drytown 66 

Fiddletown . . .      .  124 

Forest  Home 64 

Franklin 59 

lone  City 162 

Jackson. 205 

Jackson  Valley..  51 


Puckerville 52 

Eural. 38 

S  utter  Creek 133 

Union 101 

Upper  Ran cheria  43 

Union  Church..  45 

Volcano.- 109 

Williams 30 

Willow  Springs.  61 


Total . .  1875 

SCHOOL   STATISTICS. 


State 
Superintendent. 

County 
Superintendent 

K) 
O 

s= 

Bet.  4  and  IS 

&- 
of 
o: 

rr 
o 
o. 

1  No.  Schools. 

Expendi 
ture. 

Teachers  Wages 

Male. 

Female. 

John  G.  Marvin. 
John  (i.  Marvin  . 
Paul  K.  Hubbs. 
Paul  K.  Hubbs. 
A.  J.  Moulder.  . 
A.  J.  Moulder.  . 
A.  J.   Moulder.  . 
A.  J.  Moulder.  . 
A.  J.  Moulder.. 
A.  J.  Moulder.  . 
John  Swett  
Jiihn  Swett  
John  Swett  
John  Swett  
John  S  >ett  
O.P.  Fitzgerald. 
O.  P.  Fitzgerald. 
O.  P.  Fitzgerald 
O.  P.  Fitzgerald 
II.  \.   Bolandcr. 
H.  N.  Bolander. 
H.  N.  Bolander. 
H.  N.  Bolander. 
E.  S.  Carr  
E.  S.  Carr  
E.  S.  Carr  
E.  S.  Carr  
E.  S.  Carr...  . 

1853 
1854 
1855 
1856 
1857 
1S5S 
1859 
I860 
1861 
1862 
1S63 
1864 
1865 
1866 
18S7 
1868 
1S«»I 
1870 
1871 
1S72 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
187!) 
18*0 

339 
432 
865 
868 
986 
1100 
lf.77 
1591 
1679 
1738 
1875 
2365 
2074 

1003 
1855 
1869 
19»1 
2(97 
2134 

5 

H.  Eichelberger 
Dr  JWGoodiny 
E.  B.  Mclntire. 
E.  B.  Mclntire. 
H.  H.  Rheese  .  . 
H.  H.  Rheese.. 
J.  H.  Bradley.. 
Samuel  Page.  .  . 
Samuel  P  ige.  .  . 
Satnurl  Page.  .  . 
D.  Townsend  .  . 
D.  Townsend  .  . 
S.  G.  Br'ggs  
S.  G.  Briggs  .  .  . 
S.  G.  Briggs  .  .  . 
S.  G.  Briggs  .  .  . 
S.  G.  Brig-gs  .  .  . 
S.  G.  Briggs  .  .  . 
S.  G.  Briggs  .  .  . 
S.  G.  Briggs  .  .  . 
S.  G.  Briggs  .  .  . 
VV.  H.  Stowers. 
W.  li.  Stowers. 
A.  Edsinger  .  .  . 
A.  Edsinger.  .  .  . 
L.  Miller  
L.  Miller  

20S 
318 
426 
523 
5^5 
625 
734 
801' 
976 
995 
1323 
1315 
1770 
1960 
1327 
1322 
1401 
1148 

E 
7 
8 
10 
12 
16 
IS 
2" 
26 
27 
29 
28 

K 
28 

.•Si6,'l92.'67 

S  65.96 
73.00 
70.00 
70.00 
74.33 
81.13 
81.66 
81.66 

847.00 
55.00 
62.00 
56.00 
50.25 
51.35 
50.00 
50.00 

14,592.65 
9,hl6.49 
;16,278.68 
15,889.86 
15,140.33 
12,446.46 
17,742  51 
15,576.27 
18,493.10 

2659 
2733 

35,791.73 

77.00 
80.00 

'  62.66 
55.00 

*The  total  expenditures,  from  the  organization   of  the  county  to  1867,  in 
clusive,  was  $133,873.15. 

CONDITION    OP   SCHOOLS   IN    1871. 

Amador   City  School. — This   district   has   no   re 
corded  date  of  organization.     Its  progress  has  been 


rather  slow;  its  present  condition  is  rather  flattering; 
its  wante  are  .  numerous;  no  school  furniture  or 
apparatus,  and  a  poor,  dilapidated  school-house. 

Aqueduct  City  School. — This  district  was  organ 
ized  about  1865;  has  progressed  finely,  as  a  rural 
district;  has  a  neat  little  school-house,  together  with 
some  apparatus;  house  poorly  furnished.  Its  pres 
ent  prospects  are  hopeful. 

Buckeye  Valley  School. — This  district  has  been 
unfortunate.  Its  people  were  divided  on  their  school 
interests,  and  the  result  of  their  troubles  was  the 
burning  of  their  school-house,  which  loss  they  have 
not  yet  recovered  from,  and  consequently  are  not 
in  a  very  flourishing  condition.  They  are  in  need 
of  a  house,  furniture,  and  apparatus. 

Buena  Vista  School. — This  district  was  organ 
ized  in  1857;  has  a  very  comfortable  school-house, 
some  apparatus,  very  poor  furniture,  but  is  in  a  very 
flourishing  condition,  notwithstanding. 

Clinton  School. — This  district  is  poor.  They 
have  a  neat  little  school-house,  no  furniture  or 
apparatus,  yet  it  is  quite  flourishing. 

Drytown  School. — This  district  was  organized  in 
1853,  and,  for  several  years,  only  maintained  a  three 
month's  school  during  the  year:  but  the  last  few 
years  they  have  been  able  to  keep  their  school  open 
seven  months  in  the  year.  They  have  a  nice  school- 
bouse,  costing  some  eight  hundred  dollars,  some 
furniture,  some  apparatus,  and  the  school  is  in  a 
better  condition  than  it  has  ever  been. 

Fiddletown  School  (Oleta). — This  is  an  old  dis 
trict,  without  date  of  organization;  has  an  excellent 
school-house,  well  furnished,  with  some  apparatus, 
and  is  in  a  very  flourishing  condition,  under  the 
guidance  of  an  efficient  teacher. 

Franklin  School. — This  district  is  small,  situated 
in  a  very  sparsely  settled  neighborhood;  has  a  small 
school-house,  some  apparatus,  but  no  furniture.  It 
is  in  rather  a  state  of  progression. 

Forest  Home  School. — This  district,  like  many 
others,  has  no  date  of  organization.  They  have  a 
respectable  school-house,  but  poorly  furnished,  yet  in 
rather  a  flourishing  condition. 

lone  Valley  School. — It  is  situated  in  a  very  rich 
and  fertile  valley  which  is  covered  by  a  Spanish  grant, 
which  has  been  very  prejudicial  to  its  interests.  They 
have  a  comfortable  school-house.  The  district  was 
organized  in  1853,  is  tolerably  well  supplied  with 
apparatus  and  furniture  and  is  quite  flourishing. 

Jackson  School. — This  district  is  also  without  date 
of  organization;  has  a  brick  school-house,  with  two 
departments,  and  has  progressed  finely;  has  always 
been  under  the  guidance  of  able  teachers,  and  is  well 
supplied  with  apparatus  and  furniture. 

Jackson  Valley  School. —  This  district  is  a  small 
one,  and  labors  under  the  same  difficulties  as  the  lone 
Valley,  it  being  on  the  Spanish  grant,  also.  They 
have  a  very  commodious  school-house,  tolerably  well 
supplied  with  furniture  and  apparatus,  and  is  in  quite 
a  flourishing  condition. 


272 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Lancha  Plana  School. — Situated  in  the  south-west 
portion  of  the  county,  and  at  one  time  a  very  rich 
mining  camp,  but  now  in  a  dilapidated  condition, 
and  consequently  the  school  has  suffered.  They 
have  a  sheU  of  a  house  in  which  to  impart  instruc 
tion,  poor  furniture,  some  apparatus,  and,  notwith 
standing  the  disadvantages  under  which  it  has 
labored,  its  prospects  are  quite  flattering. 

Mountain  Echo  School. — This  district  was  organ 
ized  in  1867,  and  has  progressed  slowly.  They  have 
a  good  wooden  school-house,  very  little  furniture  and 
no  apparatus.  Notwithstanding  the  many  difficulties 
with  which  they  are  surrounded,  they  have  been  able 
to  maintain  four  or  five  months'  school  in  the  year. 
Their  prospects  are  quite  encouraging. 

Milligan's  School.— :  This  district  has  no  date  of 
organization,  and  is  also  one  of  the  rural  districts.  It 
has  been  able  to  maintain  a  four  months'  school  some 
portion  of  the  year.  They  have  quite  a  comfortable 
little  school-house,  with  very  little  furniture  or  appa 
ratus. 

Mountain  Springs  School. — This  is  a  small  district, 
and  has  a  hard  struggle  to  exist.  By  perseverance 
they  have  been  able  to  keep  open  a  school  in  accord 
ance  with  the  law.  They  have  a  school-house  that 
answers  the  purpose,  but  need  furniture  and  appa 
ratus.  Their  prospects  are  anything  but  flattering. 

New  York  Ranch  School. — This  district  was  organ 
ized  about  1866.  They  have  a  very  comfortable 
school-house,  together  with  some  furniture  and  appa 
ratus.  It  has  steadily  advanced  and  its  prospects  for 
the  future  are  quite  flattering. 

Oneida  School. —  This  district  was  organized  in 
1865,  with  some  twenty  census  children.  It  now 
numbers  some  eighty.  They  have  progressed  stead 
ily;  have  a  shell  of  a  house,  entirely  destitute  of  fur 
niture  and  apparatus. 

Puckerville  School. — This  is  an  old  district,  with 
out  date  of  organization;  has  a  very  commodious 
school-house,  well  supplied  with  furniture  and  appa 
ratus,  and  is  progressing  finely. 

Pine  Grove  School. — This  district  is  situated  on 
the  road  leading  from  Volcano  to  Jackson.  They 
have  a  neat  and  comfortable  school-house,  pretty 
well  furnished  with  apparatus  and  furniture.  This 
school  has  been  conducted  in  the  main  by  able  teach-, 
ers,  and  is  in  a  prosperous  condition. 

Sutter  Creek  School. — This  district  like  a  number 
of  others,  is  without  date  of  organization;  has  had 
t'he  misfortune  of  having  its  school-house  burned  up, 
but,  nothing  discouraged,  its  friends  went  to  work 
and  put  up  a  magnificent  two-story,  brick  building. 
The  cost  of  the  house  was  about  six  thousand  dollars. 
It  is  well  furnished  with  apparatus  and  furniture, 
has  two  hundred  and  twenty  census  children,  and  is 
situated  in  the  richest  mining  district  in  the  county. 
Its  future  is  truly  flattering. 

Stony 'Creek  School. — This  is  one  of  the  rural  dis 
tricts  of  the  county,  and  was  organized  in  1868,  with 
small  beginnings;  but  by  perseverance  they  have  a 


neat  little  school-house,  with  a  moderate  supply  of 
furniture  and  apparatus.  They  have  progressed 
beyond  expectation.  Their  prospects  are  truly 
flattering. 

Union  Church  and  Muletown  School. — These  two 
districts  have  been  merged  into  one,  and  will  be 
known  hereafter  as  the  Union  District,  and  is  situ 
ated  in  one  of  the  prettiest  valleys  in  the  county. 
Last  Spring  the  friends  of  education  went  to  work 
and  put  up  a  good  school-house  at  a  convenient 
center  for  both  districts,  and  furnished  the  same 
tolerably  well.  They  are  getting  along  finely  now. 

Upper  Rancheria  School. — This  district  is  also 
without  date  of  organization ;  is  an  old  school,  but  has 
not  advanced  as  it  should  have  done.  But  few  felt 
interested  in  the  education  of  the  children,  and  con 
sequently  let  both  the  school  and  the  school-house 
run  down.  Now  that  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  new 
house,  the  people  are  divided,  and  cannot  agree 
where  to  place  it,  and  consequently  their  prospects 
are  gloomy. 

Volcano  School. — This  district  was  organized  in 
1855,  and  prospered  finely  until  about  1861,  when 
a  state  of  confusion  and  strife  sprang  up,  which  re 
sulted  in  a  division  of  the  district.  Union  district 
was  formed  out  of  a  portion  of  its  territory,  and 
continued  in  that  separate  state  until  last  year,  when 
they  united  again  and  built  a  fine  and  commodious 
house  that  reflects  credit  upon  the  Trustees  of  both 
districts. 

Williams  School. — This  district  is  among  the  oldest 
in  the  county.  Its  record  shows  no  date  of  organi 
zation.  They  have  a  very  pleasant  school-house, 
with  some  furniture  and  a  few  articles  of  apparatus. 
They  have  progressed  steadily.  Its  wants  are  con 
siderable  in  the  way  of  furniture. 

Willow  Springs  School. — This  district,  like  too 
many  others,  has  been  negligent  of  its  records. 
Very  little  can  be  learned  of  its  history,  other  than 
it  has  had  an  existence  for  several  years.  They 
have  a  tolerably  comfortable  school-house,  some 
furniture,  and  need  almost  everything  to  conduct  a 
school  properly. 

Washington  School. — This  district,  like  a  great 
many  others,  has  been  quite  negligent  of  duty,  the 
record  showing  no  date  of  organization.  They  have 
a  very  neat  and  comfortable  school- house,  tolerably 
well  supplied  with  furniture  and  apparatus.  They 
have  progressed  moderately  well.  Their  prospects 
are  encouraging. 

The  foregoing  is  from  the  report  of  the  Rev.  S. 
G.  Briggs,  County  Superintendent  from  1866  to 
1875.  Though  a  man  of  limited  education,  his 
integrity  and  devotion  to  the  interests  of  schools 
enabled  him  to  accomplish  a  great  deal  towards 
elevating  them  to  their  present  high  standard.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  most  of  the  statistics,  in  the 
table  appended,  were  gathered  during  his  incum 
bency.  He  died  at  the  post  of  duty,  beloved  by  all 
the  teachers  and  pupils  in  the  county.  The  same 


RESIDENCE,  STORE* RANCH    OF  CHARLES    DOSCH. 
IONE    VALLEY.  AMAOOR   COUNTY, 


RANCH.^  RESIDENCE  OFJ.C-B  LYTHER. 

TOWNSHIP4.AMADOR  COUNTY.  CM. 


NEWSPAPERS. 


273 


may  be  said  also  of  W.  H.  Stowers,  who  succeeded 
him. 

TRIBUTE   TO    SCHOOL-TEACHERS. 

The  limits  of  this  work  will  only  permit  a  brief 
reference  to  some  of  the  devoted  teachers,  who  have 
seen  their  sun  of  life  rise  and  go  far  down  the  west 
ern  slope  in  their  devotion  to  the  cause  of  education, 
and  of  some  who  have  reposed  in  death  for  years 
after  their  work  was  well  done.  School-teaching, 
though  holding  so  important  a  position  in  social 
economy,  is  a  profession  that  is  little  honored.  Day 
after  day,  weeks  following  weeks,  until  the  youthful, 
vigorous  form  becomes  old  and  feeble,  the  teacher 
coins  his  life  into  the  coming  generation,  and  finally 
sinks  unknown  and  unsung  to  the  grave.  No 
plaudits  of  assembled  thousands  encourage  him;  no 
daily  papers  chronicle  his  coming  in  or  going  out, 
yet  silently  he  fashions  the  future  citizen,  perhaps 
President,  weaves  his  web  of  human  affairs  in  pov 
erty  and  obscurity,  often  in  want,  happy  to  see  his 
former  pupils  performing  an  honored  part  in  the 
world. 

Many  have  lived  their  whole  active  life  in  Amador 
county.  Among  these  we  may  reckon  A.  W.  Kerr 
of  Plymouth,  who  is  now  teaching  the  third  genera 
tion;  J.  F.  Gould  of  Jackson,  who  thirty  years  since 
commenced  his  work,  and  still  holds  on.  Hiram 
Ford,  of  Buena  Vista,  also  is  well  fixed  in  the  groove. 
Some  have  gone  down  to  premature  graves,  worn 
out  by  the  terrible  nervous  exhaustion  incident  to 
watching  and  caring  for  a  large  school  of  children- 
Of  this  number  we  may  reckon  Dennis  Townsend, 
whose  mind  gave  way  under  the  terrible  strain;  and 
also  William  H.  Stowers,  who  gave  all  of  life  that 
was  in  him  to  children  who  are  now  taking  places 
in  active  life.  J.  C.  Gear,  also  a  teacher  for  years, 
rests  in  the  lone  cemetery,  hot  quite  forgotten  by 
the  children,  now  men  and  women,  whom  he  led 
up  the  first  low  hills  of  science.  Among  the  women 
we  may  reckon  Mrs.  Bartlett  of  Sutter  Creek,  Mrs. 
M.  B.  Church  of  Drytown,  Mrs.  Thomas  Stewart  of 
lone,  Miss  Augusta  Withington,  Mrs.  Trowbridge 
(deceased)  of  Jackson,  and  numerous  others  who 
have  done,  and  still  are  doing,  good  work.  All  honor 
to  them. 


CHAPTEE    XLII. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

Charles  Boynton— Amador  Ledger— Dispatch— Union  Record— 
Sutter  Creek  Independent— lone  News — Amador  Sentinel. 

THE  mining  towns,  with  three  or  four  hundred  men 
hungry  for  news,  were  tempting  fields  for  an  ambi 
tious  man.  The  first  institution  after  the  hotel  and 
saloon  is  a  printing  office.  Who  has  not  felt  an  idea 
in  his— well,  head,  pressing  and  kicking  to  get  out, 
aching  for  deliverance,  that  it  might  grow  and  over 
spread  the  world,  revolutionize  governments,  and 
correct  all  things?  Men  will  not  try  the  law  without 
35 


study,  or  mercantile  business  without  some  practice, 
or  a  hotel  without  sitting  around  awhile  to  see  how 
things  might  be  run.  But  there  is  no  measure  for 
mental  work;  no  rule  of  feet  and  inches,  no  measure 
of  pints  and  quarts  to  gauge  the  product  of  the  mind. 
Though  a  man  may  write  over  acres  of  paper,  square 
measure  will  not  apply;  solid  or  leaded  articles  defy 
cubic  measure  and  avoirdupois  just  as  well;  and, 
finally,  though  an  article  may  be  a  drug,  apotheca 
ries  weight  will  not  weigh  it,  and,  though  it  may  be 
a  golden  thought,  the  jeweler's  scales  are  equally 
powerless.  If  it  is  a  living,  active,  vital  thought, 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  man, it  will  live  and  flourish; 
it  is  seed  sown  on  good  ground.  If  it  is  obsolete;  if  it 
is  the  effete  matter  of  a  morbid  mind,  though  it  is 
embalmed  in  print,  or  engraved  in  stone,  naught 
shall  save  it  from  oblivion. 

When  lofty  thoughts  thy  mind  inspire, 
Write;  some  slumhering  soul  that  reads, 

Touched  by  sparks  of  thy  celestial  tire, 
Shall  ripen  into  glorious  deeds. 

Charles  Boynton  was  the  father  of  the  newspaper 
in  Amador  county.  Though  many  recollect  him, 
few  can  give  an  idea  of  his  character,  which  seemed 
to  be  as  changeable  as  a  kaleidoscope,  now  foaming 
over  with  fun  and  good  nature,  now  seriously  discuss 
ing  political  economy;  now  poring  over  some  old 
volume  of  forgotten  history,  and  now  going  for  the 
gold  in  the  bed  of  the  Mokelumne  with  all  his  might, 
mind  and  strength,  with  a  woman's  emotion  and  a 
man's  power.  He  was  in  some  way  connected  with 
the  Mokelumne  Hill  Chronicle;  at  any  rate  he  had 
sufficient  access  to  the  types  and  press  to  work  off 
several  numbers  of  the  Owl,  1853  and  '54,  which  set 
the  whole  country  crazy  with  its  fun,  which,  however, 
being  of  a  local  nature,  is  now  understood  only  by 
those  who  remember  the  incidents  referred  to.  It 
is  said  that  he  used  to  swim  the  river  with  the 
edition  tied  to  the  top  of  his  head.  It  is  also  said 
that  he  never  went  over  to  the  Hill  without  hav 
ing  a  fight  or  two  on  account  of  the  little  paper. 
Soon  after  the  organization  of  the  county  he  started 
the  Sentinel,  an  independent  paper,  devoted  to  no 
party  or  clique.  It  was  printed  for  some  months 
on  the  Chronicle  press,  the  edition  being  so  small 
that  he  carried  it  all  under  his  arm  to  Jackson 
to  be  distributed.  He  soon  after  obtained  a  press  of 
his  own,  and  ran  the  paper  successfully  for  some 
years.  O.  D  Avaline,  formerly  of  Fort  Wayne,  Indi 
ana,  became  the  proprietor  of  it  about  1857  or  '58, 
continuing  the  publication  until  the  great  fire  of  1862, 
when  he  abandoned  the  newspaper  business,  raised 
a  company  of  soldiers  and  joined  the  Union  army. 
He  died  at  Folsom  of  general  debility,  produced  by 
exposure  while  in  the  service. 

THE   AMADOR   LEDGER 

Was  started  by  Thomas  H.  Springer  in  Volcano  in 
1855,  during  the  boom  in  that  town.  It  was  an 
independent  sheet  at  first,  but  in  1856,  during  the 
Fremont,  Fillmore  and  Buchanan  campaign,  it  took 


274 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Democratic  ground,  which  it  maintained  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  when  it 
became  Union  Democratic,  and  finally  Republican. 
It  was  moved  from  Volcano  to  Jackson  in  1857.  In 
typographic  appearance  it  was  much  better  than 
the  Sentinel,  Springer  being  a  first-rate  printer. 
Though  making  no  pretensions  as  a"  writer,  he  had  a 
short,  spicy  way  of  dealing  out  the  current  news. 
He  was,  at  different  times,  assisted  in  the  editorial 
department  by  P.  C.  Johnson,  John  Bradly,  E.Y.  Ilam- 
mand  and  others.  AVhen  Springer  was  elected  State 
Printer,  the  paper  was  managed  by  Grant  Springer 
and  Shearer,  finally  falling  into  the  ownership  of  R. 
M.  Briggs  and  J.  A.  Eagon,  who  made  it  a  political 
organ.  Both  were  able  lawyers,  politicians  and 
writers.  Some  very  able  editorials  appeared  in  it; 
but  even  a  country  newspaper  requires  the  undi 
vided  attention  of  an  able  man  to  make  it  success 
ful,  and  they  soon  tired  of  publishing  it  for  the 
honor,  and  sold  it  in  1875  to  Richard  Webb,  its  pres 
ent  proprietor.  Mr.  Webb  wields  a  sarcastic  pen, 
and  frequently  gets  into  personal  difficulties,  and 
occasionally  a  libel  suit,  on  account  of  his  unsparing 
denunciations;  but  nothing  can  change  his  course; 
he  returns  to  the  attack  with  more  vim  than  ever. 
He  was  formerly  connected  with  a  small  semi- 
weekly  publication  at  Sutter  Creek,  which,  on  his 
purchase  of  the  Ledger,  was  discontinued. 

THE   AMADOR   DISPATCH 

Was  originally  started  in  Lancha  Plana,by  Hecken- 
dorn  &  Payne.  It  was  a  small  and  badly  printed 
sheet,  containing  mostly  local  news.  The  old  roller- 
press  on  which  it  was  printed  was,  until  a  few  years 
since,  lying  in  a  vacant  lot  near  the  town.  It  was 
enlarged  into  a  sheet  of  better  appearance  and  pub 
lished  for  some  months  during  the  boom  at  that 
town.  In  1859  it  was  purchased  by  —  Mullen,  and 
moved  to  Jackson,  and  started  as  a  Democratic 
sheet.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  the  proprie 
tor  sold  it  to  Geo.  M.  Payne  and  Win.  M.  Penry  (the 
latter  gentleman  being  still  proprietor),  raised  a  com 
pany  of  soldiers,  and  went  to  the  aid  of  the  Union. 
The  Dispatch  immediately  took  strong  Democratic 
ground,  attacking  tfie  administration  at  every  assail 
able  point,  with  arguments,  sarcasm  and  ridicule, 
and  made  itself  a  power  in  politics.  The  famous  L. 
P.  Hall  (Long  Primer)  was  associated  for  some 
years  with  Penry  in  conducting  the  paper.  At  the 
time  of  the  assassination  of  Lincoln  it  was  suppressed 
for  several  months,  and  Penry  and  Hull  immured  in 
Fort  Alcatraz,  of  which  a  particular  account  has 
been  given  in  another  portion  of  our  history.  Per 
sonally,  Mr.  Penry  is  "  as  mild  a  mannered  man  as 
ever  "  indicted  an  editorial,  and  his  serene  and  kindly 
face  gives  no  indication  of  the  mental  fires  burning 
below;  forming  a  parallel  in  this  trait  to  the  famous 
Brick  Pomeroy,  who  wields  the  editorial  tomahawk 
and  scalping-knife  with  a  fearful  effect,  without 
ruffling  a  line  or  curve  in  his  well-fed  face. 


The  paper  has  passed  its  twenty-first   year,  and 
bids  fair  to  continue  to  a  good  old  age. 

UNION   RECORD. 

While  Penry  and  Hall  were  incarcerated  in  Alca 
traz,  R.  M.  Briggs  took  the  printing  material  of  the 
Dispatch  and  published  the  paper  bearing  the  above 
title.  He  let  off  the  accumulated  fire-works  for  a  few 
months  with  considerable  noise  and  effect.  Some  of 
his  editorials  on  national  questions  had  wide  circula 
tion  in  the  East.  On  Mr.  Penry's  discharge  from  con 
finement,  the  publication  of  the  Union  Record  ceased. 

THE   SUTTER   CREEK    INDEPENDENT 

Was  a  small  daily  paper  published  about  1872  by 
R.  V.  Chadd,  formerly  of  Stockton.  It  made  quite  a 
sensation  for  a  while  with  its  local  hits  and  current 
news,  but  was  discontinued  for  want  of  support. 
The  material  was  finally  purchased  by  Richard  Webb, 
who  published  a  semi-weekly  for  a  short  time,  merg 
ing  into  the  Ledger  in  1875. 

THE    IONE   NEWS 

Was  commenced  in  1877  by  Haley  &  Co.  It  was 
continued  for  about  three  years  and  discontinued. 
The  make-up  of  the  paper  was  good  and  the  contents 
well  edited,  but  the  county  could  hardly  support  four 
papers,  and  some  one  must  fail,  and  the  publication 
was  suspended  about  the  end  of  November,  1880. 
In  1861  a  weekly  paper  was  published  at  lone  for  a 
few  months  by  Folger  &  Co.,  who  afterwards  moved 
the  concern  to  Alpine  county,  where  it  flourished  as 
a  political  paper  for  some  years. 

THE   AMADOR    SENTINEL. 

This  is  probably  a  namesake  of  the  Sentinel  which 
was  destroyed  by  the  fire  in  1862,  though  no 
descendant  thereof.  It  was  started  in  June,  1879,  by 
Turner,  McNeil  &  Briggs,  but  at  present  is  owned  by 
Turner  &  Sunborn,  both  young  men  but  able  writers. 
It  is  gaining  an  influence  and  circulation,  having  a 
subscription  list  of  something  over  BIX  hundred.  It 
is  Republican  in  politics  though  liberal  in  its  opinions. 
It  is  the  official  paper,  and  seems  to  be  on  a  paying 
basis,  with  a  hopeful  career  before  it. 


CHAPTER   X  L  I  1 1. 

SOCIETIES. 

The  Society  of  Free  Masons — Modern  Masonry — General  Ten 
dency  of  Masonry — Introduction  into  the  United  States — 
Volcano  Lodge  No.  515 — Amador  Lodge  No.  u'5 — lone  Lodge 
No.  80 — Henry  Clay  Lodge  No.  90 — St.  Marks  Lodge  No.  15 

—  Drytown  Lodge  No.   174 — Royal  Arch  Chapter  No.  31- 
Origin    of    Odd    Fellowship — Encampment — Decree  of   Re- 
bekah — Volcano  Lodge  No  ^5— Sutter  Creek  Lodge  No.  31  — 
Jackson  Lodge  No.  3G — lone  Lodge  No.  51 — Telegraph  Lodge 
No.  7;» — Lancha  Plana  Lodge  No.  95— Plymouth  Lodge  No. 
260— Grand  Encampment  No.  17 — M.irble  Encampment  No. 
19— Temperance  iSocicties — Subjects  for  Insane  Asylums — 
Good  Templars— Knights  of  the  Red  Cross— Blue  Ribbon 
Society — General  Tendency  of  Temperance  Societies — Bur 
lesque  Societies — E-Clampsus  Vitus — Hautontimnroumenos 

—  Knights  of    the  Assyrian  Cross — Pioneer   Societies — Am 
ador     Society    of     California   Pioneers — Sclavonic     lllyric 
Mutual  Benevolent  Soc.ety — Grangers. 

"  UNITHD  we  stand;  divided  we  fall."  Organiza 
tion  is  the  largest  factor  in  modern  civilization.  In 
ancient  times,  in  the  rude  beginnings  of  society,  the 


SOCIETIES. 


275 


family  relation  was  the  source  of  strength  and  pros 
perity.  The  mother  who  bore  the  most  children 
was  the  most  honored.  Perhaps  the  best  illustration 
of  the  enormous  force  of  family  relation  may  be 
seen  in  the  ancient  Israelites,  who,  holding  to 
blood  ties,  became  a  great  nation,  with  the  full  faith 
that  they  were  destined  to  inherit  the  earth.  But 
great  as  the  Israelites  were  they  were  scattered  by 
a  host  of  innumerable  families  united  under  one  gov 
ernment.  Tribal  and  family  organizations  give  way 
to  combinations  of  still  greater  magnitude,  which 
are  made  up  of  innumerable  smaller  parts,  each  being 
to  some  extent  a  body  politic  within  itself.  Individ 
ual  valor,  though  a  source  of" personal  respect,  can 
accomplish  little  compared  to  the  united  efforts  of 
multitudes.  An  army  is  efficient  in  proportion  to  its 
discipline.  A  well-trained  army  of  a  few  thousands, 
acting  under  the  direction  of  one  mind,  will  rout  a 
mob  often  times  their  number.  The  principle  holds 
good  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  whether  the  object 
be  to  establish  a  nation,  accumulate  wealth,  damage 
an  enemy,  or  benefit  mankind.  The  ability  to  com 
bine  conflicting  or  inert  elements  into  a  solid,  active 
body  will  always  hold  the  highest  position  in  civil 
ized  society. 

The  so-called  secret  societies  are  the  results  of 
this  instinct.  Some  of  them,  if  not  as  ancient  as 
any  national  or  religious  organization,  have  their 
origin  in  the  ages  of  elementary  government;  have, 
what  might  be  called  an  umbilical  cord,  running 
back  to  the  origin  of  all  government.  All  of  them 
serve  the  important  purpose  in  society  of  teaching 
authority  and  obedience,  without  which  law  and 
order  is  impossible.  The  most  vicious  member  of 
a  vicious  society,  by  agreeing  to  sacrifice  some  of 
his  privileges  to  better  secure  the  others,  becomes 
unconsciously  better  prepared  to  obey  other  laws, 
and  eventually  becomes  a  useful  member  of  society; 
while  as  a  member  of  a  higher  organization  whose 
objects,  in  part  at  least,  are  beneficent  towards 
society,  he  acquires  the  knowledge  of  parliamentary 
forms,  and  the  habit  of  listening  deferentially  to 
opinions  differing  from  his  own. 

Thus  we  have,  as  powerful  auxiliaries  in  the 
maintenance  of  law  and  order,  the  numerous  socie 
ties  of  the  age,  such  as  Masons,  Odd  Fellows,  Good 
Templars,  arid  Sons  of  Temperance,  Knights  of  the 
Bed  Cross,  etc.  The  former  two  of  the  list,  especially, 
have  become  almost  cosmopolitan  in  character  and 
influence,  modifying  the  rancors  and  cruelties  of 
war,  and  carrying  a  benign  influence  into  millions 
of  places.  The  secrets,  which  are  made  of  great 
account  in  all  societies,  are  a  means  of  attracting 
the  public,  and  holding  them  together.  The  mystery 
of  the  Shekinah  held  the  Israelites  together.  The 
Greeks  had  the  Adelphos,  and  Elusinian  mysteries. 
The  Egyptians  had  mysteries,  and,  in  later  times, 
the  Druids  had  a  wonderful,  valuable  mystery  in 
their  possession.  Men,  as  well  as  women,  love  a 
mystery,  and  are  led  away  by  it. 


The  society  of  Free  Masons  has,  probably,  the 
best  claims  to  antiquity  of  any  of  the  beneficiary 
societies  of  modern  times.  It  is  quite  certain  that 
at  least  one  thousand  years  ago  the  builders  of 
churches  and  palaces,  who  moved  about  over  Europe 
as  their  services  were  wanted  in  the  different  towns, 
formed  themselves  into  guilds,  where  each  one's 
rank  as  a  builder  was  fixed  by  his  rank  in  the 
society.  They  were  accustomed  to  camp  in  a  body 
under  the  direction  of  the  officers.  The  society  was 
not  unlike  the  modern  Typographical  Union  in  its 
objects  and  organization.  From  the  best  accounts 
there  were  several  of  them  in  different  parts  cf 
Europe,  but  a  membership  in  one  made  it  much 
easier  to  gain  admission  to  another.  In  several 
instances  the  governments  manifested  considerable 
hostility  to  the  organizations  on  account  of  their 
maintaining  extortion  rates  for  work.  The  terms, 
entered  apprentice,  fellow  craft,  free  and  accepted 
Masons,  i.  e.,  free  to  work  at  the  trade,  indicate 
beyond  doubt  the  nature  and  object  of  the  organi 
zation. 

The  signs  and  secret  work  enabled  the  members  to 
recognize  each  other's  standing  as  workmen  without 
the  trouble  of  testing  the  work,  arid  also  to  assist 
each  other  in  traveling  about  the  country  in  those 
lawless  times,  in  going  from  one  job  to  another. 

The  changes  in  the  system  of  building  large  cathe 
drals  like  those  of  the  middle  ages  in  sparsely  settled 
countries,  the  denser  populations  and  greater  diffusion 
of  knowledge,  architectural  as  well  as  other  kinds, 
obviated  the  necessity  of  societies  for  mutual  protec 
tion,  as  every  city  of  any  note  hud  an  ample  number 
of  architects  and  stone-cutters  to  do  all  its  work. 

The  churches  or  church  had,  in  the  first  instances, 
rather  encouraged  the  formation  of  the  societies  as 
tending  to  disseminate  the  knowledge  of  build 
ing.  In  the  later  years  it  discouraged  the  existence 
of  the  societies  as  setting  up  a  secret  which  was 
superior  to  the  confessional,  an  opposition  which  it 
still  maintains  with  persistent  action. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  the 
societies  gradually  ceased  to  be  of  a  trade  character, 
and  began  to  take  on  a  form  of  self-protection 
admitting  as  members  persons  who  had  no  knowledge 
of  stone-cutting  or  other  mechanical  arts,  the  old 
emblems  of  the  tools  of  the  trade  being  retained  as 
symbols  of  degrees  and  character. 

MODERN    MASONRY 

Began  in  London,  June  24,  1717,  when  the  four 
London  lodges  united  into  one  and  named  their 
grand  master.  From  this  time  forward  no  practical 
knowledge  of  mechanical  work  was  required  for 
admission.  The  principal  promoters  of  this  union 
were,  Desaguliers,  a  well-known  popularizer  of 
science,  and  James  Anderson,  a  Presbyterian  clergy 
man,  who  compiled  the  book  of  constitutions  con 
taining  the  charges,  rites  and  traditions  of  the  craft, 
reducing  them  to  something  like  system  and  order. 
From  this  time  no  new  lodge  could  be  formed  without 


276 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


a  warrant  from  the  grand  lodge.  The  Dnke  of 
Montagu  became  grand  master.  Other  noblemen 
also  joined  the  order  so  that  it  lost  somewhat  of  its 
democratic  character.  The  principle  of  charity,  as 
well  as  self-protection,  became  incorporated  into  it, 
and  schools  were  organized  at  the  time,  some  of 
which  (Battersea  and  Tottenham)  are  continued  to 
this  day. 

The  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  kind 
of  rebellion  or  assumption  of  authority  took  place  by 
the  old  York  lodge  of  masons,  claiming  the  right  to 
issue  warrants  for  the  organization  of  subordinate 
lodges.  This  lodge  claimed  to  have  existed  from 
926.  They  also  had  a  new  ritual,  introducing  the 
red  color  of  the  Royal  Arch,  which  they  declared  of 
higher  rank  than  the  blue  degree  of  St.  John.  It 
was  claimed  to  be  a  degree  used  at  the  second  build 
ing  of  the  Temple.  Another  branch  also  introduced 
an  order  of  the  Templars.  In  1813,  the  Dukes  of 
Sussex,  Kent  and  Athole,  succeeded  in  uniting  all 
these  orders  together  under  the  name  of  "  The 
United  Grand  Lodge  of  England."  This  patronage 
of  the  nobility  gave  the  order  an  impetus  which 
resulted  in  making  it  almost  a  national  matter. 
About  this  time  Jews  were  admitted  to  membership. 
They  built  a  hall  for  the  collection  of  material  per 
taining  to  the  order,  established  several  magazines 
such  as  the  Freemason's  Magazine,  and  the  Freemason, 
and  the  Freemason's  Quarterly,  and  built  an  asylum 
for  indigent  and  unfortunate  members  of  the  order. 

At  present,  England  has  sixty  provincial  lodges, 
twelve  hundred  minor  lodges,  grand  chapter  of  the 
royal  arch  degree,  grand  lodge  for  the  mark  masters, 
grand  conclave  of  the  knights'  templars,  and  a 
superior  grand  council  of  the  ancient  and  accepted 
rite  of  the  thirty-three  degrees. 

Masonry  was  introduced  into  Ireland  in  1730.  In 
Scotland  the  history  of  the  order  was  much  like  that 
in  England — except  that  at  one  time  females,  widows 
of  members,  were  admitted  as  parties  interested  in 
building  contracts.  Desaguliers,  the  apostle  of 
Masonry  in  England,  appeared  in  Edinburg  in  1721, 
and  succeeded  in  modifying  the  character  of  the 
organization,  and  bringing  about  a  union  with  the 
London  societies.  St.  Andrew's  day  was  substituted 
for  that  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  and  on  November 
30,  1736,  a  grand  lodge  for  Scotland  was  formed,  act 
ing  in  connection  with  the  grand  lodge  of  England. 

It  is  said  that  in  Scotland  the  growth  of  the  order 
was  rather  towards  conviviality  than  charity.  .Some 
of  the  ceremonies,  such  as  drinking  beer  out  of  a 
human  skull,  had  to  be  eliminated.  The  head  of 
the  St.  Clair  family  resigned  his  hereditary  office 
and  became  the  first  grand  master.  The  supreme 
grand  royal  arch  chapter  was  organized  at  Edinburg, 
but  its  authority  is  not  recognized  by  other  similar 
orders. 

Masonry  as  a  speculative  order  was  introduced  in 
France  in  1725,  and  from  the  first  was  patronized 
largely  by  the  nobility.  An  attempt  to  engraft  on 


it  the  mysteries  of  Cagliostro,  the  most  accomplished 
humbug  the  world  ever  saw,  which  were  said  to 
have  been  derived  from  the  deciphered  records  of 
Egypt,  and  also  the  Rosicrucian  mysteries,  and  still 
more,  a  pretension  to  holy  inspiration,  came  near 
strangling  the  infant  in  its  cradle.  Some  of  the 
Bonapartes,  and  Marshals  Kellerman  and  Massena, 
were  members  of  the  order.  Napoleon  the  Great 
rather  frowned  on  the  order,  as  it  contained  too 
many  of  the  nobility,  who  might  come  to  a  better 
understanding,  and  the  members  of  ihefamilie  with 
drew  from  the  order.  It  does  not  flourish  in  France 
as  in  the  more  Protestant  countries,  the  secrets  of 
the  order  being  out  of -reach  of  the  confessional. 

Germany  claims  the  honor  of  organizing  modern 
masonry,  and  have  what  is  called  the  royal  mother 
lodge  of  the  world.  Those  best  acquainted  with  its 
workings  and  history,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  say 
that  the  masonic  organization  was  older  in  England 
than  in  Germany;  that  it  was  carried  to  Germany, 
and  flourished  there  while  it  was  nearly  forgotten  in 
England;  that  it  was  brought  back  irom  Germany, 
getting  its  final  movement  in  England. 

GENERAL  TENDENCY  OP  MASONRY. 

It  is  impossible,  even  for  members,  to  judge  accu 
rately  what  its  general  tendency  is.  It  undoubtedly 
is  to  some  extent  a  rival,  for  favor,  with  the  religious 
societies  of  the  world,  in  a  manner  satisfying  the 
hunger  for  a  religious  belief  by  holding  in  its  bosom 
a  continued  mystery,  whose  end  cannot  be  reached. 
The  claim  to  be  a  charitable  institution,  to  do  good  to 
the  whole  world,  has  perhaps  a  tendency  to  make 
them  brethren  with  those  who  cannot  give  the  signs 
of  fellowship.  Others  -contend  that  there  is  a  ten 
dency  to  a  degeneracy  into  a  convivial  club.  It  is 
likely  that  all  these  tendencies  prevail  in  different 
places,  depending  upon  the  tone  of  the  surrounding 
society. 

The  charge  that  was  made  against  the  order  a  half 
a  century  since  of  hatching  treason  to  government, 
or  the  general  plunder  of  society,  has  been  forgotten 
and  need  not  be  defended  here,  though  the  Masonic 
lodges  in  some  parts  of  Europe,  especially  in  France, 
Italy  and  Austria,  are  said  to  be  amenable  to  this 
charge,  as  also  to  the  charge  of  entertaining  irrelig 
ious  opinions. 

INTRODUCTION    INTO    THE   UNITED    STATES. 

Masonry  was  -introduced  into  Boston  in  1733, 
which  was  followed  by  lodges  in  different  colonies. 
After  the  war  of  Independence  grand  lodges  were 
formed  in  the  several  States,  it  flourished  until  1829, 
when  an  exposure  was  made  by  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Morgan  in  Batavia,  New  York.  He  was  spirited 
away,  and  never  heard  of  more.  The  old  Whig  party, 
which  had  an  existence  of  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
was  formed  out  of  discontents  in  regard  to,  the  tariff 
and  opponents  to  Free  Masonry.  In  the  hurry  and 
skurry  of  politics,  Masonry  was  forgotten  and 
allowed  to  outgrow  the  odium  attached  to  it  in  Mor- 


SOCIETIES. 


277 


gnn's  time.  Ben.  Franklin  was  a  grand  master  of  a 
lodge  in  Philadelphia.  Washington  was  also  a  mem 
ber.  There  are  now  forty-three  grand  lodges,  and 
five  thousand  subordinate  lodges  in  the  United 
States,  numbering  four  hundred  thousand  members, 
officers  being  elected  each  year  by  ballot. 

The  officers  of  an  organized  lodge  are  :  Worshipful 
Master,  Senior. Warden,  Junior  Warden,  Treasurer, 
Secretary,  Senior  Deacon,  Junior  Deacon,  Tyler  and 
Chaplain. 

The  Masonic  library  of  books,  written  to  explain 
its  workings  and  claims  to  antiquity  and  support 
numbers  four  thousand  volumes. 

VOLCANO    LODGE,    NO.    56, 

Is  the  oldest  in  the  county,  having  been  in  existence 
since  1855.  The  first  officers  were  J.  C.  Shipman,  W. 
M.;  T.  Stewart,  S.  W.;  E.  Sammis,  J.  W.;  B.  W. 
Payne,  Treas.;  W.  Hudson,  S.;  J.  II.  Welch,  T.  Since 
then  the  position  of  W.  M.  was  held  by  G.  R.  Walker, 
1856;  W.  Ayer,  1857;  J.  W.  Bicknel,  1858;  R.  Stew 
art,  1859-60-62-65;  Charles  Wilson,  1861;  L.  Mc- 
Laine,  1863-64, 1869, 1878-79  ;  A.  Young,  1866-67-68  ; 
James  Adams,  1870-71, 1873-74-75-76-77;  Louis  Mil 
ler,  1872.  Many  prominent  men  have  been  members 
of  this  lodge.  Quite  a  volume  might  be  written  on 
the  actions  and  adventures  of  the  men  who  have  at 
different  times  been  associated  in  this  institution. 

AMADOR   LODGE,  NO.  65, 

Was  organized  the  same  year,  at  Jackson,  with  W. 
W.  Cope,  as  W.  M.;  W.  M.  Eogers,  S.  W.;  C.  Boyn- 
ton,  J.  W.;  P.  Clark,  Treas.;  B.  Hubbard,  S.;  J.  J.  Gib 
bons,  T.  Since  then  the  chair  of  W.  M.  was  filled  by 
J.  E.  Graham,  1856-57;  W.  W.  Cope,  in  1858;  At.  J. 
Little,  in  1859-60-62-63,  1865;  M.  Levinsky,  1861;  J. 
Foote  Turner,  1867;  E.  Aitken,  in  1868-69-70-71-72- 
73;  Wallace  Kay,  in  1874-75-76-77-78-79.  This 
lodge  also  has  had  several  distinguished  names  on  its 
rolls,  such  as  W.  W.  Cope,  who  was  a  Chiet  Justice, 
and  also  that  of  J.  T.  Farley,  United  States  Senator 
for  California.  The  institution  is  flourishing,  having 
a  hall  of  its  own. 

TONE  .LODGE.  NO.  80, 

Was  also  organized  in  1855,  with  A.  E.  Callaway  as 
W.  M.;  J.  T.  Poe,  S.  W.;  E  Benedick,  J.  W.:  I.  B. 
Gregory,  Treas.;  J.  C.  Gear,  S.;  and  W.  S.  Porter,  T. 
Soon  after  the  organization  the  lodge,  in  conjunction 
with  the  citizens,  erected  a  two-story  building,  taking 
the  upper  portion  for  the  Masonic  Hall,  while  the  low 
er  was  occupied  as  a  school-bouse.  About  1870,  the 
Masons  and  Odd  Fellows  together  purchased  the 
Turner  building,  on  extremely  favorable  terms,  and 
converted  the  upper  part  into  a  convenient  and  com 
modious  hall,  which  they  have  since  occupied.  The 
position  of  W.  M.  has  been  filled  since  the  organiza 
tion  by  A.  E.  Callaway,  in  1856;  J.  C.  Gear,  in  1857; 
J.  A.  Eagon,  in  1858;  II.  II.  Ehees,  in  1859;  J.  Foot 
Turner,  in  1860;  E.  F.  Stevens,  in  1861,  1866;  J. 
Farnsworth,  in  1862;  E.  II.  Withington,  in  1863; 
George  Haverstick,  in  1864;  A.  K.  Dudley,  in  1865; 


James  Cumming,  in  1867;  M.  C.  Parkinson,  in 
1868-69;  J.  W.  Surface,  in  1870-71,  1874;  B.  Isaacs, 
in  1872-73;  John  Merchant,  in  1875-76-77;  W.  A. 
Bennetts,  in  1878-79.  The  members  of  this  lodge 
are  said  to  be  worth,  in  the  aggregate,  near  a 
million  dollars,  and  the  society  is  always  in  funds. 

HENRY    CLAY   LODGE,  NO.  90, 

Was  organized  in  1856,  at  Sutter  Creek,  with  S.  F. 
Benjamin  as  W.  M.-  A.  II.  Eose.  S.  W.;  O.  P.  South 
well,  J.  W.;  James  Murry,  Treas.;  A.  Hay  ward,  S.; 
and  D.  Crandall.  T.  The  position  of  W.  M.  has  been 
filled  by  0.  P.  Southwell,  in  1857;  A.  Hayward,  in 
1858-59-60-61;  II.  Wood,  in  1862;  John  Gaver,  in 
1863-64;  Henry  M.  Fisk,  in  1865-66-67-68;  Thomas 
Dunlap,  in  1869,  1871-72-73, 1875  ;  A.  C.  Joy,  in  1870  ; 
Henry  Peck,  in  1874;  Morris  Brinn,  in  1876-77;  J. 
E.  Eussel,  in  1878;  and  John  Lithgow,  in  1879.  This 
lodge  is  also  in  good  financial  circumstances,  many  of 
the  rich  mine-owners,  as  Ilayward,  Chamberlain  and 
others,  having  been  members. 

ST.    MARKS    LODGE,  NO.  115, 

Was  organized  in  1857,  at  Oleta  (Fiddletown),  with 
T.  L.  Sullivan  as  W.  M.;  A.  B.  Eowland,  S.  W.;  T. 
M.  Horrell,  J.  W.;  A.  Eneas  Quin,  Treas.;  Thomas 
Horan,  S.;  and  II.  A.  Kutchenthall,  T.  This  lodge, 
in  consequence  of  the  decrease  of  the  population  and 
failure  of  the  mines,  has  had  a  struggle  for  existence. 
In  1875  it  was  consolidated  with  No.  85,  at  Indian 
Diggings,  to  which  it  was  attached  until  1879,  when 
it  was  reorganized  at  Oleta.  The  position  of  W.  M. 
was  filled  in  1858-59-60,  by  F.  L.  Sullivan;  in  1861, 
by  Thomas  Horan;  in  1862,  by  J.  B.  Hill;  in  1863- 
64-65,  by  W.  B.  Norman;  in  1866,  by  D.  Coblentz; 
in  1867, 1872-73-74,  by  Charles  Lee;  in  1868,  by  A.  P. 
Wood;  in  1869,  by  J.  W.  McManus;  in  1870,  by  C.  A. 
Purinton;  in  1871,  by  II.  J.  Dial;  in  1879,  by  H.  II. 
Bell. 

DRYTOWN    LODGE,    NO.    174, 

Was  organized  in  1865,  with  J.  B.  Hill  as  W.  M.; 
J.  M.  Hinkson,  S.  W.;  Daniel  Worley,  J.  W;  M.  A. 
Hinkson,  Treasurer;  A.  S.  Eichardson,  S;  and  C.  II. 
Misner,  T.  The  first  W.  M.  occupied  the  same  posi 
tion  the  two  succeeding  terms;  the  years  1868-69- 
70-71-72-74-75-76,  by  J.  M.  Hinkson;  the  year  of 
1873  by  Henry  Burchell;  1877,  by  J.  A.  Gessler,  and 
1879  by  William  Jennings.  This  lodge,  the  youngest 
in  the  county,  has  had  its  seasons  of  prosperity  and 
adversity.  When  the  mines  along  the  lode  employ 
a  great  many  men  the  numbers  on  the  roll  increase. 

ROYAL   ARCH    CHAPTER. 

This  is  an  advanced  order  of  Masonry,  and  was 
derived  from  the  York  branch,  having  no  connection 
with  Scottish  branch,  which  confers  the  thirty -three 
degrees.  They  date  from  the  second  building  of 
Solomon's  temple,  which  date  is  obtained  by  adding 
five  hundred  and  thirty  to  the  current  year,  1881, 
becoming  2411  A.  I.,  or  Anno  Inventionern  (year  of 
the  discovery).  The  officers  are  High  Priest,  King, 
Scribe,  Treasurer,  Secretary,  Captain  of  the  Host, 


278 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Principal  Sojourner,  Royal  Arch  Captain,  Masters 
of  the  third,  second,  and  first  vails,  and  Guard. 

A  Chapter,  called  the  Volcano  Chapter,  No.  8, 
was  organized  at  Volcano,  May  3,  1856.  At  the 
session  of  the  Grand  Lodge  in  1860,  the  name  was 
changed  to  "Sutter  Creek,"  retaining  the  same 
number.  The  present  officers  are  John  Lithgow, 
H.  P.;  T.  Dunlap,  K.;  Robert  Robinson,  S.;  V. 
Lutei^Vy,  Treas.;  A.  K.  Dudley,  Sec'y.;  J.  Mc- 
Dougu.,  Post  C.  of  H.;  Wallace  Kay,  P.  S.;  M. 
Brinn,  R.  A.  C.;  R.  Redpath,  Mastr  3d  V.;  D.  A. 
Patterson,  Mastr  2dV.;  John  Oulds,  Mastr  1st  V.; 
John  Jelmini,  Guard;  Past  High  Priests,  Alvinza 
Hayward,  R.  Aitken,  John  Lithgow,  J.  YV.  Surface. 

Members  of  the  Royal  Arch  Chapter:  James 
Adams,  J.  Q.  Adams,  G.  Allen,  W.  A.  Bennets,  A. 
Berryman,  J.  M.  Campbell,  P.  A.  Clute,  \V  .S.  Cool- 
idge,  R.  Cosner,  D.  T.  Davis,  P.  Fagan,  J.  T.  Farley, 
H^  D.  Ford,  F.  Frates,  W.  H.  Gunsolus,  H.  F.  Hall, 
J.  W.  Houston,  B.  Isaacs,  John  Marchant,  L.  Mc- 
Laine,  S.  S.  Manon,  J.  W.  McMurry,  J.  Milliken,  J. 
Miller,  G.  Newman,  L.  R.  Poundstone,  C.  A.  Purin- 
ton,  J.  Reardon,  P.  S.  Robertson,  J.  E.  Russel,  S.  G. 
Spagnoli,  B.  Spagnoli,  J.  A.  Steinberger,  J.  F. 
Stewart,  J.  B.  Stevens,  W.  Sutherland,  J.  P.  Sur 
face,  F.  K.  Taber,  W.  H.  S.  Welch,  D.  H.  Whitlatch, 
numbering  fifty-six. 

ORIGIN   OP   ODD   FELLOWSHIP. 

Unlike  the  Masons,  the  origin  of  this  order  was  in 
a  convivial  club,  existing  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
last  century  in  London,  called  the  "  Ancient  and 
Honorable  Order  of  Odd  Fellows."  Attempts  were 
made  to  change  the  character  of  the  order  to  one  of 
more  sobriety  and  decorum,  which  not  succeeding,  a 
portion  seceded,  and  called  themselves  the  Union 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  The  members  in  England 
now  number  about  five  hundred  thousand.  April 
26,  1819,  Thomas  Wildey  and  four  others  organized 
the  first  lodge  of  Odd  Fellows  in  the  United  States, 
acting  under  a  charter  from  the  Union  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows.  This  day  is  frequently  celebrated  by  the 
members.  The  order  was  established  in  Boston, 
March  26,  1820,  and  in  Philadelphia,  December  26, 
1821,  both  lodges  receiving  their  charter  from  the 
Baltimore  lodge.  A  grand  charter  was  then  issued 
to  the  past  grands  of  New  York.  Since  then  the 
order  has  been  established  in.  every  State  and  Terri 
tory,  and,  perhaps,  every  county  in  the  Union. 
There  are  forty-eight  grand  lodges,  thirty  six  grand 
encampments,  five  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty- 
eix  subordinate  lodges,  one  thousand  five  hundred 
and  twelve  subordinate  encampments,  and  five  hun 
dred  and  twelve  Rebekah  degree  lodges.  Candi 
dates  for  admission  must  be  free  white  males  of 
good  moral  character,  and  twenty-one  years  old, 
who  believe  in  a  Supreme  Being,  the  creator  and 
preserver  of  the  universe.  Fidelity  to  the  laws  of 
the  land  and  of  the  society,  and  the  duties  of  good 
citizenship  are  strictly  enjoined,  though  the  order 


is  moral  and  beneficiary,  rather  than  religious.  Its 
secrecy  consists  of  an  unwritten  and  unspoken  lan 
guage  by  means  of  signs,  which  serves  for  mutual 
recognition.  Five  or  more  members  may  constitute 
a  subordinate  lodge,  whose  functions  are  chiefly 
administrative.  It  provides  means  to  relieve  its  sick 
and  distressed  members,  to  bury  the  dead,  to  relieve 
the  widow,  and  to  educate  the  orphan.  The  by-laws 
constitute  the  legal  contract  between  the  initiate 
and  the  lodge.  The  series  of  degrees  with  white, 
pink,  blue,  green,  and  scarlet,  represent  moral  les 
sons.  The  officers  of  a  subordinate  lodge  are  Noble 
Grand,  Vice-Grand,  Secretary,  and  Treasurer,  and 
are  elected  semi-annuully.  The  degree  of  Rebekah 
was  created  in  1851,  to  be  conferred  upon  the  female 
members  of  the  Odd  Fellow  families. 

THE    ENCAMPMENT 

Is  composed  of  members  of  the  scarlet  degree.  The 
officers  are  Patriarch,  High  Priest,  Senior  and  Junior 
Wardens,  Secretary  and  Treasurer.  They  have  the 
exclusive  right  to  confer  the  patriarchal,  golden  rule 
and  royal  purple  degrees,  and  are  officered  by  a  Chief 
Patriarch,  High  Priest,  Senior  Warden,  Scribe,  Treas 
urer  and  Junior  Warden.  All  Past  Patriarchs  in 
good  standing,  are  members  of  grand  encampments. 
The  grand  encampment  meets  annually,  and  is  offi 
cered  by  a  Grand  Patriarch,  Grand  High  Priest, 
Grand  Senior  Warden,  Grand  Scribe,  Grand  Treas 
urer,  and  Grand  Junior  Warden,  elected  annually. 
The  grand  lodge  and  grand  encampments  derive 
their  revenues  from  charier  fees  and  per  centage  on 
lodge  or  encampment  revenues,  and  a  per  capita  tax. 
The  Grand  Lodge  of  the  United  States  is  composed 
of  representatives  elected  biennially  by  the  several 
grand  lodges  and  encampments.  Its  elective  officers 
are  a  Grand  Sire,  Grand  Secretary  and  Grand  Treas 
urer,  elected  biennially.  The  seat  of  government  is 
Baltimore,  where  the  order  in  the  United  States  was 
first  organized.  Its  revenue  now  amounts  to  over 
five  million  dollars  annually.  Since  1843  the  order 
has  had  no  official  connection  with  or  responsibility 
to  the  Union  Order  of  Odd  "Fellows  of  England; 
hence  the  term  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows. 
The  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  has  four 
supreme  grand  lodges  —  one  in  the  United  States; 
one  in  the  German  Empire;  one  in  Australia,  and 
one  in  New  Zealand.  In  the  United  States  it  has  48 
subordinate  grand  lodges,  30  grand  encampments, 
6,734  subordinate  lodges,  1,318  subordinate  encamp 
ments,  and  870  Rebekah  lodges,  composed  of  mem 
bers  of  the  fifth  degree  and  their  wives.  Total  reve 
nue  for  one  year,  $4,516,660.63.  During  the  year 
1877,  there  were  40,578  initiations.  Since  the  organ 
ization  to  1877,  the  initiations  amounted  to  1,064,928; 
members  relieved,  816,882;  widowed  families  relieved 
108,385;  members  buried,  74,226.  The  whole  amount 
of  relief  was  $69,235,989.45.  The  membership  is  now 
(1881)  nearly  three-fourths  of  a  million. 


SOCIETIES. 


279 


VOLCANO    LODGE,    NO.    25, 

Was  the  first  in  the  county,  and  has  held  its  way 
firmly  ever  since,  the  membership  generally  approx 
imating  to  a  hundred.  The  first  officers  were,  N. 
Vipon,  N.  G.;  J.  W.  Warner,  V.  G.;  H.  Hanford,  E. 
S.;  J.  Fridenburg,  T.  Assets  estimated  at  $3,000 
The  following  persons  have  filled  the  position  of  first 
officer:  H.  Hanford,  P.  S.  Wilkes,  J.  E.  Warner,  H. 
Lake,  J.  Halsey,  T.  A.  Goodwin,  A.  Petty,  E.  Grant, 
D.  S.  Boj'dston,  Chas.  Wilson,  A.  Howerton,  L.  Miller, 
Geo.  Collins,  N.  Euddick,  B.  Eoss.  *  *  * 

Members  of  the  Etbekah  Degree — Mesdames  Han 
nah  E.  Warner,  Elizabeth  Phelps,  Sarah  Eobinson, 
Christiana  Weller,  Catherine  Burnhardt,  Emma  W. 
Halsey,  Mary  A.  Mails,  Lucy  B.  Hanford.  Charlotte 
Barnum,  Warren  Tarr,  Samuel  Hale,  Wm.  Blakely,  D. 
Lowery,  —  McKensie,  Eva  Walker,  Sophia  Babcock, 
Susan  Boydston,  Jane  Largornarcino,  Mary  Cox, 
Julia  E.  McFadden,  James  Hall,  A.  Petty,  C.  B. 
Goodrich,  E.  D.  Miller,  J.  Stainer. 

SUTTER   CREEK    LODGE,    NO.    31, 

Was  organized  in  I860.  First  officers:  C.  B.  Culver, 
N.  G.;  J.  T.  Skinner,  V.  G.;  J.  Davidson,  E.  S.;  W. 
Gothie,  T.  Property  estimated  at  $3,425.62.  The 
position  of  first  officer  has  been  held  by  W.  E.  Fifield, 
Wm.  Gothie,  W.  Palmer,  E.  F.  Huse,  J.  S.  Hill,  D. 
M.  Hardman,  C.  Weaver,  W.  E.  Finn,  J.  Swift,  H.  B. 
Bishop,  J.  H.  Hammond,  B.  F.  Taylor,  L.  Fournier, 
A.  Campbell,  W.  C.  Harvey,  James  Bennet,  J.  E. 
Claxton,  J.  Higgins,  Stephen  Moyle.  *  *  *  The 
members  of  this  lodge  range  from  fifty-four  to 
eighty.  It  is  in  a  flourishing  condition. 

Members  of  Eebekah  Degree — Mesdames  C.  E. 
Bishop,  Lavinia  Stowers,  G.  Shealor,  J.  Collins,  E. 
Blake,  G.  King,  J.  Saunders,  G.  Allen,  W.  P.  Jones, 
J.  W.  Allen,  Alfred  Howell,  J  acob  Turner,  James  Ham 
mond,  E.  M.  Corliss,  C.  D.  Burleson,  Daniel  Donnelly, 
Eichard  Jones,  A.  E.  Greenwell,  Jane  F.  Ellis,  Julia 
Tressider,  M.  E.  Warkins,  E.  S.  Bennett,  Jane  Smith, 
Jane  Higgins,  F.  E.  Dennis,  Ellen  Tucker,  S.  P. 
Taylor,  F.  S.  Belding,  Elizabeth  Jacka,  — Breedlove> 
-  Bruce,  —  Keerfoot,  —  Gilmore,  —  Banell,  —  Pay- 
ton,  M.  Brinn,  —  Fagan,  —  Scott,  —  Seaman,  Stephen 
Moyle,  John  Laswell,  Geo.  Wrigglesworth,  \V.  C. 
Harvey,  Wm.  II.  Turner,  J.  E.  Tregloan,  Jane 
Trippit,  D.  T.  Davis,  Thomas  Davis,  J.  E.  Davis,  F. 
Labin,  Alfred  Howell. 

JACKSON    LODGE,    NO.  36, 

Organized  in  1860.  First  officers  :  H.  Iloeber,  N.  G.; 
J.  P.  Alsover,  V.  G.;  S.  Page,  E.  S;  A.  Yoak,  Treas 
urer.  The  value  of  property  was  estimated  at  three 
thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty  dollars.  The  first 
officers  since  its  organization  were:  E.  G.  Freeman,  D. 
Cuppet,  S.  B.  Bartlett,  E.  Agard.  J.  T.  Shelborne,  E. 
S.  Hall,  L.  Brandt,  E.  B.  Styles,  D.  B.  Spagnoli,  H. 
W.  Allen,  L.  J.  Dodge,  J.  A.  Peters,  J.  Smith,  J.  Hol- 
lingsworth,  J.  C.  McJSTamara.  *  *  * 

Members  of  Eebekah  Degree — Mesdames  B.  B.  Eed- 
head,  W.  A.  Eogers,  E.  G.  Freeman,  N.  M.  Bowman, 
T.  D.  Wells,  Thomas  Shelborne,  Sarah  S.  Eobinson, 


Nancy  E.  Miller,  Elizabeth  Keshler,  Laura  Brummel, 
Catherine  A.  Hall,  E.  Hesse,  J.  D.  Mason,  S.  H. 
Bartlett,  N.  C.  Briggs,  Mary  J.  Perry,  L.  J.  Little- 
field,  Susan  Meek,  Isabella  E.  Spagnoli,  M.  Lory,  E. 
Warren,  F.  Brandt,  L.  J.  Doaye,  James  Avis,  Fred. 
Balls,  H,  L.  Joy,  O.  Walther,  T.  A.  Springer,  I. 
Ideans,  A.  Gabrino. 

IONE  LODGE,  NO.  51. 

First  officers:  J.  Bowen,N.  G.;  J.  Bagley,  V.G.;  G. 
f  ilaverstick,E.  S.;  D.  Stewart,  Treasurer.  First  officers 
since  :  Geo.  Haverstick,  T.  P.  Stewart,  M.  Zimmer,  A. 
Preater,  I.  B.  Fish,  0.  N.  Morse,  C.  Burgen,  G.  W. 
Owens,  C.  B.  Strong,  H.  Craner,  E.  Ludgate,  J.W.  Sur 
face,  A.  B.  McDonald,  W.K.Johnston,  Henry  C.King, 
W.  H.Prouty,  James  McCauley.  *  *  *  Value  of  prop 
erty  in  1860,  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  For  many 
years  this  lodge  was  weak  in  numbers,  though  strong 
in  purpose,  the  numbers  varying  from  nineteen  in 
1861  to  thirty  as  late  as  1870.  After  that  it  took  a 
start,  and  now  numbers  nearly  a  hundred,  with  an 
interest  in  a  good  hall,  and  is  in  a  good  working 
condition.  Assets  in  1872,  twelve  hundred  dollars. 

Members  of  the  Eebekah  Degree — Mesdames  Mar 
garet  Bagley,  Margaret  Morse,  Mary  A.  Dutschke, 
Elizbeth  Baker,  J.  McCauley,  Moses  Myer,  D.  Stew 
art,  E.  Ludgate,  John  Hartman,  Virginia  Burgen, 
May  Ann  Brown,  T.  Eichards,  D.  Fisher,  L.  H.  Lang. 

TELEGRAPH   LODGE,  NO.  79 

Was  instituted  at  Oleta  (Fiddletown)  in  1859.  Char 
ter  members  :  James  Burt,  J.  C.  Chestnut.  John 
Cumberland,  John  Cox.  George  Harridon,  J.  H. 
Howleit,  J.  F.  Ot-trom,  Wilmer  Palmer,  F.  P.  Smith, 

C.  O.  Sloat,  Leroy  Worden,   H.  H.  White.      Third 
degree— W.  E.  Dean,  J.  W.  Kendall,  J.  Keifer,  B.  F. 
Marble,  Samuel  Parker,  E.  A.  Sloat,  E.  Wigal.     Sec 
ond  degree,  David  Frazine.     In  a  short  time  it  had 
thirty-three  members.     Leroy  Worden  was  the  first 
representative  to  the  Grand  Lodge.     N.  G.'s   since 
the  organization  :     J.  F.    Ostrom,  S.  Parker,  H.  D. 
Ford,  W.  T.   Ligget,  J.  E.  Bates,  F.  A.  Charleville, 
G.  Coblentz,  W.  F.  Knapp.  C.  Perry,  A.  F.  Driver,  E. 
A.  Sloat,  E.  Brown,     *     *     * 

Members  of  the  Degree  of  Eebekah — Mrs.  E.  S. 
Potter.  *  *  * 

'LANCHA  PLANA  LODGE,  NO.  95, 

Organized  in  1860.  First  officers  :  H.  A.  Messinger, 
N.  G.;  S.  Kidd,  V.  G.;  Wm.  Cook,  E.  S.;  J.  P.  Mc- 
Henry,  Treasurer.  The  assets  were  valued  at  eight 
hundred  and  eighty-one  dollars  and  eighty-seven 
cents.  The  position  of  N.  G.  was  afterwards  filled 
by  J.  P.  McHenry,  H.  Percival,  *  *  *  In  1864 
the  lodge  ceased  to  report,  the  members  uniting 
with  other  lodges. 

PLYMOUTH    LODGE,    NO.    260, 

Was  instituted  at  Plymouth,  June  15,  1879,  by  John 
Blower,  D.  D.  G.  M.,  assisted  by  I.  N.  Eandolph,  P. 
G.  M.,  assisted  by  other  P.  G.  Masters.  Charter 
members:  C.  A.  Cordell,  W.  Wright,  J.  A.  Gessler, 

D.  W.  Walker,  T.  P.  Bawden,  S.  G.  Lewis,  Charles 
Green,  E.  S.  Potter,  S.  Eing,  E.  Summers,  and  John 


280 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Daviggio;  D.  W.  Walker  being  the  first  N.  G.,  and 
T.  P.  Bawden  the  next.  This  lodge,  unlike  some 
of  the  others,  became  numerous  immediately.  They 
have  a  fine  hall,  and  have  never  felt  the  pinch  of 
poverty.  The  prosperity  of  the  Order  has  been 
largely  due  to  the  active  exertions  of  Uhas.  Green, 
who  was  for  many  years  the  foreman  of  the  Empire 
and  Phoenix  mines. 

THE    GRAND    ENCAMPMENT,    NO.    17, 

Is  composed  of  members  of  the  scarlet  or  fifth . 
degrees,  these  being,  in  their  order,  white,  pink, 
blue,  green,  and  scarlet.  Two  encampments  have 
been  formed  in  the  county;  the  Amador,  No.  17,  at 
Sutter  Creek,  and  the  Marble,  No.  19,  at  Volcano, 
the  latter  afterwards  being  removed  to  lone,  retain 
ing  the  same  name.  The  first  was  organized  in 
1859,  with  J.  A*  Brown  as  Chief  Patriarch;  J.  T. 
Skinner,  High  Priest;-  J.  M.  Smith,  Senior  Warden, 
Charles  Doveton,  Scribe;  D.  Gardner,  Treasurer; 
James  Foster,  Junior  Warden.  The  officers  are 
elected  semi-annually;  S.  L.  Sutton,  Isaac  Tripp, 
Wilmer  Palmer,  Morris  Brinn,  L.  T.  McLinn,  J.  H. 
Hammond,  and  G.  A.  Newton,  having  been  Chief 
Patriarchs  at  different  times  since. 

THE    MARBLE    ENCAMPMENT,    NO.    19, 

Was  organized  June  19,  I860,  with  E.  A.  Kingsley 
as  C.  P.;  B.  Ross,  II.  P.;  G.  Williams,  S.  W.;  R.  F. 
Logan,  J.  W.;  Joseph  Samuels,  Treasurer.  The 
following  persons  have  since  filled  the  position  of 
Chief  Patriarch:  I.  Butland,  R.  M.  Bradshaw,  George 
Collins,  H.  T.  Barnum.  This  list  is  not  complete, 
the  official  returns  not  being  at  hand,  the  object- 
in  this  history  being  to  give  an  idea  of  the  workings 
of  the  order  rather  than  a  detailed  history.  As  in  the 
Masonic  order  the  literature  which  one  must  read 
and  become  familiar  with  to  be  well  up  in  the  order, 
is  immense. 

The  society  is  yet  plastic  in  all  its  workings, 
readily  adapting  itself  to  the  changing  habits  of 
mankind.  The  main  object  is  relief  to  its  members, 
but  a  great  many  other  things  are  accomplished. 
The  societies  have  numerous,  well-stocked  libraries, 
where  the  best  of  books  are  kept  free  of  charge,  for 
its  members,  though  friends  of  the  members  are  not 
rigidly  excluded,  but  frequently  admitted  as  a  mat 
ter  of  courtesy.  Much  good  is  being  accomplished 
in  this  way.  The  introduction  of  the  Degree  of 
Rebekah  admitting  females,  was  probably  in  re 
sponse  to  the  general  demand  for  admitting  women 
to  greater  privileges,  which,  in  time,  may  be-  still 
farther  extended.  The  friends  of  the  order  have 
ample  cause  to  be  satisfied,  and  are  not  wanting 
substantial  reasons  for  claiming  Odd  Fellowship  as 
the  best  fruit  of  modern  civilization. 

TEMPERANCE    SOCIETIES. 

These  were  organized  in  an  early  day.  As  early 
as  1853  a  body  organized  after  the  manner  of  the 
Washingtonians  held  weekly  meetings  in  the  old 
Methodist  church  at  Volcano.  There  was  ample 
cause  for  work  in  this  direction,  for  the  habit 


of  drinking  was  fearfully  prevalent.  All  who  ever 
drank,  and  many  who  never  did  before,  were  swept 
into  the  almost  universal  habit.  The  churches 
generally  discouraged  drinking,  but  the  small  voice 
was  not  heard  amid  the  clinking  of  glasses  and 
chinking  of  gold.  Twelve  or  fifteen  persons  met  and 
talked  over  the  prevalence  of  the  habit,  and  com 
forted  each  other  in  their  loneliness.  Occasionally 
they  would  capture  for  a  few  months  some  notorious 
drinker,  sober  him  off  and  get  a  clean  shirt  on  him, 
but  the  great  mass  kept  on  tbeir  course,  and  every 
barrel  of  flour  brought  into  town  was  sandwiched 
with  whisky,  that  kept  company  from  the  rising  to 
the  going  down  of  the  sun,  until  the  mines  were 
exhausted.  In  September  and  October  of  that  year, 
the  society  grew  until  the  roll  numbered  a  hundred 
or  more  names.  Many  hard  drinkers  were  sobered 
up  for  a  time.  The  first  division  of  the  Sons  of  Tem 
perance  in  the  county  was  organized  about  the  first 
of  November  of  that  year.  —  Davidson,  of  Amador, 
W.  P.;  -  -  Daviss,  P.  W.  P.;  L.  S.  Scott,  C.;  R. 
Stewart,  R.  S.;  Ned  Lonegan,  F.  S.;  D.  Boydston, 
I.  S.;  Jacob  Level,  0.  S.  J.  K.  Sloughton  and  Sem- 
pronius  Boyd  were  among  the  charter  members. 
When  this  society  was  organized  the  old  society  was 
dissolved,  most  of  the  members  joining  the  new 
order.  In  1855  a  new  hall  was  built,  which  has  been 
devoted  to  temperance  work  since,  though  occupied 
by  different  societies. 

The  Sons  of  Temperance  have  had  organizations 
in  nearly  all  the  towns  of  the  county  at  different 
times,  flourishing  notably  in  lone  in  1875-76,  and  in 
Sutter  Creek,  Amador  and  Drytown  about  the  same 
time.  These  societies  are  maintained  by  small 
monthly  dues.  They  have  high-sounding  titles,  like 
Worthy  Patriarch,  Past  and  Grands  of  the  same, 
with  significant  regalia  to  correspond.  Persons  of 
both  sexes  of  fourteen  years  and  upward  are 
admitted.  Though  temperance  is  the  professed 
object,  the  love  of  power  inherent  in  human  nature 
soon  manifests  itself,  and  a  lodge  or  division  soon 
becomes  divided  into  factions,  each  striving  for  the 
mastery.  ;  Sometimes  the  younger  members  will 
combine  against  the  elder,  and  make  fun  and  merri. 
ment  the  main  object.  The  societies  have  a  pre 
ventive  rather  than  a  reformatory  tendency,  but 
undoubtedly  exert  a  healthy  influence  in  holding  the 
evils  of  intemperance  constantly  in  view,  and  in 
teaching  habits  of  obedience  and  the  responsibilities 
of  authority. 

THE    GOOD    TEMPLARS 

Are  of  similar  character,  with  perhaps  a  better  sys 
tem  of  organization,  as  the  society  holds  together 
and  accumulates  property,  having  an  asylum  for 
orphans  at  Vallejo  which  would  be  a  credit  to  any 
order.  This  society  had  a  large  prosperity  in 
1858-59-60  at  lone.  C.  B.  Strong,  I.  B.  Gregory, 
Mrs.  George  Withington,  Win.  II.  Scudder  and  wile, 
being  among  the  principal  promoters  of  the  organi 
zation. 


RESIDENCE  AND  RANCH  320  ACRES  OF  JONATHAN  SALLEE, 
NEAR  PLYMOUTH,  AMADOR  C°  CAL. 


CENTRAL  HOUSE  RANCH. 

RESIDENCE  AND  PROPERTY  OF  M^ss  M.H.WELLS  £  J.H.GRAMBART, 


SOCIETIES. 


281 


THE    KNIGHTS    OF    THE    RED   CROSS, 

A  beneficiary  society,  is  flourishing  of  late  years. 
This  has  engrafted  some  of  the  customs  of  the  Ma 
sonic  and  Odd  Fellows'  organizations  on  the  former 
temperance  unions,  and  are  consequently  more  self- 
sustaining.  The  order  is  flourishing  in  lone  at  the 
present  writing. 

THE    BLUE    RIBBON    SOCIETY 

Is  an  order  which  requires  its  members  to  wear  the 
badge  of  abstinence  in  the  daily  intercourse  with 
mankind.  The  lodge  at  Volcano  was  organized  by 
Doctor  Haskell,  an  itinerant  temperance  reformer. 
It  numbers  about  one  hundred  members.  It  has  a 
President,  Vice-President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer. 
R.  Stewart  was  the  first  President;  James  Jenkins, 
Vice-President.  The  present  officers  are  :  George 
Madeira,  President;  Miss  Anna  Whitchead,  Vice- 
President;  Miss  Minnie  Mclntyre,  Treasurer,  and 
Miss  Ellen  Cottingham,  Secretary.  The  Blue  Ribbon 
Bugle  is  a  manuscript  paper  read  once  or  twice  a 
month  to  the  society  and  others  interested. 

THE    GENERAL    TENDENCY   OF   TEMPERANCE    SOCIETIES 

Is  undoubtedly  good,  though  a  habit  of  indulgence 
which  has  prevailed  for  centuries  cannot  be  eradi 
cated  in  a  generation.  Inherited  appetite,  customs 
of  society,  and  pecuniary  interests  are  all  conducive 
to  the  perpetuation  of  the  vice  of  drinking.  Sump 
tuary  laws  have  ever  been  unpopular,  and  conse 
quently  laws  regulating  the  manufacture,  sale  and 
consumption  of  alcoholic  beverages  have  had  much 
prejudice  to  contend  with,  much  negative  opposition; 
but  when  public  opinion  generally  sanctions  them 
they  will  be  as  effective  as  other  laws. 

SUBJECTS    FOR    INSANE   ASYLUMS. 

Whisky,  and  the  excitement  of  mining,  with  its 
gains  and  losses,  hopes  and  disappointments,  sent  a 
fearful  number  to  the  Insane  Asylum,  the  average 
from  Amador  county,  according  to  the  reports,  being 
one  a  month.  As  to  whisky  as  a  cause  of  insanity, 
the  opinion  of  E.  T.  Wilkins,  Commissioner  in 
Lunacy  for  the  State  of  California,  as  found  in  his 
report  to  Gov.  H.  II.  Haight,  December  2,  1871,  may 
be  to  the  point: 

With  regard  to  intemperance  It 

seems  to  be  the  bane  of  all  countries,  and  claims  its 
victims  in  every  civilized  nation  and  under  every 
form  of  government.  It  is  the  common  enemy  of 
mankind,  the  destroyer  of  domestic  happiness,  the 
copartner  of  every  crime  from  petit  larceny  to  mur 
der.  It  is  the  father  of  poverty,  the  creator  of 
debauchery,  and  the  principal  working  tool  of  the 
devil.  No  man  is  bold  enough  to  defend  it,  and  yet 
it  is  tolerated  by  all  classes  of  society.  It  finds  its 
way  alike  to  the  house  of  the  rich  and  the  home  of 
the  poor.  It  is  the  boon  companion  at  the  festive 
board  of  the  aristocrat  and  the  poorly  provided  table 
of  the  cottager.  It  has  caused  more  heart-aches, 
produced  more  tears,  engendered  more  sorrows, 
starved  more  babies,  and  led  to  more  insanity  than 
any  other  agent  in  existence — if  not  more  than  all 
other  causes  combined.  We  are  strongly  inclined  to 
36 


the  opinion  that  directly  or  remotely  it  is  more 
potent  in  producing  these  results  than  all  other 
causes.  It  is  the  sin  of  civilization  that  it  has  found 
out  ways  of  extracting  alcohol  from  natural  sub 
stances,  so  that  it  is  offered  in  tempting  forms  and 
accessible  abundance  to  the  weak  and  incautious 
who  would  not  instinctively  seek  it,  as  well  as  those 
whose  appetites  demand  it.  If,  then,  civilization  is 
responsible  for  the  introduction  of  this  destructive 
element  among  mankind,  it  is  certainly  its  duty,  and 
it  should  be  compelled,  to  provide  for  its  victims. 
How  to  arrest  its  progress,  if,  indeed,  it  be  possible, 
we  must  leave  to  the  wiser  heads  of  the  Legislature 
and  the  statesman;  and  he  who  can  solve  the  prob 
lem  will  be  the  wisest  of  men,  and  a  greater  bene 
factor  to  his  fellow-men  than  has  ever  yet  appeared 
among  them. 

BURLESQUE   SOCIETIES. 

The  essential  object  of  these  is  fun;  it  matters 
little  at  whose  expense.  Eidicule  is  a  chief  element 
in  all  the  ceremonies  and  exercises.  All  that  admits 
of  it  is  burlesqued.  The  members  claim  for  the 
societies  that  in  addition  to  affording  amusement, 
which  is  a  sanitary  necessity,  they  take  down  the 
pretentious  and  pompous,  prick  the  bubbles  of  ego 
tism,  and  benefit  society  in  many  ways.  If  only  the 
conceited,  pompous  and  pretentious  were  made  sub 
jects  of  the  initiation,  there  would  be  some  claim  for 
the  respect  of  the  community;  but  it  often  happens 
that  the  unsuspecting  and  honest  are  their  victims. 

THE    E-CLAMPSUS   VITUS 

Flourished  in  1861-62,  especially  in  lone.  The  ini 
tiation  was  generally  newly  arranged  for  each  sub 
ject.  One  ceremony  was  to  make  the  initiate  crawl 
through  a  portion  of  an  old  smokestack  and  acceler 
ate  his  movements  by  dashing  buckets  of  cold  water 
after  him;  another,  to  run  him  blindfolded  over 
chains  and  other  obstructions  until  his  shins  were 
well  barked;  another,  to  make  him  jump  from  a  terri 
ble  height  (?)  into  a  tub  of  cold  water,  after  which 
he  was  dressed  up  in  some  absurd  way,  brought  before 
a  mirror  and  the  blind  removed,  that  he  might  "  see 
himself  as  the  world  saw  him."  Not  all  were  ad 
mitted  in  this  way;  some  were  received  for  the  pur 
pose  of  assisting  in  the  work. 

Many  sober,  honest,  middle-aged  men  were  induced 
to  join  to  become  the  possessors  of  the  great  secret. 

THE    HAUTONTIMOROUMENOS 

Flourished  in  Amador,  but  had  branches  in  Sutter, 
Jackson  and  other  places.  From  the  cuts  with 
which  their  official  papers  were  ornamented,  the 
impression  would  be  formed  that  the  society  was 
rather  of  the  convivial  order. 

THE    KNIGHTS    OF   THE   ASSYRIAN    CROSS, 

Organized  in  1873,  have  maintained  a  longer  exist 
ence  than  any  others  of  this  class  in  the  county. 
In  Sutter  Creek,  where  the  first  lodge  was  organized, 
they  number  one  hundred  members;  fifty  in  Jackson, 
and  about  the  same  in  lone.  The  high,  swelling 
names  of  the  other  societies  are  burlequesed  in  great 
style,  the  English  dictionary  being  ransacked  to  find 


282 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


suitable  superlatives.  Grand  Mogul,  Great  Grand 
Light  of  Ages,  Grand  Executioner,  Bearer  of  the 
Great  Seal,  and  everything  else  of  a  grandiose  char 
acter  are  freely  appropriated  and  bestowed.  An 
antiquity  of  a  half  million  of  years  ia  also  claimed, 
antedating  Masonic  or  all  other  societies.  They 
claim  to  be  benevolent,  literary,  scientific,  philosophic 
and  religious.  They  occasionally  parade  in  costume, 
or  rather  in  masks,  representing  all  kinds  of  animals. 
They  hold  public  meetings,  at  which  characteristic 
poems,  orations  and  other  exercies  are  indulged  in. 
Those  who  wish  for  further  information  may  un 
doubtedly  obtain  it  by  applying  to  the  proper  per 


sons. 


PIONEER   SOCIETIES. 


Soon  after  the  settlement,  when  it  became  apparent 
that  California  was  destined  to  become  a  great  and 
important  State,  associations  began  to  be  formed, 
some  to  preserve  the  records  of  the  early  events, 
some  for  mutual  assistance,  and  some  as  claiming  a 
kind  of  distinction  for  having  been  among  the  first 
to  arrive  in  the  country.  Hence  the  Pioneer  society, 
which  required  a  residence  as  early  as  1849  for  mem 
bership,  and  the  Territorial  Pioneers  that  required  a 
residence  prior  to  September  9,  1850. 

THE   AMADOR   SOCIETY   OP   CALIFORNIA   PIONEERS 

Was  organized  September  9,  1877,  at  Jackson,  Cali 
fornia.  Its  objects  are  to  cultivate  the  social  virtues 
of  its  members,  alleviate  their  sufferings  and  sick 
ness,  secure  them  a  decent  burial,  and,  as  far  as  pos 
sible,  render  assistance  when  needed  to  their  widows 
and  orphans,  and  also  assist  in  perpetuating  the 
memory  of  those  whose  love  of  enterprise  and 
independence  induced  them  to  seek  a  home  in  the  far 
West  and  become  the  germ  of  a  new  and  great 
State.  Members  are  required  to  have  had  a  resi 
dence  previous  to  December  1,  1852,  to  be  citizens  or 
desirous  of  becoming  such.  Male  descendants  of  the 
above,  twenty-one  jrears  of  age,  may  become  mem 
bers.  Admission  fees  must  not  be  less  than  five 
dollars.  Regular  monthly  dues  are  established  by  the 
society.  Members,  in  case  of  sickness  or  bodily 
injury  by  which  they  are  prevented  from  following 
their  usual  occupations,  are  entitled  to  such  weekly 
benefits  as  may  be  fixed  by  law.  Sixty  dollars  burial 
expenses  are  allowed.  The  regular  meetings  are  on 
the  first  and  third  Mondays  of  each  month. 

Charter  members — X.  Benoist,  Chas.  Boarman,  R. 
Caminetti,  J.  D.  Davis,  Peter  David,  George  Durham, 
Ellis  Evans,  Thomas  Greenhalgh,  H.  Goldner,  M.  W. 
Gordon,  E.  Gardner,  J.  Gross,  J.  F.  Gould,  Philip 
Gilbert,  J.  F.  Harleman,  J.  C.  Ilam,  Wm.  Jennings, 
Thomas  Jones,  E.  A.  Kent,  Thomas  Love,  John 
Martin,  James  Meehan,  John  Marlett,  John  B. 
Phelps,  Wm.  Pitt,  R.  W.  Palmer,  Chas.  Peters,  John 
B.  Reeves,  Chas.  B.  Swift,  Joseph  Smith,  Louis 
Tellier,  John  Vogan. 


REGULAR    MEMBERS. 


Allen,  J.  C. 
Boarman,  Chas.* 
Billiard,  J.  B  * 
Benoist,  X. 
Boxall,  Wm. 
Boyrie,  Jacques 
Burnhardt,  P.  K. 
Boyer,  Julian 
Bales  J.  J. 
Cook,  Wm. 
Durham,  George 
David,  Peter 
Davis,  J.  D. 
D  \vyer,  P. 
Desbro,  Wm. 
Evans,  Ellis 
Eagon,  J.  A. 
Gilbert,  Philip 
Gould,  J.  F. 
Gardner,  E. 
Greenhalgh,  Thos. 
Gross,  Joseph 
Goldner,  Herman 
Graham,  Frank 
Hurleman,  J.  F. 
Ham,  J.  C. 
Howard,  Frank 
Ilanley,  Tim. 
Hinkson,  J.  M. 
Hinkson,  R.  S. 
Hinkson,  N.  C. 
Jennings,  Wm. 
Jones,  Thos. 
Jones,  W.  C. 
Kent,  E.  A. 
Koch,  Albert 


Kelly,  Michael 
Keshler,  A. 
Love.  Thomas* 
Latique,  Vital 
Laronsini,  Jean 
Marlett,  John 
Meehan,  James 
McKoy,  R.  K. 
McKinney,  A. 
Peck,  Henry* 
Phelps,  J.  B. 
Peters,  Charles 
Pitt,  Wm. 
Palmer,  R.  W. 
Plasse,  Raymond 
Reeves,  John  B. 
Swift,  C.  B. 
Stevitch,  J. 
Straggozi,  Paul 
Schwartz,  F. 
Schwartz,  E. 
Steckler,  Chas.* 
Stewart,  Robert 
Silva,  Thos. 
Staats,  F.  K. 
Sejers,  Jas. 
Styles,  S.  W. 
Stewart,  Danl. 
Sullivan,  Jeremiah 
Stowers,  W.  A. 
Tellier,  Louis 
Truel,  H. 
Tarwater,  G.  F. 
Yo  /an,  John 
White,  George 
Weller,  C. 


LIST   OP   OFFICERS. 

1878-79.  1880-81. 

President James  Meehan James  Meehan 

Vice  President. -Thomas  Jones J.  A.  Engon 

Secretary J.  D.  Davis. J.  F.  Gould 

Treasurer E.  Evans ,E.  Evans. 

C  Louis  Tellier         (  E.  A.  Kent 
Trustees 4  J.  F.  Gould -j  P.  Dwyer 

(  P.  Dwyer  (  John  Vogan 

C  E.  A.  Kent  (  Thos.  Jones 

Finance    Com .}  T.  Greenhalgh..  -<  II.  Goldner 

(  Charles  Peters      (_  Thomas  Love 

Marshal R.  W.  Palmer R.  W.  Palmer. 

The  society  is  making  historical  collections,  and 
have  some  curious  relics  of  early  years,  among  which 
are  copies  of  the  Owl  and  Qaincy  Prospector,  the  first 
newspapers  published  in  the  county.  The  society  is 
in  a  flourishing  condition. 

THE   SCLAVONIC   ILLYRIC    MUTUAL   BENEVOLENT    SOCIETY 

Is  a  branch  of  the  San  Francisco  society  of  the  same 
name.  Monthly  dues,  one  dollar;  the  members  re 
ceiving  in  case  of  sickness,  eight  dollars  per  week. 
In  case  of  death  the  funeral  expenses  are  paid  by 
the  society.  They  own  a  hall,  costing  about  three 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  The  society  was 
organized  at  Sutter  Creek,  1874. 

GRANGERS. 

Some  years  since  several  of  these  societies  were 
organized  in  the  county.  The  first  was  in  the  vicin- 

*Deceaaed. 


SKETCHES  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY  BAR. 


283 


ity  of  the  Jackson  valley  school-house.  The  objects 
seemed  to  have  been  to  protect  themselves  against 
the  extortions  of  middle  men,  by  combining  to  dis 
pose  of  their  produce  dii*ect!y  to  the  consumers. 
The  attempt  was  not  quite  successful,  owing  to  the 
inexperience  or  incapacity  of  their  agents.  It  was 
attempted  to  engraft  them  on  the  political  parties, 
but  the  Grangers  declined  any  alliance.  It  is  likely, 
however,  that  both  parties,  seeking  their  votes,  con 
ceded  legislation  that  would  not  have  been  given  to 
unorganized  sentiment.  The  influence  of  the  grange 
is  much  less  now  than  a  few  years  since.  There  are 
still  two  or  three  societies  in  the  county.  It  is 
probable  that  social  enjoyment  rather  than  financial 
benefits,  is  the  motive  power.  The  officers  are 
divided  between  males  and  females,  the  latter  being 
elected  to  offices  such  as  Ceres,  Pomona  and  Flora. 
A  society  of  this  kind  meets  once  a  month  at  Sutter 
Creek,  occasionally  holding  a  feast  or  day  of  general 
recreation.  No  statistics  are  at  hand. 


CHAPTER  XL1II. 

SKETCHES  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY  BAR. 
BY   J.    G.    SEVERANCE,    SAN   FRANCISCO. 

AT  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  California, 
subsequent  to  its  acquisition  by  the  United  States, 
the  Bar  of  "Old  Calaveras"  was  justly  assigned 
a  position  in  the  front  rank  of  the  legal  profession. 
It  was,  with  few  exceptions,  composed  of  men  of 
push  and  genius;  of  acknowledged  worth,  integrity, 
ability,  and  wit;  men  possessed  of  learning  and 
culture,  acquired  in  the  best  of  Eastern  schools,  and 
of  large  experience,  gained  by  near  association  and 
contact  with  the  ablest  lawyers,  jurists,  and  scholars 
of  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  cities,  and 
populous  agricultural  and  mineral  districts  of  the 
Atlantic  States.  That  air  of  rusticity,  and  the  lim 
ited  professional  experience  which  usually  charac 
terize  members  of  the  profession  in  the  interior  of 
older  settled  sections,  were  wanting  among  these 
cosmopolitan  argonauts.  They  were  alike  experi 
enced  in,  and  qualified  to  skillfully  deal  with,  intri 
cate  questions  of  maritime,  commercial,  and  inter- 
nationallaw,  as  settled  and  adjudicated  by  author 
ity,  and  to  cope  with  and  adjust  successfully  such 
novel  legal  problems  as  the  new  industries,  customs, 
and  requirements  of  the  newly  acquired  territory 
developed;  they  came  prepared  for  city  or  country 
life,  for  metropolitan,  bucolic  or  pioneer  practice. 
They  abandoned  the  homes  of  education  and  refine 
ment  in  the  East,  for  the  rude  life  of  the  Western 
El  Dorado,  in  search  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  and,  if 
funds  ran  low  because  of  the  too  angelic  visits  of 
clients,  instead  of  listlessly  awaiting  the  coming  of 
a  brief  in  their  offices,  they  sought  and  found  lucra 
tive  employment  on  ranches,  in  work -shops,  kitchens, 
mining  claims,  and  other  vocations,  until  a  popular 
recognition  of  their  talents  gave  abundant  labor  in 


their  profession.  Many  a  retainer  of  corpulent  pro 
portions  has  been  dropped  into  hands  made  hard 
and  horny  by  familiarity  with  rough  labor,  or  soft 
ened  by  culinary  employment,  and  the  grease  of  the 
dish-pan;  and  the  intricate  details  of  many  cases 
of  great  financial  importance  have  been  imparted  to 
counsel  while  engaged  with  pick  and  shovel  at  the 
sluices  and  the  long-torn. 

Ably  and  well  has  the  Bar  of  "Old  Calaveras" 
been  represented  in  both  the  Senate  and  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  national  Congress,  and  in 
both  Houses  of  the  State  Legislature,  by  not  a  few 
of  its  members;  many,  to  its  honor  and  credit,  have 
worn  the  judicial  ermine.  It  has  furnished  gov 
ernors,  and  numerous  faithful  and  competent  officials 
for  political  positions,  Federal,  State,  and  municipal, 
and  none  have  been  found  unworthy  of  the  trust 
reposed  in  them.  When,  by  the  Act  of  the  State 
Legislature  of  1854,  the  little  county  of  Amador  was 
created  out  of  a  portion  of  Calaveras  county,  the 
former  retained  a  fair  and  just  proportion  of  the 
legal  talent  which  had  been  embraced  within  the 
latter.  A  jealous,  but  friendly,  rivalry  was  engen 
dered  between  the  denizens  of  the  two  sections 
lying  on  either  side  of  the  deep  gorge  through  which 
flowed  the  Mokelumne  river,  and  which  seemed  to 
have  been  designed  by  Nature  for  a  political  boun 
dary  line;  and  frequent  contentions  arose,  in  which 
the  opposing  clans  acknowledged  the  leadership  of 
the  lawyers  of  their  respective  divisions.  So  equally 
matched  were  these  generals  in  diplomacy  and  skill, 
that  a  segregation  was  acquiesced  in,  as  the  only 
method  of  adjustment,  and  Amador  county  was 
created,  that  each  faction  might  have  full  scope  for 
the  exercise  of  its  genius.  A  close  intimacy  and  the 
kindliest  feeling  subsequently  existed  between  the 
two  Bars,  which  have  at  all  times  been  so  closely 
allied  that  great  difficulty  is  experienced  in  record 
ing  the  history  of  the  one,  without  including  that  of 
the  other. 

The  more  important  of  the  early  litigation  in 
Amador  county  was  concerning  matters  affecting 
the  respective  and  relative  rights  of  the  miner,  the 
riparian  claimant  and  the  agriculturist,  up  to  about 
the  year  1866,  when  the  Supreme  Court  decided  that 
the  interest  of  a  miner  in  his  claim  was  realty,  hence 
questions  affecting  such  interest  were  not  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  inferior  courts.  All  cases  involving  the 
possession  of  mining  claims,  their  boundaries  and 
priviliges  were  tried  in  Justices'  Courts,  irrespective 
of  their  values,  subject  to  an  appeal  to  the  County 
Court.  Consequently  large  fees  were  frequently  paid 
to  attorneys  for  conducting  trials  in  these  courts 
where  the  interests  involved  often  amounted  to 
thousands  of  dollars.  The  waters  of  the  rivers  and 
creeks  were  appropriated  and  conveyed  in  ditches 
and  flumes  to  the  mines  by  the  construction  of  dams 
and  tapping  them  at  different  points,  and  it  fre 
quently  became  a  delicate  matter  to  properly  and 
equitably  adjust  the  rights  of  adverse  claimants.  It 


284 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


often  occurred  that  beneath  the  most  productive  soil, 
forming  the  surface  of  a  flat  or  bar,  the  bed-rock 
was  richest  in  its  deposits  of  gold.  Hence  many 
questions  arose  without  well-established  precedents, 
and  legislative  as  well  as  judicial  skill  was  frequently 
invoked  to  settle  them  in  such  manner  as  the  better 
to  subserve  the  public  welfare  and  the  individual 
interests  of  each.  Senator  Norman,  of  Calaveras 
county,  introduced  a  bill,  which  was  known  as  the 
Norman  Bill,  in  the  Legislature,  which  became  a  law 
in  the  year  1857,  and  which,  in  a  great  measure, 
served  to  reconcile  disputes  concerning  the  relative 
rights  of  the  miner  and  agriculturist;  and  the  final 
adjudication  of  many  other  litigious  propositions 
arising  in  the  courts  of  Amador,  of  a  novel  charac 
ter,  have  largely  contributed  to  the  settlement  of 
vexed  questions,  and  rendered  certain  what  was 
before  uncertain. 

Following  are  the  names  of  those  who,  as  judges 
and  lawyers,  have  taken  an  active  part  in  the  judi 
cial  affairs  of  the  county  since  its  organization: 
Marion  W.  Gordan,  W.  VV.  Cope,  Robert  M.  Briggs, 
James  F.  Hubbard,  S.  J.  K.  Handy,  James  T.  Farley, 
James  W.  Porter,  A.  C.  Brown,  Samuel  B.  Axtell, 
Thomas  D.  Grant,  T.  M.  Pawling,  H.  A.  Carter,  John 
C.  Gear,  Charles  Boynton,  Judge  Reynolds,  J.  G. 
Severance,  George  W.  Seaton,  John  W.  Armstrong, 
James  H.  Hardy,  Alvinza  Hayward,  John  Palmer, 
W.  P.  Buchanan,  Alonzo  Platt,  W.  T.  Curtis,  Claiborn 
Roarer,  Henry  L.  Waldo,  Nash  C.  Briggs,  John  A- 
Eagon,  Wm.  P.  George,  Fayette  Mace,  T.  J.  Phelps, 
A.  C-iminetti,  Silas  Penry,  George  Moore,  P.  C. 
Johnson,  L.  N.  Ketchum,  J.  Foot  Turner,  J.  A. 
Robinson,  Henry  Cook,  Moses  Tebbs,  George  L.  Gale. 

Amador  county  was  first  included  within  the  fifth 
judicial  district,  of  which  Hon.  Charles  M.  Creanor, 
now  of  Stockton,  was  the  Judge.  This  district  was 
comprised  of  the  populous  and  important  mining 
and  agricultural  counties  of  Amador,  Calaveras, 
Tuolumne,  Stanislaus  and  San  Joaquin,  and,  to  dis 
pose  of  the  enormous  amount  of  litigation  arising 
therein,  required  great  energy,  endurance,  and  dis 
patch.  Court  week  at  Jackson  was  an  eventful 
season.  Motions  and  demurrers  for  delay  received 
but  little  consideration,  and  not  to  be  ready  wben 
your  case  was  called  was  to  have  it  very  summarily 
disposed  of.  Jurors,  witnesses,  and  litigants,  from 
all  parts  of  the  county,  were  largely  in  attendance, 
and  one  case  followed  another  from  nine  in  the 
morning  until  far  into  the  night,  when,  not  infre 
quently,  rest  and  recreation  were  only  found  at 
the  poker  table  until  morning.  Hon.  Tod  Robinson, 
of  Sacramento,  was  so  constant  an  attendant  on  the 
courts  of  Amador,  that  a  history  of  its  Bar  would 
be  incomplete  without  mention  of  his  name;  and 
time  and  again  have  the  Court  House  walls  at  Jack 
son  rung  with  the  eloquent  voices  of  Honorables  E.  D. 
Baker,  N.  Greene  Curtis,  Frank  Hereford,  and  others 
whose  oratory  has  won  for  them  a  national  fame,  and 
still  oftener  have  they  resounded  with  the  blows  of 


the  Sheriff's  knuckles  upon  his  unoffending  desk,  in 
his  efforts  to  bring  order  out  of  the  chaos  provoked 
by  some  sally  of  wit  on  the  part  of  Col.  A.  P.  Dud 
ley,  of  Calaveras. 

Judge  Cre  inor  possessed  the  exceptional  power 
and  ability  requisite  to  discharge  the  onerous  duties 
that  devolved  upon  him  as  the  judicial  head  of  so 
large  a  district  as  his,  and  infused  into  those  who 
practiced  in  his  courts  something  of  his  executive 
zeal.  So  quick  of  comprehension  was  he  that  but 
few  explanatory  words  were  necessary  to  convey  to 
his  clear,  grasping  and  judicial  mind  all  the  salient 
points  in  the  facts  of  the  most  complicated  and  cum 
bersome  cause;  so  impartial  and  just  in  his  decisions 
and  conclusions  that  no  charge  of  parsonal  favoritism, 
bribery,  fraud  or  dishonesty  was  ever  hinted  at;  so 
prompt  in  the  dispatch  of  business  pertaining  to  the 
courts  that  no  attendant  thereon  complained  of 
unnecessary  detention;  so  firm  and  rigid  in  court 
regime,  that  it  is  said  of  him  he  imposed  a  fine  upon 
himself  for  being  ten  minutes  late  at  court  one 
morning;  so  courteous  to  the  elder  and  considerate 
to  the  younger  members  of  the  profession,  that  he 
possessed  the  highest  esteem  and  fullest  confidence  of 
all;  it  was  but  a  natural  sequence  that  his  example 
had  much  to  do  in  moulding  the  character  and 
habits  of  those  who  practiced  before  him.  No  judge 
ever  retired  from  the  bench  with  a  fairer  record  than 
Hon.  Charles  M.  Creanor;  and  if  any  errors  of  judg 
ment  are  entered  there,  they  are  so  obscured  by  the 
brilliancy  of  his  sterling  qualities  that  we  pass  them 
unnoticed. 

As  before  stated,  Amador  was  first  in  the  fifth 
judicial  district,  with  Hon.  C.  M.  Creanor  as  Judge. 
In  1859,  the  district  was  divided,  and  Amador  and 
Calaveras  made  to  constitute  the  sixteenth  judicial 
district,  Hon.  James  II.  Hardy  being  appointed  the 
first  Judge  thereof.  Hon.  Wm.  II.  Badgley,  of  Cala 
veras  county,  succeeded  Judge  Hardy.  Judge 
Badgley  was  a  highly  cultivated  and  polished  gen 
tleman  from  the  State  of  New  York,  and  is  now 
engaged  in  practice  in  that  city.  Judge  Silas  W. 
Brockway,  a  native  of  New  York,  an  earnest 
laborer  in  his  profession,  an  able  lawyer,  and  pos 
sessed  of  great  force  of  character,  succeeded  Judge 
Badgley  in  1864,  Amador  being  then  in  the  eleventh 
district,  composed  of  Amador,  El  Dorado,  and  Cala 
veras.  Hon.  A.  C.  Adams,  now  of  San  Francisco, 
succeeded  Judge  Brockway,  and  Hon.  George  II. 
Williams,  of  El  Dorado,  succeeded  Judge  Adams. 

That  this  sketch  may  not  justly  be  compared  to 
the  great  play  of  Hamlet  with  Hamlet  omitted,  the 
brief  biographies  of  such  prominent  members  of  the 
Amador  Bar  as  could  be  obtained,  are  appended. 

J.  W.  ARMSTRONG  was  a  blacksmith  in  early  days 
in  California,  but  took  a  notion  that  he  could  make 
a  lawyer  of  himself,  and  commenced  the  study  some 
twenty-two  years  since.  He  has  been,  and  is,  one  of 
the  most  indefatigable  students  the  world  ever  saw, 


SKETCHES  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY  BAR. 


285 


exhibiting  a  most  wonderful  capacity  for  hard  work. 
He  commenced  the  practice  in  Amador  county,  some 
twenty  years  since,  but,  after  some  years,  removed 
to  Sacramento,  where  he  has  eucceeeed  in  building 
up  a  lucrative  practice  and  a  reputation  for  being 
one  of  the  best  informed  men  of  the  State.  His 
acquirements  are  substantial  and  useful.  Having 
little  taste  for  the  poetical  adornments  which  orna 
mented  the  orations  of  Baker  and  other  famous 
speakers,  he  deals  in  hard,  incontrovertible  facts, 
piling  them  up  mountain  .high,  leaving  no  possible 
escape  for  his  adversary.  He  is  still  in  the  prime  of 
life,  and  has  promise  of  many  years  of  usefulness. 

HONORABLE  SAMUEL  B.  AXTELL  was  one  of  those 
cold,  reticent  men  whoso  suaviter  in  modo  won  the 
respect  rather  than  the  friendship  of  men.  Indeed, 
he  did  not  care  for  the  friendship  of  many,  and  those 
such  as  could  be  of  use  to  him.  He  was  possessed 
of  a  high  sense  of  honor,  polished  in  manner,  and 
uncompromising  in  his  zeal  when  in  pursuit  of  some 
purpose,  and  he  always  had  a  purpose  in  view.  As 
an  advocate,  and  especially  in  jury  trials,  he  had  few 
equals  in  method,  terseness  of  expression,  and  clear 
ness  of  style.  Educated  at  Oberlin  College,  in  his 
native  State,  Ohio,  his  earliest  forensic  efforts,  were 
in  behalf  of  abolitionism;  he  afterwards  went  South, 
and  there  became  imbued  with  Southern  ideas  and 
proclivities;  settled  in  Jackson  as  early  as  1853,  and 
was  elected  the  first  District  Attorney  in  1854,  and 
was  re-elected  in  1856,  making  a  most  excellent  offi 
cer,  firm  arid  unflinching  in  the  performance  of  his 
duties,  but  never  over  zealous  to  the  extent  of  per 
secution.  He  subsequently  removed  to  San  Fran 
cisco,  and  was  there  elected  to  Congress,  where  he 
was  converted  to  Republicanism,  having  theretofore 
been  a  Democrat.  He  has  never  since  returned  to 
California,  but  was  appointed  Governor  of  Utah, 
and  subsequently  Governor  of  New  Mexico,  where 
his  policy  of  Mormon  conciliation  became  so  obnox 
ious  to  the  Government  that  he  was  recalled.  His 
merits,  however,  seemed  not  to  have  been  ignored, 
for  recently  the  position  of  Receiver  of  Public 
Moneys  in  Idaho  was  tendered  him,  but  whether  he 
accepted  has  not  transpired. 

ROBERT  M.  BRIGGS.  There  has  been  no  more 
active  lawyer  or  politician  in  Amador  than  R.  M. 
Briggs.  His  petite  form  seemed  made  up  of  a  bun 
dle  of  nerves,  as  unconscious  of  fatigue  as  the  wires 
of  an  electric  battery,  which  seemed  to  flash  to  his 
brain  and  concentrate  there  all  the  vast  vitality 
which  nature  had  so  bound  together,  whenever  occa 
sion  demanded.  He  was  always  ready  for  a  speech, 
at  the  Bar  or  on  the  stump,  and  never  failed  to  hold 
together  and  enthuse  his  audience.  Unexpected 
bursts  of  eloquence  were  sandwiched  between  per 
tinent  anecdotes  in  such  profusion  that  his  speeches 
were  always  received  with  unbounded  applause.  As 
an  illustration  of  his  oratorical  power,  the  closing  of 
a  speech  he  made  before  the  Fiddletown  Scott  and 


Graham  Club,  in  1852,  is  given.  After  expatiating 
upon  the  character  of  Scott,  his  services  in  the  wars 
of  1812,  and  with  Mexico,  he  electrified  his  hearers 
with  these  words: — 

"When  the  end  of  all  things  shall  have  come; 
when  the  last  great  trump  shall  have  sounded; 
when  the  angel  of  death  shall  be  standing  with  one 
foot  on  the  sea  and  the  other  on  the  land,  swearing 
that  time  shall  be  no  more;  when  the  solid  mount 
ains  of  granite  are  rocking  to  their  very  foundations; 
the  stars  falling  from  their  places  in  the  heavens, 
and  revolving  worlds  are  wheeling  into  annihilation, 
then  shall  the  names  of  Scott  and  Graham  appear 
written  all  over  the  sky  in  letters  of  living  fire  \  " 

In  1861  a  monster  mass  Union  meeting  was  held 
in  San  Francisco,  at  which,  it  was  announced,  promi 
nent  speakers  from  every  county  in  the  State  would  be 
present.  Briggs,  who  happened  to  be  in  the  city  at 
the  time,  was  on  the  programme,  from  Amador. 
The  meeting,  which  was  a  great  success,  was 
addressed  by  Colonel  Baker  and  other  noted  ora 
tors,  and  immense  enthusiasm  was  manifested  by 
the  enormous  concourse  of  people  present.  The 
press  of  San  Francisco  concurred  in  the  statement 
that  by  far  the  best  and  most  soul-stirring  speech  of 
the  evening  was  that  of  R.  M.  Briggs,  of  Amador. 
As  no  extended  reports  of  the  speeches  were  given, 
the  friends  of  Briggs  interviewed  him  to  ascertain 
what  he  said  that  so  eclipsed  the  orators  of  the 
Pacific.  He  declared  that  he  could  not  recollect  a 
word.  He  said  that  upon  being  informed  by  the 
committee  that  he  would  be  called  upon,  he  endeav 
ored  to  arrange  his  ideas  into  some  form  suitable  to 
the  occasion,  and,  toward  evening  sought  to  ascer 
tain  at  about  what  time  in  the  evening  he  would  be 
called  upon,  that  he  might  be  enabled  to  cut  his  fuse 
the  right  length;  that  the  committee  seemed  to  have 
entirely  forgotten  him,  and  he  concluded  he  had  been 

left  out  in  the  cold,  which  made  him  so  d d  mad 

that  he  went  to  a  neighboring  saloon  and  imbibed 
brandy  and  water,  one  glassful  upon  another,  to 
drown  his  disappointment,  until  he  became — well — 
pretty  well  elevated. 

Late  in  the  evening  some  one  came  in  and  said, 
''Briggs,  they  are  calling  for  you."  He  started  up 
toward  the  place  of  meeting  on  the  plaza,  where  the 
speakers'  stand  was  a  narrow  balcony.  He  was 
conscious  that  in  his  condition  he  would  not  be  able 
to  stand  there  a  moment,  but  would  fall  headlong 
into  the  crowd  below.  He,  therefore,  took  a  dry- 
goods  box  which  was  near  at  hand,  and  placingiton 
the  sidewalk  mounted  it,  remarking  that  he  was  one 
of  the  people,  and  did  not  desire  to  get  above  them — 
preferred  to  be  with  them  and  of  them — and  then 
commenced  his  speech.  His  remembrance  of  the 
occasion  was  confined  to  the  vociferous  applause  and 
enthusiasm,  the  like  of  which,  he  says,  he  never 
heard.  Sober  persons  present  declared  that  the 
crowd  had  listened  to  Baker  and  others  until  they 


286 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


were  fully  charged,  and  only  required  to  be  touched 
off  to  cause  it  to  burst  forth  into  a  terrific  explosion; 
Briggs'  union  pyrotechnics,  in  which  appeared  the 
"glorious old  flag,"  the  "American  eagle,"  "liberty 
and  equality,"  "  union  now  and  forever,"  like  the 
colors  of  a  revolving  kaleidoscope,  was  the  torch. 
Briggs  obtained  the  sobriquet  of  "  Brother  Crawford  " 
by  his  forensic  illustrations  of  his  adieus,  as  well 
as  those  of  others  made  to  the  Democratic  party,  by 
repeating  a  sermon  of  a  divine  named  Crawford,  in 
which  was  related  the  circumstances  of  his  departure 
from  the  field  of  his  former  labors,  and  in  which  the 
preacher  narrated  how  he  visited  each  object  with 
which  long  association  had  made  him  familiar  and  to 
which  he  had  become  endeared,  and  each  in  turn 
seemed  to  say  to  him,  "Farewell,  Brother  Crawford!" 
that  as  he  rode  down  the  lane  upon  his  horse,  the 
trees  and  grain  in  the  adjacent  fields  seemed  to 
solemnly  nod  to  him  and  say,  "  Farewell,  Brother 
Crawford;  "  that  the  very  stones  of  the  wall  that 
marked  the  lane  seemed  possessed  of  melancholy 
voices,  which  cried  out,  "  Farewell,  Brother  Craw 
ford!  "  that  his  horse  took  fright  at  a  hog  that  rushed 
across  the  lane  before  him,  reared  and  plunged,  and 
throwing  his  rider  in  the  ditch,  speeded  down  the 
road  with  heels  flying  in  the  air,  seeming  to  snort 
aloud,  "  Farewell,  Brother  Crawford!  " 

Briggs  was  by  no  means  deficient  in  talent  as  a 
writer,  and  as  the  editor  of  the  local  papers,  attained 
a  well-earned  reputation.  He  once  wrote  for  his 
paper  a  lengthy  article  on  Mexican  affairs  during 
the  French  invasion,  which  was  re-published  in 
pamphlet  form,  and  widely  distributed  in  the  Eastern 
States,  and,  not  improbably,  had  an  influence  upon 
the  Administration  in  taking  its  decisive  position 
against  foreign  occupation.  He  was  a  native  of 
Illinois,  developed  his  muscle  in  the  lead  mines,  was 
a  dry-goods  clerk  in  Galena,  afterwards  moved  to 
Grant  county,-  Wisconsin,  where  he  studied  law, 
and  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  in  1851,  and 
came  to  California  in  1852.  He  was  elected  Assem 
blyman,  and  twice  District  Attorney,  in  Amador; 
was  appointed  Register  of  the  General  Land  Office 
at  Independence,  and  is  now  Superior  Judge  of 
Mono  county,  residing  at  Bodie. 

HON.  A.  C.  BROWN,  born  at  St.  Charles,  Missouri, 
January  10,  1816,  crossed  the  plains  from  Lancaster, 
Grant  county,  Wisconsin,  when  he  was  admitted  to 
practice  in  March,  1849,  and  settled  in  Jackson  in 
September,  1851,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided, 
and  where  he  is  now  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his' 
profession,  having  been  admitted  to  the  District 
Court  in  1851,  and  to  the  Supreme  Court  in  1879. 
For  three  several  terms  he  served  in  the  Territorial 
and  State  Legislature  of  Wisconsin,  and  three  times 
represented  Amador  county  in  the  Assembly;  was 
County  Judge  from  1877  up  to  the  time  the  new 
State  Constitution  went  into  effect  in  1880.  He  has 
ever  been  an  active  politician,  not  a  radical,  but 


professed  Democrat,  and  a  staunch  supporter  of  the 
Union  cause  during  the  Rebellion.  The  father  of 
a  large  family,  and  possessed  of  considerable  wealth, 
chiefly  invested  in  improved  town  property,  he  has 
ever  been  regarded  as  one  of  the  substantial  citizens 
of  Amador  county.  More  than  once  the  fire-fiend 
has  swept  away  his  possessions,  but  his  energy 
planned  more  imposing  structures  before  the  ashes 
were  cold. 

NASH  CORWITH  BRIGGS  was  one  of  the  few  young 
men  raised  in  California  who  preferred  study  to  such 
pastimes  as  the  freedom  of  our  early  society  tolera 
ted.  He  was  born  in  Hannibal,  Missouri,  February 
1,  1838,  removed  to  Grant  county,  Wisconsin,  in 
1849,  and,  in  1852,  came  to  California  with  his  father, 
Hon.  R.  M.  Briggs,  and  resided  in  Jackson  from  1854 
to  1864,  where  he  studied  law,  and,  being  admitted 
by  the  District  Court,  formed  a  law  copartnership 
with  his  father,  in  1860.  In  1834  he  removed  to 
Alpine  county,  and  upon  its  organization  was  elected 
District  Attorney  in  that  year,  was  re-elected  in 
1866,  and  again  in  1868.  In  December  of  the  latter 
year  he  removed  to  Hollister,  and  upon  the  organ 
ization  of  San  Benito  county,  in  1874,  was  elected 
District  Attorney,  and  re-elected  in  1876.  He  mar 
ried  Miss  Annie  Barton,  who  was  a  native  of  Jack 
son,  and  has  an  interesting  family  at  Hollister, 
where  he  is  now  associated  in  the  practice  of  the 
law  with  N.  A.  Hawkins;  was  admitted  to  the 
Supreme  Court  in  October,  1869. 

HON.  R.  BURNELL,  though  a  lawyer  by  education, 
was  better  known  as  a  politician.  He  was  a  native 
of  New  York,  was  a  stock-raiser  in  early  days,  hav 
ing  accumulated  something  like  fifty  thousand  dol 
lars  in  raising  cattle  on  the  Sacramento  plains. 
His  career  as  a  politician  is  related  in  the  body  of 
this  history,  and  need  not  be  repeated  here.  After 
the  termination  of  his  political  career  he  removed 
to  Napa,  where  he  formed  a  law  partnership  with 
his  brother-in-law,  Chancellor  Hartson,  with  whom 
he  remained  until  his  death,  a  year  or  two  since. 

A.  CAMINETTI  is  a  young  man  of  Italian  birth  and 
California  raising.  He  commenced  the  study  of  law 
under  the  tuition  of  Farley  &  Pawling,  was  admit 
ted  to  practice  in  1877,  and  two  years  later  was 
elected  Prosecuting  Attorney,  a  position  he  has  filled 
with  marked  ability.  He  is  brilliant,  thorough,  and 
persevering,  an  easy  and  graceful  speaker,  with  a 
good  degree  of  that  elasticity  of  temperament  which 
enables  him  to  adapt  himself  to  circumstances.  He 
has  a  promising  future  before  him.  He  is  Demo 
cratic  in  politics,  and  had  his  name  on  the  ticket  for 
electors  at  the  last  Presidential  contest.  He  did 
good  service  for  his  party  in  the  campaign  of  1880. 

HON.  II.  A.  CARTER  is  a  native  of  New  York, 
where  he  studied  and  practiced  law  previous  to  com 
ing  to  California,  which  was  in  1849.  He  was  the 
first  District  Attorney  of  Calaveras  county,  and  has 


SKETCHES  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY  BAR. 


287 


witnessed  all  tbe  squabbles  for  the  county  seat  since 
the  time  that  Double  Springs,  with  but  one  hou-<e, 
wasthe  place  of  justice,  and  the  jury-room  the  shade  of 
a  tree.  His  habit  of  advising  litigants  to  settle  with 
out  a  lawsuit  has  militated  against  his  success  as  a 
lawyer,  but  has  made  him  a  most  valuable  citizen 
and  neighbor.  He  has  generally  rested  content  with 
being  the  Pericles  of  his  county,  the  man  in  whom 
all  had  unbounded  confidence.  He  is  a  man  of 
extensive  and  general  information,  communicative  in 
his  character,  with  a  keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  and 
tells  a  splendid  story.  He  has  spent  the  larger  por 
tion  of  life  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  preferring 
the  comforts  of  home  and  the  companionship  of  his 
neighbors  to  the  turmoils  of  politics  or  the  law.  He 
was  seduced  into  running  for  the  Assembly  in  1875, 
traveled  over  the  county,  smoked  and  joked  with 
his  friends,  told  some  of  his  best  stories,  and  was 
triumphantly  elected,  fairly  walking  over  the  course. 
It  will  be  perceived  that  his  strength  as  a  lawyer  is 
in  advising  every  one  to  keep  out  of  lawsuits. 
According  to  lawyers  themselves,  Judge  Carter,  if 
he  had  turned  the  force  of  his  character  that  way, 
would  have  excelled  in  the  high  courts  as  a  judge  in 
equity. 

JUDGE  COOK  was  a  resident  of  Volcano  for  several 
years  previous  to  the  organization  of  Alpine  county, 
and  made  quite  a  reputation  as  a  safe  and  cautious 
counselor.  He  was  well  informed  on  general  topics, 
dignified  and  courteous  in  his  bearing,  a  gentleman 
of  the  old  school.  After  the  organization  of  Alpine 
he  removed  to  that  county,  where  he  was  quite 
prominent  for  several  years.  He  has,  in  consequence 
of  advancing  age,  mostly  retired  from  the  practice 
of  the  law. 

HON.  W.  W.  COPE.  Amador  has  had  but  one 
representative  upon  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  he,  like  all  others  of  her  citizens,  when 
called  upon  to  exercise  official  functions,  was 
not  found  wanting  either  in  ability  or  integrity. 
His  professional  experience  in  the  semi-agricul 
tural  and  semi-mineral  regions  of  the  foot-hills,  fitted 
him  well  to  consider  and  intelligently  decide  the 
many  new  and  difficult  questions  affecting  these  two 
great  interests  of  our  State,  and  both  the  farmer  and 
the  miner  are  much  indebted  to  his  wisdom  and 
foresight  in  establishing  legal  rules  adjusting  their 
respective  rights. 

Judge  Cope  was  born  in  Kentucky  on  the  29th  of 
January,  1824,  where  he  studied  law,  and  was 
admitted  to  practice,  coming  to  California  in  1850. 
Like  most  early  pioneers  he  believed  that  fickle  for 
tune's  blandest  smiles  were  easier  won  in  other 
vocations  than  a  profession,  and  he  did  not  engage 
exclusively  in  the  practice  of  the  law  until  the  organ 
ization  of  Amador  county  in  1854,  when  he  opened 
his  law  office  at  Jackson,  where  alone  and  in  part 
nership  with  James  F.  Hubbard,  and  with  R.  M. 
Briggs,  he  took  a  leading  position  at  the  Bar.  In 


1858,  he  was  elected  to  the  Assembly,  and  was  made 
chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee.  An  appre 
ciation  of  his  services  in  that  position  was  made 
manifest  by  his  being  elected  Associate  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  the  following  year.  After  his 
election  and  previous  to  his  entering  upon  the  duties 
of  his  judicial  position,  Judge  Terry,  then  Chief 
Justice,  resigned,  and  Judge  Cope  was  appointed  to 
fill  the  vacancy.  He  remained  upon  the  Supreme 
Bench  until  the  1st  of  January,  1864,  having,  as  his 
associates  during  that  time,  Field,  Baldwin,  Norton, 
and  Crocker.  A  short  time  after  leaving  the  bench, 
he  removed  to  San  Francisco,  where  he  is  now  asso 
ciated  with  J.  Thomas  Boyd,  and  is  enjoying  a  lucra 
tive  and  high  order  of  practice. 

W.  T.  CURTIS  came  from  Ohio  in  an  early  day, 
making  his  home  at  Drytown.  He  was  a  man  of 
fine  culture,  gentlemanly  in  manner,  and  much  more 
disposed  to  advise  a  peaceful  settlement  of  a  diffi 
culty  than  costly  litigation.  He  usually  made  him 
self  prominent  in  allaying,  rather  4,han  fomenting, 
the  riotous  spirit  which  so  commonly  existed  in  the 
mining  towns  in  an  early  day.  He  was  especially 
prominent  in  mitigating  the  not  inexcusable  anger 
of  the  population  after  the  atrocious  murders  at 
Rancheria.  He  was  a  Republican  in  sentiment,  and 
a  candidate  for  District  Attorney  on  the  same  ticket 
which  was  headed  with  the  name  of  John  C.  Fremont, 
in  1856.  He  stumped  the  county  for  Fremont,  speak 
ing  in  every  place  of  any  size.  His  candor  and 
gentlemanly  qualities  were  appreciated  by  friends 
and  opponents  alike,  and  he  was  always  respectfully 
listened  to.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion, 
he  joined  the  Union  army  as  aid  to  an  officer  in  high 
rank.  From  the  best  information  attainable,  he  was 
killed  early  in  the  contest. 

HON.  JOHN  A.  EAGON  is  a  native  of  Virginia,  and 
came  to  this  State  in  1851,  and  from  the  first  made 
his  home  in  Amador  county.  He  mined  for  a  time 
at  Lower  Rancheria  with  considerable  success,  hav 
ing  the  good  fortune  to  pick  up  a  four-pound  lump. 
He  was  engaged  afterwards  in  mining  near  lone. 
It  was  during  his  residence  there  that  he  began  to 
be  known  for  his  conversational  powers,  which  indi 
cated  his  logical  turn  of  mind,  and  led  him  to  the 
adoption  of  the  law  as  a  profession.  He  has  gradu 
ally  worked  up  both  professionally  and  politically, 
until  he  has  become  one  of  the  leading  men.  As  his 
name  is  connected  with  most  of  the  prominent  events 
in  the  county,  related  in  another  part  of  the  history, 
it  is  unnecessary  to  repeat  them  here.  He  has  a 
peculiarly  earnest,  nervous  style  of  argument,  replete 
with  facts,  but  nearly  destitute  of  humor,  his  speeches 
reminding  one  much  of  those  of  Silas  Wright,  in  his 
best  days.  He  is  still  young  and  vigorous,  with  no 
demoralizing  habits,  and  is  likely  to  go  much  higher 
before  he  pauses  in  his  advancing  career. 

HON.  JAMES  T.  FARLEY,  one  of  the  present  United 
States  Senators  from  California,  is  a  native  of  Vir- 


288 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


ginia.  He  was  some  time  in  the  University  of  Vir 
ginia,  but  did  not  graduate,  however.  After  spending 
some  years  in  Missouri,  he  emigrated  to  California, 
arriving  in  1850.  lie  commenced  the  study  of  the 
law  in  Volcano,  his  first  cases  being  in  Justice  Ste- 
phenson's  court  in  1854.  He  early  entered  into  politics, 
and  became  famous  for  his  success  in  attaching  the 
voters  to  his  interests.  He  was  elected  to  the  Assem 
bly  in  1854,  re-elected  in  1855,  and  made  speaker. 
On  the  breaking  up  of  the  American  party,  he  allied 
himself  with  the  Democracy,  where  he  has  since 
remained.  During  the  early  years  of  the  Rebellion, 
he  was  a  Lecompton  Democrat,  and  suffered  defeat 
in  company  with  other  nominees  of  that  party. 
After  the  union  of  the  Republicans  with  the  Doug 
las  Democrats,  his  star  began  to  rise,  and  he  was 
twice  elected  to  the  State  Senate  by  majorities  far 
greater  than  the  average  of  his  ticket.  His  ability 
as  a  legislator  is  unquestioned;  the  same  intuitive 
knowledge  of  human  nature  coming  into  use  among 
the  Solons  of  the  capital  as  well  as  in  a  country 
town.  Perhaps  the  best  work,  or  at  least  the  work 
involving  the  most  comprehensive  reasoning,  was  his 
report,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Incorpora 
tions,  on  the  bill  regulating  fares  and  freights.  In 
1878  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and 
took  his  seat  in  1879. 

As  a  lawyer  he  is  most  efficient  as  a  jury  pleader. 
He  has  little  of  the  overbearing  character  generally 
thought  necessary  in  badgering  a  refractory  or  reti 
cent  witness;  never  arouses  the  antagonism  of  jury 
or  witness  by  an  abuse  of  his  position;  yet  few  wit 
nesses  can  boast  of  carrying  away  any  honors  in  a 
contest  with  him. 

As  a  politician,  he  is  strong  in  the  ability  to  organ 
ize,  uniting  his  friends  and  dividing  his  enemies. 
His  private  character  is  above  reproach.  He  is 
genial  in  manner,  sympathetic  in  feeling,  making 
friends  where  possible.  He  is  still  on  the  sunny  side 
of  fifty,  hale  and  hearty,  having  fortunately  escaped 
the  social  perils  which  beset  the  paths  of  Califbrniun 
politicians.  Having  apparently  many  years  of  hard 
work  in  him,  it  is  quite  possible  that  he  may  attain 
one  of  the  two  higher  positions  possible  in  his  polit 
ical  career. 

GEORGE  L.  GALE,  though  he  did  not  often  appear  in 
court,  generally  having  other  business  to  attend  to, 
was  was  one  of  them — i.  e.  the  lawyers — in  spirit 
and  education.  He  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts, 
born,  as  he  was  wont  to  state,  at  the  foot  of  Bunker 
Hill,  and  belonged  to  the  true  chivalry  of  the  country, 
the  "Bunker  Hill  chivalry,"  by  which  means  he  came 
to  be  known  as  Bunker  Hill  Gale.  He  was 
extremely  original  in  his  methods  of  reasoning,  sharp 
rapid  and  incisive  in  his  language,  prompt  in  decision, 
and  quick  in  action.  To  contend  with  him  on  any 
subject  was  to  meet  a  rattling  fire  of  musketry, 
brilliant  thrust  of  rapiers,  and  pyrotechnical  flashes 
that  dazzled  and  confused  the  ordinary  mind.  He 
made  a  splendid  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  his 


decisions  were  hardly  ever  reversed  in  the  higher 
courts,  though  he  was  too  brilliant  to  become  pro 
found  in  the  law,  loving  rather  to  deal  with  its 
puzzling  technicalities.  He  would  have  filled  the 
seat  of  paragraphist  in  a  modern  editorial  room  to 
perfection,  his  keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous  and 
trenchant  wit  qualifying  him  for  the  position  of  critic. 
His  sayings  and  doings  would  fill  a  good-sized  book. 
He  was  once  appointed  sealer  of  weights  and 
measures,  and  collected  double  fees  by  sealing  them 
for  the  year  past  and  then  for  the  coming  year  on 
the  same  day.  Upon  being  remonstrated  with  for 
exacting  fees  for  two  years,  he  told  them,  "  either 
pay  it  or  render  yourselves  liable  to  a  fine  for  selling 
goods  with  unsealed  weights  and  measures."  The 
subjects,  knowing  Gales'  strength  in  law  technical 
ities,  usually  paid,  though  with  much  grumbling. 
He  had  no  family,  and  died  in  obscurity  a  few  years 
ago  at  Pine  Grove. 

JOHN  C.  GEAR  was  a  young  man  who  alternated 
the  practice  of  law  with  mining  and  teaching  school, 
in  the  vicinity  of  lone.  He  was  brilliant  and  enthus 
iastic,  with  many  qualities  that  go  to  make  up  an 
orator.  lie  died  at  lone  before  he  had  the  opportu 
nity  to  make  his  mark  in  his  profession. 

HON.  MARION  W.  GORDON  is  a  native  of  Tennessee, 
of  Irish  descent.  In  early  life  he  was  a  professor  of 
elocution,  and  traveled  extensively,  lecturing  on,  and 
teaching  the  art.  He  was  at  different  times  con 
nected  with  some  of  the  leading  papers  in  Missouri, 
and  was  associated  with  many  of  the  prominent  pol 
iticians,  in  shaping  the  policy  of  that  State  after  the 
overthrow  of  the  Benton  reyime.  He  came  to  Cali 
fornia  in  1850,  and  soon  after  located  in  Volcano, 
forming  one  of  the  coterie  of  philosophers  heretofore 
referred  to,  who  discussed  questions  of  the  lofty 
character  which  have  employed  such  minds  as 
Hegel,  Descartes,  Comte,  Mills,  and  Spencer.  In 
Judge  Gordon's  case,  however,  he  mingled  hard 
work  with  hard  thinking,  arid  in  1852-53  could  be 
seen  swinging  the  pick  and  shovel  in  the  Volcano 
tail-race,  which  he,  with  others,  cut  through  the 
deep  flat.  In  1853,  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of 
many  friends,  he  came  before  the  county  Conven 
tion  for  the  nomination  for  member  of  the  Assembly 
for  Calaveras  county,  which  he  received.  After  a 
well-contested  canvass  he  came  out  victorious,  and 
took  his  seat  in  the  Legislature  one  of  the  last  of 
the  old  Calaveras  delegation.*  On  the  organization  of 
Amador  county  he  was  elected  to  the  position  of 
County  Judge,  which  he  held  for  three  consecutive 
terms. 

Judge  Gordon  is  a  man  of  varied  accomplish 
ments  and  general  information.  Scarcely  any  topic 
can  be  introduced  which  has  not  been  read  up  by 
him.  Mesmerism,  animal  magnetism,  clairvoyance, 
and  all  the  modern  occult  sciences  have  been,  at  times, 

*His  name  was  omitted  in  the  list  of  members  of  that  year 
through  a  typographical  error. 


JAMES.MEEHAIVL 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


SKETCHES  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY  BAR. 


289 


assayed  in  his  mental  laboratory.  His  midnight  lamp 
was  often  burning  when  all  else  was  buried  in  deep 
slumber.  As  a  politician  he  had  few  superiors.  The 
habit  of  judging  men  and  organizing  them  into  solid 
parties  was  to  him  a  matter  of  instinct,  accomplished 
without  serious  effort.  His  ability  to  adapt  his 
speech  to  the  capacity  of  his  hearers  was  remarka 
ble.  A  scowling  face  was  discerned,  and  the  latent 
opposition  neutralized  by  a  happy  allusion.  Whether 
before  a  crowd  of  rough  miners,  a  body  of  school 
teachers,  a  convention  of  musicians,  or  an  assembly 
of  wary  politicians,  this  faculty  never  failed  him. 
As  a  lawyer,  he  dealt  rather  in  the  general  princi 
ples  than  in  the  technicalities.  His  love  for  general 
ization,  and  a  consequent  knowledge  of  the  laws  of 
equity,  enabled  him  to  easily  perform  the  duties  of 
Judge.  In  Congress  his  general  information  and 
knowledge  of  the  human  heart  would  have  enabled 
him  to  have  taken  high  rank.  That  he  never  went 
to  Congress  is  a  matter  of  regret.  That  so  many, 
vastly  his  inferiors,  have  found  their  way  there,  is, 
and  will  be,  a  mystery.  Though  his  mental  powers 
are  still  vigorous,  he  has  retired  from  active  practice, 
and  is  spending  his  old  age  in  dignified  leisure. 

THOMAS  D.  GRANT  was  born,  and  educated  for  the 
law,  in  the  State  of  New  York.  His  early  associa 
tions  were  with  such  legal  luminaries  as  Judge 
Spencer  and  lawyers  of  his  ilk,  from  whom  he 
imbibed  a  true  respect  for,  and  due  appreciation  of, 
the  honor  and  dignity  of  his  profession,  which  he 
regarded  above  all  others.  This,  coupled  with  his 
proverbial  honesty  and  integrity,  inspired  a  public 
confidence  that  secured  to  him  a  very  desirable 
clientage.  When  the  writer  of  this  was  first  nomi 
nated  for  District  Attorney,  he  was  associated  with 
Judge  Grant  in  practice.  The  Judge  was  bitterly 
opposed  to  politics,  and  declared  if  the  candidate 
persisted  in  running  for  office,  he  would  dissolve 
their  copartnership,  and  defeat  him  if  possible.  The 
young  aspirant  did  persist,  and  a  dissolution  fol 
lowed.  When  the  votes  were  counted  it  was  found 
that  out  of  seventy-eight  votes  polled  at  a  precinct 
down  in  the  deep  gorge  of  the  Mokelumne  river, 
six  or  eight  miles  from  Jackson,  where  the  Judge 
resided,  the  writer  received  more  than  seventy, 
although  he  was  an  entire  stranger  in  the  locality. 
Believing  that  this  large  vote  was  not  wholly  due 
to  the  fact  that  he  was  unknown,  bo  instituted 
inquiries,  and  ascertained  that  the  Judge, — being 
too  heavy  (some  four  hundred  avoirdupois)  to  ride 
on  horseback,  and  the  roads  being  altogether  too 
steep  for  a  carriage, — had  secretly  walked  down  and 
back  to  the  Bar,  where  he  had  formerly  mined, 
and  was  loved  and  respected  by  all,  and  stuffed — 
not  the  ballot-box — but  the  voters,  with  the  theory 
that  the  candidate  was  worthy  of  their  suffrages. 
This  is  given  as  illustrative  of  the  character  of  the 
man.  Although  he  was  rude  and  rough  at  times, 
in  his  words  and  deportment,  his  heart  was  in  size 
proportionate  to  his  Falstaffian  physique — over-flow- 
37 


ing  with  true  sympathy  and  noble  impulses — its 
beatings  the  power  that  moved  his  hands  to  the 
performance  of  generous  deeds.  When  he  died,  in 
Jackson,  1859,  the  community  lost  one  of  God's 
noblest  works — an  honest  man. 

HON.  JAMES  H.  HARDY  had  the  brain  of  some 
fabled  Lycurgus,  and  possessed  the  fecundity  of  a 
Jupiter's;  the  bare  assertion  that  "Jim"  Hardy 
sprang  therefrom  fully  armed  for  the  legal  arena 
would  require  strong  refutation.  No  one  could  tell 
when  he  applied  himself  to  his  books,  and  yet  he  was 
an  animated  encyclopaedia  of  legal  decisions,  from 
the  earliest  to  the  latest.  When  he  was  upon  the 
bench,  attorneys  become  careless  and  would  simply 
state  that  the  Supreme  Court  had  so  decided,  and 
wait  for  the  Judge  to  tell  them  the  title  of  the  case, 
and  in  what  volume  it  could  be  found.  He  possessed, 
in  a  marked  degree,  the  two  qualities,  one  at  least  of 
which  is  essential  to  success  in  the  legal  practice,  but 
seldom  found  combined  in  one — eloquence  and  a  clear 
knowledge  and  comprehension  of  the  law.  In  the 
absence  of  a  native  talent  for  these,  he  could  scarcely 
have  reached  the  prominence  at  the  Bar  he  attained, 
since  he  preferred  the  social  companionship  of  his 
host  of  friends  to  the  studious  application  most  men 
find  essential  to  a  legal  reputation.  Judge  Hardy 
was  born  in  Hamilton  county,  Illinois,  on  the 
third  day  of  April,  1832;  first  studied  law  with  his 
father,  and  afterwards  with  Hon.  S.  S.Marshall;  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  Illinois,  where,  notwithstand 
ing  his  extreme  youth,  he  acquired  quite  an  extensive 
reputation  as  a  lawyer,  and  came  to  California  in 
1852,  locating  at  Sacramento;  subsequently,  he 
removed  to  Jackson,  and,  upon  the  creation  of  the 
Sixteenth  Judicial  District  with  the  counties  of  Ama- 
dor  and  Calaveras  in  1859,  was  appointed  Judge  of 
the  new  district,  to  which  position  he  was  elected  by 
a  flattering  majority,  at  the  next  following  election. 
As  a  Democrat  he  always  took  prominent  part  in  poli 
tics;  was  District  Attorney  of  Sacramento  county,  and 
ran  as  a  Breckinridge  elector  in  1856.  In  his  numer 
ous  "stumping"  excursions  through  the  State,  he 
always  denied  that  he  was  out  electioneering,  but 
asserted  that  he  was  hunting  for  an  ox  which  he 
lost  while  crossing  the  plains  in  '50.  It  is  related 
of  him  that  his  first  appearance  in  court  at  Sacra 
mento  was  upon  the  recommendation  of  a  friend  who 
had  known  him  in  Illinois.  "Jim"  was  found  hard 
at  work  in  a  bakery,  and  at  first  declined  to  take  the 
case,  alleging  his  lack  of  recent  practice,  etc.,  but 
after  much  urging  went  into  court  without  changing 
his  garments,  white  with  "miller's  dust."  The 
opposing  counsel,  who  was  somewhat  overbearing 
and  pompous  in  his  manner,  inquired  who  repre 
sented  the  other  side.  Young  Hardy  was  pointed 
out  to  him,  when  he  sneeringly  asked,  "  And  who  is 
Mr.  Hard}T?  I  have  not  the  pleasure  of  his  acquain 
tance."  Hardy  immediately  caught  up  a  large 
volume  lying  upon  the  table,  and  hurling  it  at  the 
interrogator,  with  great  force  exclaimed,  " 


290 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


not  require  any  further  introduction  the  next  time 
we  meet!"  Hardy  was  fined  fifty  dollars  for  contempt, 
but  proceeded  with  his  case,  convincing  his  oppo 
nent,  as  well  as  others  who  listened,  that  "Jim" 
Hardy  was  not  to  be  despised  even  in  his  baker's 
uniform. 

SAMUEL  J.  K.  HANDY  was  a  native  of  Maryland, 
of  the  Virginia  school  of  gentlemen,  polished  and 
accomplished,  blending  dignity  and  kindness  together. 
He  was  prominent  before  the  State  Convention,  in 
1856,  as  a  candidate  for  Congress;  failing  in  which, 
he  left  the  county.  His  present  residence,  if  living, 
is  unknown.  As  he  was  somewhat  advanced  in 
years  at  the  time  of  his  residence  here,  it  is  likely 
that  he  has  accomplished  his  work. 

ALVINZA  HAY  WARD  probably  had  at  one  time  some 
aspirations  for  a  professional  career,  but  rich  quartz 
mines  absorbed  his  attention,  so  that  ho  had  little 
time  for  thoughts  of  the  law  except  as  it  concerned 
his  own  extensive  business.  He  will  be  remembered 
as  the  man  who  developed  the  richest  gold  mine  on 
the  coast,  and  in  that  connection  his  history  is 
related  in  another  portion  of  this  book. 

JAMES  F.  HUBBARD  was  formerly  a  surveyor,  but 
concluding  that  he  could  see  to  better  advantage 
through  the  intricacies  of  the  law  than  through  the 
theodolite,  he  threw  aside  the  chain  and  compass, 
and  commenced  Blackstone  and  Kent.  His  hopes 
and  anticipations  were  fully  realized,  and,  in  due 
course  of  time,  he  took  his  seat  at  the  Bar,  and  built 
up  a  most  valuable  practice.  He  was  in  company 
with  several  of  the  prominent  lawyers  at  Jackson 
at  different  times.  Though  not  considered  a  bril 
liant  pleader,  his  opinion  was  highly  valued.  About 
the  years  1862  or  '63,  he  removed  to  San  Francisco, 
where  he  practiced  with  fair  success  for  a  few  years, 
finally  returning  to  New  York,  his  native  State. 

HON.  P.  C.  JOHNSON.*  Though  Mr.  Johnson  occu 
pied  the  attention  of  the  county  for  some  years,  very 
little  is  known  of  his  antecedents.  He  came  into  the 
county  from  El  Dorado  in  1855,  in  company  with 
T.  A.  Springer,  who  established  the  Yolcano  Ledger 
that  year.  Though  admitted  to  the  Bar  he  scarcely 
ever  appeared  in  court,  giving  most  of  his  attention 
to  literary  matters.  He  was  a  brilliant  writer,  and 
was  connected  with  the  Ledjer  for  many  years  as 
assistant  or  chief  editor.  He  was  elected  to  the 
Legislature  in  1859,  and  died  at  the  house  of  T.  A. 
Springer  in  Jackson,  in  1862.  Though  possessed  of 
Miany  excellent  and  brilliant  qualities,  they  were 
impaired  by  a  social  weakness,  which  eventually 
terminated  his  life. 

L.  N.  KETCHUM  was  brought  into  public  notice  in 
1857,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate,  being 
then  a  resident  of  Clinton,  where  he  had  been 
mining.  He  made  his  mark  as  a  legislator,  and  then 


*His  name  does  not  appear  in  the  continuous  history  as  .mem 
ber  of  Lejislature  for  that  year.  The  accounts  were  made  up 
from  the  Supervisor's  records,  which  were  very  imperfect — EC. 


studied  law.  Possessed  of  great  colloquial  powers 
and  an  excellent  education,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
be  met  with  success  in  his  new  vocation.  He  prac 
ticed,  however,  but  little  in  Amador  county,  but 
removed  to  Siskiyou  county,  where  he  enjoyed  a 
fine  practice  and  was  elected  District  Attorney.  He 
died  at  Yreka  several  years  ago. 

FAYETTE  MACE  was  admitted  to  the  practice  of 
law  many  years  since,  but  owing  to  his  extensive 
operations  in  saw-mills,  quartz-mills  and  farming,  he 
has  given  the  law  little  attention  since,  except  as  it 
was  incidental  in  his  business  operations. 

HON.  GEORGE  MOORE,  the  present  Superior  Judge 
of  Amador  county,  was  born  in  Davisville,  Boyle 
county,  Kentucky,  February  14,  1850;  graduated 
at  Centre  College  in  the  class  of  1870,  and  after  pur 
suing  the  study  of  law  for  two  years  under  the  tuition 
of  Hon.  M.  J.  Durham,  of  Kentucky,  attended  the  law 
school  of  Harvard  University,  Cambridge,  Massachu 
setts,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  1874.  In  the 
political  campaign  of  1876  he  was  appointed  one  of 
the  Tilden  and  Hendricks  electors,  and  came  to  Cal 
ifornia  in  the  Fall  of  1877,  settling  in  Amador  county. 
He  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  the 
first  Superior  Judge  of  Amador  county,  under  the 
New  Constitution,  on  the  first  Monday  of  January, 
1880.  He  married  Mrs.  Y.  B.  Lackey,  also  a  native 
of  Kentucky,  in  1879,  and  now  resides  in  Jackson. 

JONATHAN  PALMER  was  admitted  to  practice  on  the 
organization  of  the  county.  His  residence  was  in 
Oleta  (then  Fiddletown),  and  he  divided  his  time 
about  evenly  between  mining  and  the  study  of  the 
law.  He  acted  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  as  early  as 
1852.  He  was  a  man  of  solid  rather  than  showy 
acquirements,  and  in  the  matter  of  oratory  was 
eclipsed  by  R.  M.  Briggs,  who  was  a  resident  there 
at  the  same  time.  He  was  one  of  the  discoverers  of 
the  famous  American  hill,  and  to  the  fact  of  having 
a  rich  claim  is  probably  due  the  little  interest  he 
took  in  legal  matters.  He  has  drifted  out  of  sight 
in  recent  years. 

HON.  THOMAS  M.  PAWLING,  a  native  of  Philadel 
phia,  whose  lawyers  have  been  traditionally  the 
"  hardest  to  puzzle  "  of  any  of  their  class,  located  at 
Volcano  in  1855,  where  he  was  law  partner  of  Hon. 
James  T.  Farley;  was  elected  County  Clerk  in  1858, 
and  upon  the  expiration  of  his  official  term  resumed 
practice  at  Jackson,  with  J.  G.  Severance  as  his  part 
ner.  Upon  the  discovery  of  the  mines  in  Esmeralda 
county,  he  removed  to  Aurora,  where  he  acquired 
considerable  wealth,  but  returned  to  Jackson  in  1865, 
and  again  formed  a  copartnership  with  Mr.  Farley, 
and  continued  his  practice  until  1871,  when  he  was 
appointed  by  Governor  Haight  to  fill  the  position  of 
County  Judge,  made  vacant  by  the  death  of  Hon. 
J.  Foot  Turner,  to  which  office  he  was  subsequently 
twice  elected  by  the  people.  Judge  Pawling  made 
no  great  pretentions  to  oratory,  but  excelled  as  an 
"  office  lawyer,"  and  had  few  superiors  in  the  prepara- 


SKETCHES  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY  BAR. 


291 


tion  of  legal  documents.  He  died  at  Jackson,  Janu 
ary  21, 1877,  while  County  Judge,  at  about  fifty  years 
of  age. 

T.  J.  PHELPS.IS  a  native  of  Kentucky;  came  to  Cal 
ifornia  in  1849,  and  to  Amador  county,  as  since  organ 
ized,  in  1852;  residing  in  Oleta  until  elected  District 
Attorney  in  1873,  a  position  he  filled  with  distinction 
for  four  years.  Mr.  Phelps  has  been  identified  with 
the  material  interests  of  the  county  since  his  resi 
dence  here.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  recognize  the 
practicability  of  conveying  water  to  the  mines — the 
ditch  from  the  north  fork  of  Dry  creek  in  which  he 
was  part  owner  being  not  only  among  the  first,  but 
among  the  most  profitable  of  any  that  were  ever  con 
structed  in  the  county.  As  a  lawyer,  Mr.  Phelps  is 
a  counselor  rather  than  an  advocate,  and  much  more 
disposed  to  heal  dissentions  than  promote  them.  He 
has  ever  been  distinguished  as  an  upright  and  honor 
able  man,  modest  and  unassuming,  but  equal  to  any 
emergency  that  has  ever  called  him  to  action. 

SILAS  PENRY  is  a  native  of  Texas;  coming  to  Cal 
ifornia  at  a  very  early  age,  he  has  made  himself 
what  he  is  in  this  State.  He  is  still  quite  young, 
both  in  years  and  in  his  profession,  but  has  the  prom 
ise  of  being  brilliant  and  useful.  His  life  has  been 
somewhat  shadowed  by  the  unfortunate  affair  re 
sulting  in  the  death  of  Elisha  Turner,  an  intimate 
friend  of  his.  On  his  trial  the  courts  and  public  sen 
timent  exonerated  him  of  all  malice,  and  it  is  quite 
certain  that  no  other  blame  can  attach  to  him  than 
that  of  thoughtlessly  using  his  weapon  in  a  case  of 
mutually  angry  words.  It  is  believed  that  he  will 
outgrow  his  self  reproach,  and  attain  the  position  to 
which  his  talents  entitle  him. 

ALONZO  PLATT  was  from  the  State  of  New  York: 
was  one  of  the  original  movers  in  the  matter  of  the 
organization  of  Amador  county,  and  one  of  the  com 
missioners  appointed  by  the  Governor  to  establish 
the  new  county  government  and  call  an  election  for 
county  officers.  lie  was  consi  lerable  of  a  politician 
of  the  old  school,  and  came  up  for  office  several  times; 
but  as  he  did  not  have  the  plasticity  of  character 
necessary  to  succeed,  he  was  distanced  in  the  race  by 
Messrs.  Parley,  Gordon,  Cope,  Brigg.sand  Axtell,  and 
withdrew  from  public  notice. 

J.  W.  PORTER  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania;  came 
to  California  in  an  early  day  and  engaged  in  mining, 
perhaps  rather  to  obtain  the  means  of  gratifying  his 
love  of  reading  than  with  the  expectation  of  making 
a  fortune.  Jt  was  observed  of  him,  however,  that 
much  of  his  mining  was  experimental,  rather  to 
prove  or  disprove  some  theory  regarding  the  deposits 
of  gold,  than  as  a  means  of  acquiring  immediate 
wealth.  The  hole  which  he  sunk  in  the  head  of 
Soldier's  gulch,  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  deep, 
under  the  impression  that  gold  would  be  found  all 
the  way  to  the  bed-rock,  was  a  case  in  point.  The 
gold  was  found  to  that  depth,  proving  his  theory, 
but  it  was  not  in  sufficient  quantity  to  make  his  dis 


covery  valuable.  His  reading  was  largely  ancient 
history,  which  caused  the  remark  to  be  made,  perhaps 
with  some  degree  of  truth,  that  he  was  more  of  a 
Roman  than  an  American  citizen;  at  any  rate,  he 
has  many  Roman  virtues,  such  as  sobriety,  stern 
integrity,  fortitude,  and  none  of  those  weaknesses 
which  endear  some  of  our  public  men  to  the  average 
voter,  for  no  man  could  say  that  he  had  tried  him 
drunk  and  tried  him  sober,  for  he  was  always  sober. 
His  aversion  to  the  ordinary  method  of  conducting 
a  political  campaign  has  prevented  him  from  seeking 
office,  for  but  once  was  he  ever  tempted  to  have  his 
name  placed  on  a  ticket,  when  he  ran  for  County 
Judge  against  M.  W.  Gordon,  coming  within  a  few 
votes  of  being  elected.  He  refused  to  electioneer; 
some  of  his  friends  remarking  that  Porter  would  not 
solicit  a  vote  if  that  one  would  elect  him.  His 
peculiar  character  of  mind  eminently  fitted  him  for  a 
judge,  but  did  not  fit  him  for  getting  the  position 
which  depended  so  much  on  personal  popularity, 
though  his  utter  contempt  for  human  weakness 
might  have  made  him  a  severe  judge  in  criminal 
cases.  Once  while  pleading  before  a  Justice's  Court, 
in  the  early  fifties,  in  Volcano,  he  was  interrupted 
by  a  half  drunken  Irishman  with  threats  of  personal 
violence  unless  he  ceased  his  offensive  remarks. 
Porter  bore  the  interruptions  for  a  while,  but  as  the 
court  did  not  seem  inclined  to  protect  him  he  caught 
up  a  black-snake  whip,  which  was  near  by,  and 
lashed  the  Hibernian  until  he  cried  for  mercy,  after 
which  he  proceeded  in  his  speech  without  apparently 
noticing  the  interruption.  As  might  be  expected, 
Mr.  Porter  remains  a  single  man. 

REYNOLDS  was  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  First 

Instance,  or  as  it  was  called,  Alcalde,  in  some  of  the 
earlier  settlements  in  1830,  and,  in  consequence, 
claimed  a  membership  with  the  Bar,  and  was 
admitted  to  practice  upon  the  organization  of  Ama 
dor  county.  His  legal  acquirements  were  rather 
limited,  but  in  the  chaotic  condition  of  society 
twenty-five  years  since,  he  obtained  some  practice  in 
the  inferior  courts,  lie  was  not  remarkable  for  any 
thing  but  pretension,  and  soon  dropped  out  of  sight. 

J.  A.  ROBINSON  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  was  born  in 
1838,  removed  to  Illinois  in  1858,  enlisted  April  23, 
1861,  in  the  Eighth  Regiment  of  Infantry,  Illinois 
Volunteers,  and  served  under  General  Oglesby  until 
discharged  for  disability  incurred  in  the  service.  He 
came  to  California  in  1863  and  settled  in  Jackson; 
was  at  different  times  County  Clerk,  and  Assistant 
United  States  Assessor,  for  Amador  county.  He 
completed  his  law  studies,  and  was  admitted  to 
practice  in  1866;  removed  to  San  Francisco  in  1871, 
where,  for  several  years,  he  was  chief  clerk  in  the 
United  States  Surveyor-General's  office,  under  Har- 
denburg  and  his  successors.  He  is  now  practicing 
law  in  San  Francisco,  making  land  cases  a  specialty, 
his  long  training  in  that  business  giving  him  great 
familiarity  with  the  origin  and  perfection  of  land 


292 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


titles.  He  resides  in  Oakland,  and  has  several  times 
been  before  the  public  in  connection  with  municipal 
offices.  His  training  and  natural  temperament 
peculiarly  fit  him  for  investigations  of  complex  land 
titles,  and  he  is  enjoying  a  remunerative  and  exten 
sive  practice. 

HON.  GEO.  W.  SEATON  was  a  lawyer,  politician,  and 
quart/,  miner  of  considerable  note  in  the  early  days 
of  Amador.  He,  like  many  members  of  the  old  Whig 
party,  joined  the  Know-Nothing,  or  American  party, 
and  afterwards  both  Democratic  and  Republican  par 
ties  by  turns.  He  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate 
in  1865  by  the  .Democratic  party,  but  perished  in  the 
explosion  of  the  steamer  Yosemite,  on  the  Sacra 
mento,  before  taking  his  seat.  He  was  a  man  of 
strong  will  and  great  energy,  and  when  a  move 
was  decided  upon  it  never  failed  for  want  of  persist 
ent  action.  His  style  of  speech  was,  like  the  man, 
more  forcible  than  elegant.  He  made  no  pretensions 
to  learning  or  elegance,  but  appealed  to  the  com 
mon  sense  of  his  auditors.  He  was  better  adapted 
to  the  forum  than  the  Bar. 

JOSIAH  GOULD  SEVERANCE  is  a  native  of  Maine, 
born  September  30,  1832.  He  prepared  for  college 
at  Hampden  Academy,  and  entered  at  Bowdoin  in 
1852,  but,  at  the  solicitations  of  friends,  withdrew 
without  graduating,  and  entered  upon  the  study  of 
the  law  in  the  office  of  Hon.  Hannibal  Hamlin,  at 
Hampden,  where  he  remained  for  about  a  year, 
when  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Hon.  John  E.  God 
frey,  for  years  and  now  Probate  Judge  of  Penobscot 
county,  at  Bangor;  was  admitted  to  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court  of  that  State  in  1855,  and  arrived  in 
San  Francisco  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1856,  and 
first  located  in  the  then  flourishing  mining  town  of 
Lancha  Plana,  Amador  county.  He  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  in  the  Fall  of 
1856,  and  in  1858,  District  Attorney  by  the  Douglas 
Democracy,  having  as  his  opponents  Hon.  S.  B. 
Axtell,  Breckinridge  candidate,  and  John  C.  Gear, 
the  straight  Republican  nominee;  was  active  in 
the  organization  of  the  Union  party  in  the  county, 
in  1862,  and  was  made  chairman  of  its  first  County 
Central  Committee  ;  ran  for  the  Assembly,  much 
against  his  will,  that  year,  and,  with  the  whole 
ticket,  was  defeated,  coming,  however,  within  twenty- 
nine  votes  of  an  election.  In  the  Fall  of  1862,  he 
married  Miss  M.  J.  Tiel,  of  Jackson,  and  removed 
to  Calaveras  county,  where  he  was  elected  District 
Attorney  the  following  year,  and  re-elected  in  1865. 
For  some  time  he  edited  the  Amador  Ledger,  and 
was  the  proprietor  and  editor  of  the  San  Andreas 
Register.  He  is  now  engaged  in  his  professional 
practice  in  San  Francisco,  where  he  has  taken  but 
little  part  in  politics,  although  he  there  served  for 
a  time  as  assistant  District  Attorney,  under  D.  J. 
Murphy,  Esq.,  and  ran  on  and  was  defeated  with, 
the  straight  Republican  ticket,  as  Delegate  at  Large 
to  the  late  Constitutional  Convention. 


MOSES  TEBBS  was  a  young  man  of  rather  promis 
ing  abilities  who  came  to  Volcano  in  1855.  Remain 
ing  but  a  few  years  he  went  to  Alpine  upon  the 
organization  of  that  county,  where  he  was  heard 
from  occasionally  in  connection  with  political  mat 
ters.  His  present  residence  is  unknown. 

HENRY  L.  WALDO  was  a  native  of  Missouri,  and 
made  his  way  to  California  by  way  of  Oregon.  He 
early  chose  the  law  as  his  profession,  and  alternated 
study  with  hard  work  whenever  he  had  the  oppor 
tunity,  sometimes  studying  with  his  friends,  sharing 
their  hospitalities,  and  at  other  times  becoming  a 
habitant  of  a  law  office.  His  progress  in  his  profes 
sion  was  rapid.  In  1869  he  was  elected  District 
Attorney,  which  position  he  held  to  the  close  of  the 
term,  performing  the  duties  to  the  satisfaction  of  all 
concerned.  He  declined  a  re-election,  justly  con 
cluding  that  he  could  find  a  more  honorable  and 
lucrative  position  elsewhere.  Ho  now  holds  a  high 
judicial  position  in  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico. 
As  an  officer  he  was  courteous,  firm  and  upright, 
swerved  from  the  right  course  neither  by  blandish 
ments  nor  fear.  During  the  excitement  attending  the 
lawless  action  of  the  Miner's  League  at  Sutler  Creek, 
he  was  informed  that  he  would  prosecute  the  rioters 
at  the  risk  of  his  life.  He  turned  to  the  belligerent 
leaguer  and  invited  him  to  commence  operations  then 
and  there,  for  he  should  perform  his  duty. 

[The  biographies  of  the  members  of  the  Bar  are 
somewhat  limited,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  obtain 
ing  reliable  data.  Some  are  too  moJest  to  narrate 
the  prominent  events  in  their  lives;  some,  perhaps, 
are  apprehensive  of  a  too  critical  review  of  their 
careers,  some  are  negligent,  and  others  have  gone 
to  that  region  from  which  no  correspondence  is 
permitted.  If  some  things  important  are  omitted 
and  others  exalted  to  undue  importance,  we  can 
only  say  that  after  awaiting  letters  and  information 
some  time,  the  demand  for  copy  compelled  us  to 
close  the  sketches  with  what  we  had  on  hand.] 

DROPS   OF   JUDICIAL    WISDOM. 

Mr.  Axtell  relates  the  following  of , 

whilom  Justice  of  the  Peace  at  Rancberia:  During 
the  progress  of  a  trial  by  jury  in  his  court,  the 
expression,  non  compos  mentis,  was  used.  One  of 
the  jurors,  with  a  laudable  desire  to  fully  understand 
the  case,  asked  the  Court  the  meaning  of  the  term 
used.  "  It  is,"  said  his  honor,  with  becoming  dig 
nity,  "the  process  by  which  the  attendance  of  wit 
nesses  from  another  county  is  obtained."  As  wit 
nesses  were  present  from  El  Dorado  county,  the 
answer  was  satisfactory. 

"Uncle  Jake"  Emminger  was  also  Justice  at 
Ranch eria,  and  was  very  proud  of  his  patriarchal 
beard,  which  he  allowed  to  fall  below  his  waist  on 
Sundays  and  Court  days,  but  carefully  folded  up  on 
ordinary  occasions.  lie  was  also  proud  of  his  politi 
cal  achievements  in  his  township,  where,  by  some 
coup  de  main,  he  obtained  thirty-four  votes  out  of  a 


SKETCHES  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY  BAR. 


293 


possible  sixty-seven  in  the  whole  township,  and  was, 
therefore,  elected.  It  is  said  that  he  once  sentenced 
a  Chinaman  to  jail  for  life  for  stealing  chickens,  but 
afterwards  excused  the  error,  as  being  of  the  heart 
and  not  of  the  head,  by  claiming  that  had  a  shorter 
term  been  imposed  his  constituency  would  have 
hanged  the  culprit.  In  a  case  before  "Uncle  Jake" 
the  defendant  presented  and  read  an  affidavit  for 
change  of  venue.  The  Court  listened  patiently, 
stroked  his  long  beard  gravely  and  thoughtfully  for 
a  few  minutes,  then  said:  "The  affidavit  of  the 
defendant  is  overruled,  and  judgment  rendered  for 

the  plaintiff  in  the  sum  of "  "Hold  on,"  cried 

the  defendant,  "if  I  must  have  my  case  tried  by 
tliis  Court,  I  demand  a  jury!"  "What  in  h — ,  sir, 
do  you  expect  to  prove  by  a  jury?"  demanded  the 
Judge  in  his  most  severe  manner. 

"Judge"  Hugh  Robinson,  an  Irish  gentleman  of 
the  old  school,  was  for  many  years  Justice  of  the 
Peace  at  Clinton,  and  mine  host  of  the  chief  cara 
vansary  of  the  village.  It  was  not  a  temperance 
tavern,  and  so  great  was  the  liberal  hospitality  of 
the  "  Judge,"  that  even  the  Governor  of  North  Caro- 
linia  would  have  ceased  his  chronic  complaint  of  "a 
long  time  between  drinks,"  had  he  been  his  guest. 
S.  B.  Axtell  and  James  F.  Ilubbard  were  once  pitted 
against  each  other  in  a  case  before  him.  The  testi 
mony  all  in,  the  brief  and  terse  argument  of  Mr.  Axtell 
was  listened  to  by  the  Court  with  marked  attention, 
but  the  "  linked  sweetness"  of  Judge  Hubbard's  reply 
proved  too  much  for  the  "Judge's"  active  tempera 
ment,  and  under  the  combined  influence  of  somno 
lent  logic  and  cordial  hospitality,  he  fell  asleep. 
Judge  Ilubbard  had  him  aroused,  and,  in  a  some 
what  indignant  manner,  remarked  that  if  his  ca^e 
was  not  properly  considered  he  would  appeal  it  to  a 
higher  court.  "Appeal  to  h — ,  and  be  damned  to 
ye!"  cried  the  "Judge;"  "judgment  for  the  plaint 
iff,  and  this  court  is  adjourned  !  " 

A  marriage  ceremony  was  once  performed  by  one 
of  the  local  Justices,  so  brilliant  in  its  character  that 
the  name  of  the  distinguished  official,  and  the  time 
and  place,  ai*e  omitted,  that  the  honors  may  be 
equally  divided.  The  candidates  for  matrimonial 
uncertainties  presenting  themselves  before  the  magis 
trate,  he  ordered  the  bridegroom  elect  to  hold  up  his 
right  hand,  and,  in  his  most  impressive  manner, 
said:  "You  do  most  solemnly  swear  that  you  are 
twenty-one  j-ears  of  age;  that  you  will  support  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  State  of 
California;  that  you  will  be  a  true,  faithful,  and  obe 
dient  husband,  and  that  you  have  not  voted  before 
this  day,  so  help  you  God."  AVhat  was  said  to  the 
woman  was  not  related. 

The  case  of  Owens  vs.  Shackles,  et  al.,  was  brought 
in  Justice  Palmer's  court,  at  Lancha  Plana,  in  Jan 
uary,  1856,  to  determine  the  right  of  po>session  to  a 
mining  claim.  Henry  Eno,  who  had  been  County 
Judge  of  Calaveras  county,  and  was  afterwards 
County  Judge  of  Alpine  county,  was  attorney  for 


the  plaintiff.  The  trial  was  had  by  jury,  who  ren 
dered  their  verdict  that  the  claim  did  not  belong  to 
either  party.  Without  waiting  for  any  action  by 
the  Court  upon  the  verdict,  there  was  a  gen 
eral  rush  of  attorneys,  clients,  and  witnesses  for  the 
disputed  ground.  It  is  said  that  Judge  Eno,  whose 
gra}'  hairs  were  streaming  in  the  wind,  raised  by  his 
Iroquois  pace,  would  have  won  the  race  and  (bound 
ary)  stakes,  had  not  Shackles  caught  him  by  the 
coat-tail,  and  flung  him  aside,  thus  winning  the  race 
and  suit,  with  Owens  a  very  good  second. 

Apropos  of  Judge  Eno,  a  story  is  told  which  may 
not  be  out  of  place  here,  since  his  practice  was  quite 
as  extensive  in  Amador  as  in  Calaveras.  While  he 
was  County  Judge  of  Calaveras,  a  young  man  was 
tried  and  convicted  before  him,  of  a  felony.  Judge 
Brockway  defended  the  prisoner  in  his  usual  able 
manner,  and  upon  the  arraignment  of  his  client  for 
sentence  made  a  most  feeling  appeal  to  the  Court 
for  leniency,  moving  his  auditors  to  tears,  and 
apparently  producing  a  deep  impression  upon  the 
Court.  After  waiting  a  short  time  for  the  excitement 
to  subside,  Judge  Eno  said:  "  Prisoner,  stand  up! 
You  have  been  indicted  by  the  Grand  Jury  of  this 
county  for  the  crime  of  burglary,  to  which  indict 
ment  you  pleaded  '  not  guilty.'  You  have  been  fairly 
tried  by  a  jury  of  your  own  selection,  who  find  you 
guilty  of  the  charge  contained  in  the  indictment, 
having  been  ably  and  well  defended  during  that  trial 
by  eminent  counsel.  Your  counsel  has  made  a  most 
touching  and  eloquent  appeal  to  the  Court  for  its 
sympathy  and  indulgence,  calling  attention  to  the 
apparent  fqct  that  you  are  but  a  boy  in  years;  aver 
ring  that  this  is  your  first  criminal  offense;  that  you 
are  the  only  son  of  one  of  our  most  respected  and 
worthy  citizens,  and  the  idol  of  an  almost  broken 
hearted  mother;  that  the  result  of  a  long  incarcera 
tion  would  be  ruin  to  your  future,  which  might  be 
fair  and  even  brilliant.  The  Court  is  deeply 
impressed  with  these  facts,  and  its  sentence,  there 
fore,  is,  that  you  be  taken  by  the  Sheriff  of  this 
county  to  the  State  prison  at  San  Quentin,  and  there 
be  confined  to  hard  labor  for  a  term  of  fourteen 
years;  and  I  only  wish  I  could  make  it  longer." 

The  prisoner  was,  however,  pardoned  a  short  time 
after,  and,  to  the  credit  of  Judge  Eno,  be  it  said,  he 
signed  the  petition  for  the  pardon  and  exerted  him 
self  in  that  behalf. 

A    DISGUSTED   CREDITOR. 

While  Judge  Gordon  was  County  Judge  SLndexofficio 
Judge  of  the  Probate  Court,  and  Jerry  King  was 
Public  Administrator,  two  Swedes  were  drowned  in 
the  Mokelumne  river,  leaving,  as  was  supposed,  some 
property.  King  was  duly  appointed  administrator 
of  their  estates.  A  few  weeks  after,  an  original 
specimen  of  humanity,  with  unkempt  hair  of  an 
indescribable  hue,  crane  neck  and  leathery  features, 
his  general  appearance  suggesting  the  idea  of  a 
dried-apple  on  the  end  of  a  ramrod,  presented  him 
self  before  Judge  Gordon,  and  making  an  awkward 


294 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


bow  of  unusual  vigor,  and  slinging  his  well-worn 
sombrero  beneath  his  arm  with  the  air  and  punctilio 
of  a  soldier  presenting  arms,  his  mental  thermom 
eter  evidently  at  fighting  point,  said, 

"  Might  Mister  King  be  here  ?  " 

Judge  Gordon  ever  ready  to  gratify  his  disposition 
for  a  quiet  joke,  and  discovering  rich  croppings 
therefor,  concluded  to  prospect,  and  answered, 

"  No.     What  do  you  want  with  Mr.  King  ?  " 

Pat — "  An'  its  meself  that  wants  me  money!  " 

Judge  Gordon — "  What  money  has  Mr.  King  of 
yours?" 

Pat — "  Its  me  money  that  I  arent  like  an  honest 
man  off  them  that  died  in  the  river  beyant,  bedad! " 

Judge  Gordon — "Did  you  earn  it  before  or  after 
they  were  drowned  ?  " 

Pat — "  Do  ye  thinfc  they  could  hire  me  afther  they 
were  dead,  bedad?  " 

Judge  Gordon — "  Mr.  King  cannot  give  you  your 
money  now.  You  must  wait  until  the  estate  is 
administered." 

Pat—"  An'  what's  that  ?  " 

Judge  Gordon — "  Until  it  goes  through  the  court." 

Pat — "An'  d'ye  say  that,  now?  Then  it's  Pat 
Rooney's  son  '11  give  hisself  no  more  trouble  aboot 
it,  at  all,  at  all.  Bedad,  an'  if  it  goes  through  the 
coort,  it's  meself  that  '11  niver  see  a  cint.  Ach,  hone, 
I  thought  afther  only  one  man's  stalings,  faith, 
tbere'd  be  some  left — but  if  it's  got  to  go  through  the 
coort,  Holy  Virgin,  it's  me  own  father's  son  that  '11 
niver  get  a  cint.  Good  day  ter  yees,  gintlemen;  it's 
no  more  I'll  bother  me  head  aboot  it,  at  all,  at  all!  " 

DEVOUT   DEACONS.  ' 

About  the  year  1860,  an  Episcopal  clergj-man 
made  an  effort  to  establish  a  society  of  his  form  of 
worship  at  Jackson,  and  secured  the  court-room  for 
the  meeting.  Of  course  it  was  popular,  and  it 
became  the  intellectual  members  of  the  community 
to  identify  themselves  with  the  movement;  hence, 
many  members  of  the  Bar  who  had  been  conspic 
uous  by  their  absence  from  any  church  for  years, 
were  in  attendance.  It  was  necessary  that  deacons 

should  be  selected,  arid  Counselor  B and  Judge 

H—  -  were  among  the  elect.  During  service  they 
were  unable  to  find  the  places  in  the  book  for  re 
sponses,  and  B —  asked  of  II in  an  audible  whisper, 

"Jim,  where  in  h — 1  is  the  place?"      "  Damfino," 

responded  11 earnestly  turning  the  leaves  of  the 

one  book  with  which  he  was  not  familiar. 

A    COLORED   ADVOCATE. 

J.  W.  D.  Palmer,  a  most  genial  and  intelligent 
gentleman,  from  Kentucky,  and  formerly  connected 
with  the  press  at  Louisville,  has  been  Justice  of  the 
Peace  at  Lancha  Plana  for  years.  In  his  court  an 
action  to  recover  the  possession  of  a  mining  claim, 
situated  in  the  basin  of  a  hill,  was  brought  by  Hon. 
George  Wagner,  who  had  represented  Amador  in 
the  Assembly,  against  a  colored  man  named  Smith, 
who  had  dug  a  "tail-race"  through  the  rim  rock 


of  the  hill  into  the  basin,  through  which  to  run  off 
the  debris  in  sluices.  Mr.  Wagner  was  represented 
by  Mr.  Severance,  and  Smith  appeared  in  propria 
persona.  The  testimony  all  in,  Smith  proceeded  to 
sum  up  as  follows:  "Yer  'oner,  I  will  please  to  state 
to  dis  Court  dat  1  jist  spent  my  bottom  dollar  on 
dat  ar  tail-race;  an  de  statoots  uv  dis  State  says  dat 
3"ou  can't  steal  away  my  prop'ty.  My  oppoleon  has 
gone  and  payed  a  silver-tongued  lawyer  to  come 
here  and  cheat  me  out  ob  dat  tail-race,  but  I'll 
please  to  state  to  dis  Court  dat  it  can't  be  did.  No 
sar!  Now  dars  George  Wagner,  kase  he's  'lected  to 
de  Legislator  when  people  was  scace  down  dis  way, 
he  thinks  he  can  run  ober  de  poor  African!"  In 
spite  of  his  eloquence  he  lost  his  case. 

A   GAME   OP   WHIST. 

One  evening  during  court  week,  Tod  Robinson 
and  Judge  Carter  engaged  in  a  game  of  whist,  in 
the  "Young  America,"  upon  opposite  sides.  After 
playing  for  some  time,  Judge  Carter  dextrously 
exchanged  cards  with  Judge  Robinson,  and  got  a 
very  good  hand  by  that  means.  The  act  was  wit 
nessed  by  the  spectators,  but  passed  unnoticed  by 
Judge  Robinson.  Trick  after  trick  was  taken  by 
Carter,  to  the  audible  amusement  of  the  lookers-on, 
when  Robinson,  irritated  by  the  laughter  exclaimed, 
in  that  clear,  cut  silver  speech,  for  which  he  was 
noted,  "  Gentlemen,  am  7  the  butt  of  your  merri 
ment?"  He  soon  discovered  that  Carter  had  played 
a  trick  on  him,  and,  rising  to  his  full  height  and 
assuming  his  most  dignified  and  tragic  style,  said, 
"Judge  Carter!  [pause]  Squire  Carter!  [pause — 
in  a  louder  tone]  Mister  Carter!  [contemptuously] 
Carter!  [then  in  a  tone  of  withering  irony]  Old 
Carter!  You  have  played  seven-up  with  Bill  Hicks 
and  Jim  Martin  on  a  rawhide  until  you  are  wholly 
unfit  to  play  with  a  gentleman,  and  I'll  leave  you, 
sir!" 

AN    INDUSTRIOUS    GRAND   JURY. 

A  careful  reader  of  our  history  will  not  need  tell 
ing  a  second  time,  that  gambling  was  alarmingly 
prevalent  in  early  days.  The  Legislature  passed 
laws  making  gambling  a  penal  offense;  but  in  the 
chaotic  state  of  society,  about  the  beginning  of  the 
sixties,  the  laws  against  it  were  considered  more 
as  moral  maxims  than  as  imperious  rules,  and 
gambling  went  on  much  as  ever.  It  happened  that 
a  Grand  Jury,  more  than  usually  conscientious  was 
convened,  and  when  they  were  sworn  to  bring  to 
notice  all  known  violations  of  the  statutes,  gambling 
was  of  course  included.  A  few  cases  were  brought 
in,  and  the  persons  indicted.  This  led  to  more,  and 
the  whole  week  was  spent  in  obtaining  evidence  of 
the  act,  until  the  numbers  amounted  to  over  three 
hundred.  The  District  Attorney  urged  the  useless- 
ness  of  the  course,  as  no  trial  jury  would  convict  a 
man  of  a  State's  prison  offense  merely  for  betting 
a  quarter  on  monte  or  faro,  but  the  Grand  Jury 
thought  otherwise.  Blank  indictments  were  printed 


SKETCHES  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY  BAR. 


295 


so  that  the  jurors  themselves  could  fill  up  the  blanks, 
and  the  work  went  on.  One  case  was  brought  to 
trial,  and  a  day  spent  in  the  vain  effort  to  obtain  a 
conviction.  The  District  Attorney  here  told  the 
jury  that  he  was  unable  to  obtain  a  conviction,  and 
asked  legal  assistance.  Fifty  dollars  was  raised 
among  the  grand  jurors,  and  the  services  of  Tod 
Robinson  obtained.  lie  exerted  himself  to  the 
utmost,  still  the  verdict  was  "not  guilty."  Sat 
urday  noon  had  arrived,  and  the  Grand  Jury  were 
still  at  work,  increasing  the  list  until  it  seemed  as 
if  half  the  county  would  be  put  on  trial.  The  Dis 
trict  Attorney  communicated  his  dilemma  to  Judge 
Gordon.  He  said  nothing,  but  gave  that  peculiar 


twist  of  the  eyes  and  mouth  which  all  his  friends 

know  forebodes well,  something  decisive.    When 

some  little  business  had  been  disposed  of  the  Judge 
asked  the  usual  question,  "Mr.  District  Attorney, 
have  you  any  farther  business  before  this  Court?" 
Upon  being  answered  in  the  negative,  he  ordered 
the  Court  adjourned  sine  die.  The  Grand  Jury  met 
the  following  Monday  morning  to  continue  the  busi 
ness,  but  were  informed  that  the  adjournment  of 
the  Court  had  ended  their  life  as  a  Grand  Jury. 
Some  were  able  to  look  at  it  as  a  good  joke;  others 
went  home  resolving  that  if  they  should  again  get 
on  the  Grand  Jury,  they  would  begin  with  the  Judge 
first. 


296 


OFFICERS  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 


OFFICERS 

—  OF— 

-AJMI-AJDOI^  COTJIsTT^  a-A-LXIFOIRIsrijk., 

FROM  1854  TO  1880. 

CO.  ASSESSOR.7 

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[')  Vice  T.  W.  Pawling,  deceased;  appointed  in  February. 
|2)  Vice  Henry  Peck,  deceased. 
(3)  The  offices  of  County  Clerk  and  Recorder  combined,  except  in  the  years  1862-63-61-65-66-67. 
*)  Appointed  August,  1855,  vice  W.  A.  Phoenix,  who  was  killed  in  the  difficulty  at  Chinese  Camp. 
[5)  Appointed  November  25th,  vice  B.  B.  Redhead,  deceased. 
;6)  In  the  election  held  September  6,  1865,  L.  Rabolt  was  elected  Treasurer,  but  it  being  proved  that 
he  was  not  a  citizen,  Otto  Walter,  competitor,  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
C1)  Township  Assessors  during  the  years  1862-63-64-65-66-67-68. 
[*)  Superior  Judge. 

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OFFICERS  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY. 


297 


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38 


Is  a  native  of  the  city  of  New  York;  born  on  the 
llth  of  July,  1841.  Being  left  an  orphan  at  the 
early  age  of  one  year,  he  was  taken  to  Rochester, 
where  he  lived  about  ten  years.  His  education  was 
obtained  in  different  portions  of  the  great  "  Empire  " 
State,  his  occupation,  after  he  was  old  enough  to 
work,  being  farming.  In  1860  he  came  to  Califor 
nia,  by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  landing  in 
the  city  of  San  Francisco  on  the  first  day  of  March. 
The  second  day  of  the  same  month  found  him  at 
Sutter  Creek,  Amador  county,  which  he  has  since 
made  his  home.  He  has  been  engaged  in  various 
kinds  of  business  since  arriving  at  this  place,  princi 
pally  teaming,  lumbering,  and  stock-raising. 

For  the  first  six  years  he  followed  the  former  bus 
iness,  and  then  engaged  in  the  lumber  trade,  which 
business  he  still  conducts,  having  the  only  lumber 
yard  in  Sutter  Creek.  A  good  portion  of  the  time 
he  has  several  teams  on  the  road,  hauling  lumber 
from  his  saw-mill,  better  known  as  Tarr's  mill,  situ 
ated  about  ten  miles  above  Volcano. 

He  is  largely  interested  in  stock-raising,  dealing 
in  and  raising  horses,  mules,  and  cattle,  extensively. 
Mr.  Allen  has  in  the  neighborhood  of  three  thousand 
acres  of  land  adjoining  Sutter  Creek,  all  under 
fence,  and  well  supplied  with  the  necessary  arrange 
ments  for  the  prosecution  of  his  business;  has 
numerous  barns  for  the  shelter  of  his  stock.  He  also 
has  some  fifteen  hundred  acres  of  mountain  range, 
to  which  he  drives  his  stock  when  the  feed  fails 
around  his  home  ranch.  Taking  into  consideration 
his  being  left  an  orphan  when  so  young,  Mr.  Allen 
is  a  self-made  man,  and  has  accomplished  what  many 
others  have  failed  to  do.  His  honesty,  integrity  and 
punctuality  have  always  been  prominent  features  in 
his  dealings  with  his  fellow-men. 

He  was  married  July  11,  1870,  in  Amador  City,  to 
Miss  Annie  E.  Bradbury,  a  native  of  the  State 
of  Maine.  Their  union  has  been  blessed  with  five 
children,  four  of  whom,  two  boj's  and  two  girls,  are 
still  living,  their  oldest  child,  a  daughter,  having 
died. 


Was  born  in  Perry  county,  Pennsylvania,  December 
15,  1826,  where  he  resided  until  the  Spring  of  1839, 
when,  with  his  parents,  he  removed  to  Iowa.  While 
there  he  learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  though  prin 


cipally  engaged  in  farming.  In  1850  he  was  swept 
off  by  the  great  California  wave,  which  sent  such  a 
vast  number  of  the  best  and  most  energetic  across 
the  plains  to  build  up  a  new  State.  After  resting 
and  looking  around  awhile  at  Sacramento,  he  went 
to  Rough  and  Ready,  in  Nevada  county,  where  he 
remained  one  year,  engaged  in  mining.  From  thence 
he  moved  to  El  Dorado  county,  making  that  his 
home  until  1876,  being  engaged  in  mining  ditches 
until  1856,  when  he  bought  into  a  saw-mill,  which,  in 
connection  with  the  selling  and  transportation  of 
lumber,  he  carried  on  until  the  year  mentioned,  when 
he  finally  located  on  the  present  farm,  which  he  had 
previously  purchased.  It  is  situated  three  miles 
north-east  of  Plymouth,  and  contains  three  hundred 
and  twenty  acres  of  ground  highly  improved. 

Mr.  Baird  was  married  September  14,  1868,  to 
Miss  Mary  Ann  Brown,  who -died  May  1,  1877. 
The  family  consists  of  Mr.  Baird  and  an  only  son, 
now  twelve  years  of  age.  He  is  a  man  trusted 
by  his  neighbors,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
School  Trustees  of  his  district. 


CHARLES  BAMERT 

Was  born  at  Baden,  in  Germany,  April  2,  1830.  The 
first  five  years  of  his  life  were  passed  in  his  native 
country;  but  coming  to  America  at  that  early  age, 
his  first  recollections  are  consequently  located  in  this 
country.  Upon  his  arrival  in  America,  he  went  with 
his  parents  to  Ontario,  New  York,  where  he  remained 
until  1852.  During  that  time  he  attended  school 
and  acquired  a  common  school  education. 

In  the  year  last  named,  he  came  to  California, 
reaching  San  Francisco  in  the  month  of  July.  His 
first  occupation  was  that  of  a  miner,  in  Ophir  dis 
trict,  in  Placer  county,  where  he  experienced  the 
trials  and  privations  usually  connected  with  that 
kind  of  life  in  those  days.  For  eight  years  he  fol 
lowed  that  business,  and  in  1860  settled  on  the 
Mokelumne  river,  where  he  has  since  resided.  Mr. 
Bamert  has  a  fine  ranch  containing  seven  hundred 
acres,  and  is  also  largely  interested  in  other  tracts  of 
land  in  connection  with  other  parties.  He  has  been 
extensively  engaged  in  stock-raising,  but  more 
recently  has  turned  his  attention  to  the  sheep  bus 
iness,  in  company  with  Pardeau  &  Borden.  For 
thirteen  years  Mr.  Bamert  has  been  engaged  in  gen 
eral  merchandise,  being  first  interested  with  Messrs. 
Woolsey  &  Palmer,  afterward  purchasing  their  inter- 


300 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


ests  in  the  stock  of  goods,  and  conducting  the  busi 
ness  himself.  His  natural  ability  foi1  the  trade  has 
manifested  itself  throughout  his  years  of  experience 
and  he  ranks  at  the  present  time  with  the  prosper 
ous  and  successful  business  men  of  the  county.  He 
was  married  in  1876,  to  Miss  Leah  Shclburn,  and 
their  union  has  been  blessed  with  two  children,  now 
aged  three  and  one  years  respectively. 


EDGAE  BISHOP. 

The  subject  of  the  following  sketch  is  a  native  of 
New  York  State,  having  been  born  at  Warrensburgh, 
Warren  county,  in  1839.  Upon  reaching  his  major 
ity  he  left  the  familiar  scenes  of  his  childhood,  and 
began  the  battle  of  life  for  himself,  his  objective 
point  being  California.  His  first  location  in  this  State 
was  at  lone,  Amador  county,  where  he  was  engaged 
in  trade  from  1861  to  1866.  In  June  of  the  last 
named  year,  he  removed  to  the  city  of  San  Fran 
cisco,  and  for  about  fourteen  years  was  widely  known 
as  a  successful  grocer  of  that  thriving  city.  In  the 
Spring  of  1880,  Mr.  Bishop  returned  to  lone  and  pur 
chased  the  stock  and  trade  of  Daniel  Stewart,  and  is 
in  possession  of  a  large,  thriving  business. 

He  was  married  in  San  Francisco  in  October,  1873, 
to  Mrs.  Sophia  C.  Streeter,  and  their  union  is  blessed 
with  two  children,  both  girls. 


J.  C.  BLYTHER 

Is  a  native  of  the  State  of  Maine;  was  born  in  the 
town  of  Calais,  Washington  county,  January  7, 1826. 
At  the  tender  age  of  three  years  he  removed  with 
his  parents  to  the  city  of  New  Orleans.  Louisiana. 
In  the  "  Crescent  City  "  he  received  a  liberal  educa 
tion,  and  resided  there  most  of  the  time  until  1850, 
at  which  time  he  came  to  California.  Like  nearly 
all  the  early  pioneers  of  the  "  Golden  State,"  his 
aspirations  led  him  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  mines, 
and  his  first  occupation  after  reaching  his  destination 
was  consequently  that  of  delving  in  the  earth  in 
search  of  the  precious  nuggets.  After  a  short  time 
in  his  first  location,  he  sought  other  places  where  it 
was  believed  dame  fortune  had  deposited  a  larger 
supply  of  wealth  for  him;  and,  possessing  a  rambling 
nature,  visited  different  parts  of  the  State  during  the 
succeeding  eleven  }Tears.  In  1861  Mr.  Blyther  con 
cluded  to  settle  down,  as  he  was  a  firm  believer  ia  the 
old  adage  that  "a  rolling  stone  gathers  no  moss,"  and 
in  the  last-named  year  located  on  the'  ranch,  where 
he  is  very  pleasantly  situated  at  the  present  time, 
owning  one  of  the  best  places  on  the  Mokelumne 
river;  though  containing  but  two  hundred  acres,  it 
is  well  cared  for,  and  conducted  on  the  true  principle 
that  land  in  order 'to  be  remunerative,  must  receive 
a  certain  amount  of  attention.  He  was  married  in 
1866  to  Mrs.  Child,  who  had  one  child  by. a  former 
marriage,  that  now  lives  with  his  parents,  a  bright, 


active  young  man  of  nineteen  years.  Mr.  Blytheris  a 
courteous  gentleman,  and  in  connection  with  his  rep 
utation  as  a  good  farmer,  has  the  good- will  and  esteem 
of  his  neighbors,  and  is  what  might  be  called  a  self- 
made  man. 


JOHN  A.  BROWN 

Was  born  in  the  town  of  Warsaw,  State  of  Missouri, 
on  the  25th  of  November,  1848.  When  he  was  a 
mere  infant  his  parents  came  across  the  plains  to 
California  with  ox-teams.  The  first  recollections  of 
which  our  subject  is  master,  are  of  life  in  the  golden 
State.  His  education  was  obtained  in  the  schools 
of  this  State,  and  speaks  volumes  for  the  country 
that  but  a  few  years  since,  was  known  only  to  the 
hardy  pioneers  and  the  "  dusky  sons  of  the  forest." 
The  first  location  of  the  family  after  reaching  the 
land  of  promise,  was  on  Bear  river,  near  Marysville. 
One  year  later  they  removed  to  Amador  City,  and 
soon  after  moved  on  to  a  farm  near  Sutter  creek, 
where  they  remained  fourteen  years. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  attended  school  until 
about  twenty  years  of  age,  and  at  the  early  age  of 
twenty-two  3Tears  was  elected  as  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  holding  the  office  nearly  two  years.  He  was 
engaged  in  various  kinds  of  business  after  leaving 
school,  and  put  in  some  time  prospecting;  he  also 
studied  law  for  a  couple  of  years,  but  during  this 
time  he  had  an  ambition  to  become  a  civil  engineer 
and  surveyor,  arid  accordingly  fitted  himself  for  that 
profession. 

In  1878  be  received  the  appointment  of  County 
Surveyor,  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of 
that  officer,  and  the  same  Summer  received  his  papers 
appointing  him  a  United  States  Deputy  Surveyor. 
Since  receiving  his  first  appointment  as  County  Sur 
veyor,  he  has  continued  to  fill  that  position  to  the 
present  time,  and  has  dispatched  the  duties  of  his 
office  with  entire  satisfaction  to  his  people  and  with 
credit  to  himself.  In  1879  he  made  a  survey  of  all 
the  public  roads  of  this  county,  and  is  at  present 
engaged  in  making  an  elaborate  county  map.  Mr. 
Brown  is  an  accomplished  and  thorough  gentleman 
in  all  the  associations  of  life,  and  also  fully  appre 
ciates  the  fact  that  his  profession  requires  the  atten 
tion,  that  he  so  readily  gives  to  it. 

He  was  married  February  25,  1880,  to  Miss  Vir 
ginia  Hayden,  one  child  having  been  born  to  them. 


ANTHONY  CAMINETTI 

Was  born  at  Jackson  Gate,  in  Amador  county,  July 
30,  1854,  being  one  of  the  first  children  born  in  the 
county.  His  parents  are  natives  of  Italy.  The  first 
ten  years  of  his  life  were  passed  in  his  native  place, 
and  at  that  age  he  went  to  the  city  of  San  Francisco, 
and  attended  school,  for  three  years.  In  1867,  he 
returned  to  Jackson,  and  entered  the  employ  of  his 
Uncle,  B.  Caminetti,  as  clerk  in  his  store.  In  this 


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BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


301 


last  position  he  remained  about  three  years,  and 
attain  went  to  San  Francisco,  and  entered  the  law 
office  of  Quint  &  Hardy,  as  clerk, .and  remained 
in  that  capacity  until  the  completion  of  the  first  trial 
of  Laura  D.  Fair.  He  soon  after  entered  the  State 
University,  at  Oakland,  where  he  pursued  his  studies 
until  October  31,  1873,  at  which  time  he  returned 
to  Jackson,  and  commenced  reading  law  in  the 
office  of  J.  T.  Farley.  In  May,  1877,  he  was  admit 
ted  to  the  Bar  of  California,  and,  during  the  same 
year,  was  elected  as  District  Attorney.  During  the 
Legislative  session  of  1875-76,  Mr.  Caminetti  filled 
the  position  of  Assistant  Journal  Clerk  of  the  Senate. 
He  was  at  once  recognized  as  a  leader  in  politics, 
and  in  1880  received  the  nomination  as  alternate 
elector  on  the  Democratic  Presidential  ticket.  In 
social  life  he  is  a  genial  gentleman,  enjoying  a  large 
circle  of  friends,  and  though  young  in  years,  carries 
a  well-balanced  head;  and  we  may  expect  to  see 
him  honored  in  a  manner  becoming  his  talents. 


W.  W.  CARLILE 

Was  born  in  Carroll  county,  Ohio,  December  3, 
1839.  He  resided  in  that  State  until  1846,  when  he 
removed  with  his  parents  to  Keokuk,  Iowa,  where  he 
lived  until  1862.  When  but  little  past  his  majority 
he  discovered  that  it  was  not  good  for  man  to  live 
alone,  and  took  himself  a  wife,  Miss  Phebe  Smith, 
who  has  blessed  him  with  six  children,  four  girls  and 
two  boys;  all  but  one  girl  now  living,  who  bid  fair 
to  inherit  the  virtues  and  industrious  habits  of  both 
parents.  May  7,  1862,  himself  and  wife,  packing 
their  worldly  estate  into  a  wagon,  started  for  Califor 
nia  with  an  ox-team,  full  of  hope  and  determination 
that  if  hard  work  would  wrench  good  fortune  out  of 
the  California  chaos,  they  would  have  a  share  of  the 
gold  and  other  good  things.  The  daily  plodding 
through  the  sands  and  climbing  of  mountains  ter 
minated,  and  one  evening  they  let  their  eyes  feast  on 
the  green  valleys  of  lone,  which  formed  such  a  con 
trast  to  the  alkaline  plains  of  the  two  thousand 
miles  they  had  so  wearily  traversed.  They  rented  a 
farm  and  orchard  in  the  interior  of  the  valley,  and 
sunrise  and  sunset  saw  him  either  at  work  on  his 
place  or  on  the  way  to  market.  In  those  days  all 
kinds  of  farm  produce  brought  a  good  price,  and  in 
a  few  years  he  had  accumulated  several  thousand 
dollars,  enough,  as  he  thought,  to  give  him  a  good 
start  in  the  West,  for  like  most  early  comers  to  Cali 
fornia  he  had  not  learned  to  consider  California  an 
inviting  home.  In  1872  he  pulled  up  all  his  stakes 
and  removed  to  Kansas,  with  the  intention  of  making 
that  State  his  home.  But,  alas!  he  had  not  calcu 
lated  for  the  cold  winters.  He  did  not  like  the  idea 
of  having  his  heels  freeze  while  his  toes  were  toast 
ing  at  a  fierce  fire;  one  winter  of  it  was  enough. 
The  following  Spring  he  was  on  his  way  to  Cali 
fornia,  and  reached  it  in  due  time  a  wiser,  if  not  a 


wealthier,  man,  for  this  bit  of  experience  had  made 
quite  a  hole  in  his  litlb  capital.  But  the  word  fail 
had  no  place  in  his  vocabulary.  He  was  not  long  in 
getting  under  way,  and  soon  bought  the  place  on 
which  he  now  resides,  it  being  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  noted  Q  ranch,  containing  some  of  the  best 
land  in  the  famous  lone  valley.  In  addition  to 
farming  his  own  place  he  has  been  engaged  in 
threshing  for  the  many  farmers  in  his  vicinity.  His 
love  for  machinery  and  knowledge  of  mechanics  has 
enabled  him  to  make  many  improvements  in  the 
steam  power  and  separators,  one  of  which  is  likely 
to  become  extensively  adopted.  This  is  an  attach 
ment  to  the  engine  to  raise  the  grain  to  the  separator 
without  the  aid  of  horses.  As  the  machine  is  under 
the  control  of  the  engineer,  it  makes  a  saving  of 
both  horse  and  man  power.  It  is  needless  to  say 
that  Mr.  Carlile  has  secured  a  patent  for  the  improve 
ment,  it  being  the  first  in  this  direction.  Our  readers 
will  better  understand  the  nature  of  the  improve 
ment  by  consulting  the  engraving  in  the  body  of  the 
work.  Coal  in  considerable  quantity  is  found  on  his 
ranch,  and  the  same  stream  of  gravel  that  has  made 
good  diggings  on  the  Coffin  place,  also  traverses  his. 


JAMES  GUMMING. 

Few  men  have  a  more  varied  or  extensive  expe 
rience  than  Dr.  Gumming.  A  volume  of  interesting 
incidents  might  be  written  without  exhausting  the 
subject.  He  is  a  native  of  Tennessee,  first  seeing 
the  sunlight  February  10,  1813,  among  the  mount 
ains  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  State,  which  has  pro 
duced  so  many  extraordinary  men,  such  as  Andrew 
Johnson  and  Parson  Brownlow,  Grainger  county 
being  his  birthplace.  He  received  a  liberal  educa 
tion,  both  classical  and  scientific,  being  a  graduate 
of  the  University  of  Knoxville.  He  afterwards 
studied  medicine,  graduating  in  the  Transylvania 
University  of  Kentucky.  He  spent  some  years  in 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  Decatur,  Alabama,  but, 
in  consequence  of  ill-health,  was  forced  to  leave  that 
section  of  country,  removing  in  1836  to  Peoria,  Illi 
nois,  where,  in  addition  to  the  practice  of  medicine, 
he  engaged  extensively  in  real  estate  transactions. 
He  rapidly  accumulated  property,  soon  becoming 
rich.  January  17,  1842,  he  married  Miss  Mary  Ann 
Dorsey,  daughter  of  Captain  Chas.  S.  Dorsey,  of 
Kentucky.  It  was  remarked  that  the  richest  man 
had  married  the  handsomest  woman  in  four  counties, 
this  seeming  anomaly  arising  from  the  fact  that  the 
Dorsey  residence  stood  on  the  corners  of  four  coun 
ties.  Miss  Dorsey  made  him  an  inestimable  com 
panion,  and  still  retains  much  of  the  beauty  which 
forty  years  ago  made  her  the  queen  of  all  the  prairie 
flowers.  They  have  had  three  children,  none  of 
whom  are  living  to  inherit  the  beauty  of  the  mother, 
or  the  intellectual  qualifications  of  the  father. 

His  extensive  business  operations  carried  him  to 


302 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


different  parts  of  the  Union,  his  longest  stay  being 
made  in  New  Mexico,  near  Santa  Fe,  where  he 
engaged  in  trade,  and  also  in  government  contracts. 
His  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  language,  and  the 
character  of  the  peons,  enabled  him  to  render  the 
Government  efficient  service.  His  experiences  among 
the  ignorant  and  prejudiced,  but  not  by  any  means 
bad,  natives  would  make  interesting  and  valuable 
reading  matter,  if  the  doctor  could  be  induced  to 
commit  it  to  paper.  In  1859,  he  so  far  closed  his 
business  in  New  Mexico  as  to  permit  his  leaving  the 
Territory  and  becoming  a  citizen  of  California.  He 
was  among  the  first  to  take  passage  by  the  line  of 
overland  stages  established  about  that  time.  Soon 
after  arriving  in  this  State  he  purchased  the  prop 
erty  known  as  the  brick  flour  mills,  which  he 
enlarged  and  otherwise  improved,  until  he  can  do 


as  good  work  as  is  done  in  the  State.  The  mill  has 
both  water  and  steam-power,  the  water-power  being 
obtained  by  a  ditch  which  taps  Sutter  creek  about 
two  miles  above  the  town,  the  steam-power  being 
used  when  the  water  is  low.  Dr.  Gumming  is  a 
noted  inventor,  he  having  constructed  the  first  plow 
that  would  scour  in  the  fat  prairies  of  the  West. 
He  has  patented  two  important  improvements  in 
the  turbine  wheel,  one  of  which  was  to  contract  the 
openings  so  as  to  utilize  the  whole  fall  with  a  small 
head  of  water.  lie  has  also  some  thirty  other  pat 
ents,  which  have  been  generally  adopted.  He  has 
occupied  many  positions  of  honor,  such  as  army 
surgeon,  member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature,  magis 
trate,  etc.  Fort  Gumming  was  named  in  his  honor, 
lie  has  not  accepted  any  official  position  in  Cali 
fornia. 


WILLIAM  O.  CLARK. 


WILLIAM  0.  CLARK. 

A  personal  acquaintance  with  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  enables  the  writer  to  give  more  of  the  history 
of  this  natural  orator  than  he  would  be  likely  to 
communicate  to  any  one  for  publication.  He  was 
born  in  Madison,  Indiana,  January  21, 1817,  and  con 
sequently  has  seen  most  of  the  strides  that  Indiana, 
as  well  as  other  western  States,  has  made  in  popula 
tion  and  wealth.  He  came  to  California  in  an  early 
day,  and  found  ample  material  in  the  abundant  dram- 
drinking  of  California  to  arouse  into  action  all  his 
powers  of  oratory,  and  he  early  sounded  the  tocsin 
of  alarm,  and  proclaimed  the  evils  of  intemperance 


in  every  town,  from  Siskiyou  to  San  Diego,  organiz 
ing  temperance  societies  in  every  possible  place, 
lie  is  possessed  of  a  sanguine  temperament  that 
throws  all  power  available  into  a  contest  when  once 
a  decision  is  made,  and  he  made  his  influence  felt 
wherever  saloons  existed.  He  is  said  to  have  spent 
several  fortunes  in  the  cause.  He  has  been  G.  W.  P. 
of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  for  many  successive 
terms.  In  1872  he  made  a  trip  around  the  world, 
visiting  England,  France,  Sicily,  Egypt,  the  Holy 
Land,  India,  China  and  Japan,  carrying  the  temper 
ance  colors  all  the  time,  and  lecturing  upon  it 
whenever  practicable.  He  has  resided  in  Drytown, 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


303 


except  when  traveling  on  his  special  mission,  for 
twenty-six  years.  Ho  suffered  heavily  in  the  great 
fire  of  1857,  but  saved  something  from  the  general 
wreck.  The  brick  store  he  claims  to  be  the  oldest 
brick  structure  in  the  county.  Other  brick  buildings 
were  erected  before  his,  but  went  down  in  some  of 
the  numerous  fires  which  visited  every  town.  He 
was  married  in  1857,  to  Miss  Julia  Appleby  of  Ottawa, 
Illinois.  She  was  noted  as  combining  extraordinary 
beauty  with  a  vigorous  intellect,  and  in  a  suitable 
sphere  would  have  taken  high  rank.  There  was 
little  room  in  Drytown  a  quarter  of  a  century  since, 
however,  for  the  exercise  of  those  gifts  which  in  the 
centers  of  population  would  have  made  her  a  queen 
of  society.  They  have  one  child,  a  son,  living.  Mr. 
Clark  amuses  himself  in  his  intervals  of  business,  by 
cultivating  the  hills  around  Drytown  in  grain,  and 
demonstrating  their  ability  to  produce  something 
besides  grapes. 


THOMPSON  DAVIS 

"Was  born  in  the  State  of  Missouri  in  1833.  At  the 
age  of  twenty  years  he  emigrated  to  California,  set 
tling  atPlacerville  (Hangtown),  in  El  Dorado  county, 
where  he  lived  for  two  years,  when  he  came  to  Vol 
cano,  where  he  mined  for  one  year;  thence  to  Oleta 
where  he  lived  for  two  years;  thence  to  Upper 
Rancheria,  where  he  also  mined  for  two  years. 
Placer  mining  becoming  rather  precarious,  he  tried 
farming  in  Buckeye  valley,  near  Carbondale,  for  ten 
years.  He  then  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business 
near  Drytown  for  eight  years.  In  1879  he  removed 
to  Plymouth,  where  he  erected  a  store  and  enlarged 
his  business.  He  has  since  made  this  place  his  home. 
He  was  married  in  1866  to  Miss  Maria  A.  Davies. 
They  have  four  children. 


R.  C.  DOWNS 

AVas  born  in  Bristol,  Hartford  county,  Connecticut, 
on  the  19th  of  April,  1828,  where  he  passed  his  early 
years.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  went  to  New 
York  City,  where  he  was  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a 
dry  goods  establishment.  On  the  25th  of  January, 
1849,  he  sailed  from  the  latter  city  in  the  ship 
Tuhmaroo,  Captain  Richardson,  master;  and  on  the 
first  of  the  following  July,  landed  in  San  Francisco. 
He  at  once  left  for  the  mines,  his  first  location  being 
on  the  north  fork  of  the  American  river,  where  he 
remained  until  the  Fall  of  that  year.  He  then 
removed  to  Amador  creek,  and  was  engaged  in  the 
same  business  until  the  following  Spring.  From 
1850  until  1859  he  was  engaged  in  merchandising  at 
Amador,  Rancheria,  Sutter  Creek  and  Volcano,  in 
company  with  Levi  Hanford,  having  establishments 
at  each  of  those  places.  Mr.  Hanford  had  charge 
of  the  stores,  Mr.  Downs  generally  remaining  in  the 
city  purchasing  and  forwarding  goods.  They  were 


eminently  successful,  the  firm  of  Hanford  &  Downs 
becoming  well  known  over  the  State.  From  1860  to 
1873  he  was  part  owner  and  superintendent  of  the 
Lincoln  quartz  mine  at  Sutter  Creek,  Leland  Stan 
ford  being  a  partner.  He  made  the  mine  a  paying 
institution.  The  succeeding  four  years  he  spent  in 
traveling,  making  several  trips  to  the  Eastern  States, 
as  well  as  traveling  extensively  through  California. 
In  the  Summer  of  1877,  in  connection  with  J.  M. 
Hanford,  he  opened  a  mine  near  Volcano,  now  bear 
ing  his  name,  which  they  have  worked  successfully 
ever  since.  Mr.  Downs  is  also  owner  of  the  Golden 
Eagle  mine,  near  Sutter  Creek,  which  he  is  now 
prospecting.  He  was  elected  to  the  Assembly  of  the 
State  Legislature  in  1879-80,  an  office  he  filled  to  the 
entire  satisfaction  of  his  constituents.  He  has 
recently  built  a  fine  residence  at  Sutter  Creek,  where 
he  intends  making  his  permanent  home.  He  was 
married  in  his  native  town,  in  October,  1856,  and 
has  three  sons  aged  respectively  eighteen,  sixteen 
and  thirteen  years. 


THOMAS  W.  EASTON 

Is  a  native  of  England,  though  he  came  to  America 
in  company  with  his  parents  when  he  was  but  eight 
years  of  age.  He  was  born  September  1,  1823,  in 
the  county  of  Kent.  The  family  settled  in  Otsego 
county,  New  York.  Soon  after  reaching  America,  the 
boy,  feeling  strong  enough  to  go  alone,  started  out  in 
life  on  his  own  account,  going  first  to  Cattaraugus 
county,  where  he  engaged  in  farming  for  some  years, 
or  until  he  was  twenty-one  years  old,  when  he  went 
to  Saginaw  county,  Michigan,  where  he  followed 
teaching  private  school  for  two  seasons.  Following 
up  the  injunction  to  go  west,  he  made  another  move, 
this  time  to  Wisconsin,  in  which  State  he  resided 
four  years,  engaged,  most  of  the  time,  in  farming. 
In  1848,  being  then  twenty-five  years  of  age,  he 
man-ied  Miss  Lucinda  Jane  Van  Loan,  who  was  a 
native  of  New  York.  In  1854  Mr.  Easton,  with  his 
wife  and  two  children — a  daughter  and  son — crossed 
the  plains  to  California,  making  their  first  halt  in 
Sacramento  county,  going  afterwai'ds  to  Placerville 
for  a  few  months,  finally  settling  in  El  Dorado 
county,  where  he  lived  until  October,  1873,  his  prin 
cipal  business  being  mining,  though  he  united  with 
this  the  business  of  keeping  a  hotel  during  seven 
years  of  the  time.  In  1873  he  came  to  Plymouth, 
then  rapidly  growing  up  in  consequence  of  the 
development  of  the  mines  under  the  management  of 
Alvinza  Hay  ward,  and  engaged  in  keeping  a  hotel. 
In  June,  1877,  he  was  completely  ruined  in  financial 
matters  by  the  great  fire  of  that  year;  but  the  energy 
which  had  wrested  success  out  of  apparent  defeat  so 
many  times  was  not  exhausted,  and  another  one  was 
soon  flourishing.  His  family  consists  of  himself,  wife 
and  four  children. 


304 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


S.  \V.  EMMONS 

Was  born  January  31,  1829,  at  Chillicothe,  Ross 
county,  Ohio.  When  but  three  years  of  age  he 
removed  with  his  parents  to  the  State  of  Michigan, 
where  he  lived  on  a  farm  until  he  reached  the  age  of 
eighteen  years.  Having  acquired  a  common  school 
education  from  the  meagre  facilities  of  his  neighbor 
hood  by  attending  school  during  the  Winter  terms, 
he  left  home  and  went  to  Detroit,  and  entered  a 
machine  shop  for  the  purpose  of  learning  the  trade 
of  a  machinist,  spending  the  next  five  years  in  so 
doing. 

In  1853  he  saw  bright  and  golden  prospects  in 
California,  and,  to  realize  his  hopes  in  that  direction, 
sailed  for  the  Pacific  coast,  which  he  reached  in  due 
time,  by  way  of  the  isthmus.  He  at  once  entered 
the  mines  in  El  Dorado  county,  but  soon  after  went 
to  Mokelumne  Hill,  in  Calaveras  county,  where  he 
followed  mining  until  1856,  with  varied  success.  In 

1857  he  accepted  a  position  as  engineer  in  Clinton, 
Amador  county,  where  he  remained  one  year.     His 
next  move  was  to  accept  a  position  at  the  New  York 
branch  saw-mill,  and  had  charge  of  the  engine  from 

1858  to  1864.     In  the  last-named  year,  he  took  the 
management   of  the  engine  and   machinery   at  the 
Oneida  mine,  wh;ch  he  retained  two  years.     He  was 
afterwards  in  a  like  position  in  Jackson,  in  the  Ken 
nedy  mine.     In  all  these  responsible  positions  Mr. 
Emmons  succeeded  admirably  in  giving  entire  satis 
faction  to  his  employers,  and   became  noted  for  his 
excellent  management.     Tiring  of  this  occupation, 
and  requiring  out-door  exercise,  he  engaged  in  farm 
ing  at  the  New  York  ranch,  which  he  followed  about 
two  years.     He  then  bought  the  Pine  Grove  hotel, 
a  place  well  and  favorably  known  throughout  the 
country,  located  on  the  Jackson  and* Volcano  road, 
ten   miles  north-east  of  the  former  place,  and  has 
since  catered  to  the  wants  of  his  guests  in  a  creditable 
manner. 

Mr.  Emmons  was  married  on  New  Year's  day, 
1873,  to  Miss  Eliza  Beem,  a  native  of  Illinois,  and 
their  union  is  blessed  with  one  child,  a  son,  about  five 
years  of  age. 

The  hotel  and  surroundings  of  Mr.  Emmons  can 
best  be  appreciated  by  a  glance  at  the  view  herein 
contained  on  another  page. 


Is  a  native  of  Canada  West,  having  been  born  at  a 
place  called  Bytown,  now  known  as  Ottawa,  in 
the  year  1835.  The  first  sixteen  years  of  his  life 
were  passed  on  Canadian  soil,  and  his  early  educa 
tion  was  obtained  in  the  schools  of  his  native  town. 
In  1851  he  emigrated  with  his  parents  to  the  State 
of  Illinois,  and  located  in  Bureau  county,  and  for 
about  eight  years  devoted  his  time  to  the  tilling  of 
the  soil,  which  experience  was  of  service  to  him  in 
later  years.  In  1858  he  came  to  California,  by  way 


of  New  Orleans  and  Havana.  He  remained  a  short 
time  in  San  Francisco,  and  then  came  to  Amador 
county,  locating  at  Sutter  Creek,  where  he  has  since 
resided,  engaged  in  various  occupations.  The  first 
four  .years  of  his  residence  at  this  place,  he  was 
engineer  at  the  Eureka  mine,  a  position  he  filled  with 
more  than  ordinary  ability.  He  then  turned  his 
attention  to  teaming,  and  for  two  years  followed  that 
business. 

Desiring  something  better  suited  to  his  tastes,  he 
gave  up  teaming  and  opened  a  livery  stable,  and  has 
the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  his  is  the  only  first- 
class  establishment  of  the  kind  in  the  town,  in  fact, 
no  better  can  be  found  in  many  large  cities.  He  is 
also  considerably  interested  in  ranching,  owning  a 
fine  farm,  containing  two  hundred  acres.  He  has  a 
mill  in  which  he  grinds  the  feed  for  his  livery  stock, 
and  also  for  the  public.  The  mill  was  originally  run 
by  steam,  but  is  now  run  by  water-power. 

Mr.  Fagan  is  one  of  the  live  men,  noted  for  energy 
and  executive  ability,  and  deserves,  and  does  possess, 
the  confidence  of  the  community.  He  held  the 
responsible  position  of  Sheriff,  in  the  years  1874-75, 
and  performed  the  duties  of  the  office  to  the  satisfac 
tion  of  all. 

He  was  married  in  1864,  to  Miss  Maggie  Duke, 
a  native  of  New  York.  They  have  seven  children 
living,  six  girls  and  one  boy. 


II.  C.  FARNIIAM 

Is  a  native  of  New  York,  having  been  born  July  12, 
1827,  at  Forestville,  in  Chester  county.  Here  he 
acquired  some  education,  and,  what  is  of  much  more 
importance,  the  habits  of  industry  and  economy, 
which  in  every  well  regulated  community  are  essen 
tial  to  success.  At  the  age  of  eighteen,  on  foot  and 
alone,  with  his  whole  estate  in  his  hands,  he  started 
out  on  his  life  career.  He  was  a  splendid  penman 
and  felt  confident  of  paying  his  way  by  teaching 
penmanship  along  the  lines  of  travel,  which  he  did, 
forming  classes  at  many  points,  teaching  the  young 
ideas  how  to write.  lie  brought  up  at  Milwau 
kee  after  six  months  of  this,  his  first  experience,  in 
the  world.  Seeing  no  opening  for  work  with  his 
pen,  he  turned  to  the  plane  and  saw,  and  worked'  at 
the  carpenter  business  until  1850,  when  he  enlisted 
in  the  great  column  bound  for  California,  and  one 
hot,  sunny  day  found  himself  wandering  around  the 
streets  and  mining  holes  of  Hangtown,  wondering 
ivhat  next  ?  He  mined  around  Placerville  for  a  couple 
of  years,  and  then,  early  in  1853,  went  to  Fiddle- 
town,  now  Olcta,  and  in  company  with  James  Mc- 
Leod  erected  the  first  saw-mill  in  the  vicinity. 
Through  some  faulty  construction  or  setting,  the 
boiler  collapsed  a  flue  and  was  thrown  many  feet  out 
of  its  bed,  fatally  wounding  two  men  (McLeod  being 
one),  and  severely  injuring  Mr.  Farnham,  the  flying 
boiler,  with  McLeod  on  the  end,  passing  between  Mr. 


STEPHEN    FINN. 
(  DECEASED) 


f.tv£!*T  fc  a.  o««i/(  >  u 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY^ 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


305 


Farnham  and  another  man  sitting  at  a  table  in  the 
office.  Notwithstanding  the  accident  the  mill  was 
repaired,  and  has  done  good  work  ever  sin^e,  though 
the  cutting  away  of  the  timber  has  necessitated 
several  removals  of  the  mill  farther  into  the  mount 
ains. 

lie  has  a  fine  ranch  of  two  hundred  and  eighty 
acres,  of  the  deep,  productive  granite  soil,  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  Oleta,  with  large  barns  and 
elegant  house.  Several  large  teams  hauling  lumber 
to  the  mills  of  Plymouth  and  Amador,  make  the 
place  look  like  business.  In  fact,  Mr.  Farnham  is  a 
business  man;  every  line  in  his  face,  every  move  of 
his  feet  and  look  of  his  eyes,  together  with  the  sys 
tem  of  order  displayed  on  his  farm,  in  his  barns  and 
shops,  and  mill,  indicate  the  ruling  motive  of  the 
man.  He  has  an  unmitigated  contempt  for  the 
whining,  indolent  men,  who  stand  around  with  their 
hands  in  their  pockets,  saying  "  the  country  is  played 
out,  nothing  more  to  do."  He  has  full  faith  in  Cali 
fornia,  and  believes  it  the  best  State  in  the  Union. 

He  was  married  April  1,  1854,  to  Miss  Eunice 
Haynes,  a  native  of  New  York,  by  whom  he  has  had 
seven  children,  two  daughters  and  five  boys,  now 
living. 


STEPHEN  FINN. 

Few  places  in  Amador  county  are  better  known 
than  Finn's  ranch.  Like  the  Q  ranch,  Buena  Vista, 
Buckeye,  and  other  well-known  places,  it  was  not  a 
town,  but  like  them  early  became  noted  as  among 
the  first  to  establish  the  comforts  of  home  and  its 
refining  influences,  and  reveal  the  possibilities  of  the 
new  State.  It  was  hardly  possible  to  come  into  the 
county  without  hearing  of  Finn's  ranch,  or  to  con 
verse  about  any  matter  without  mentioning  it. 
Every  place  was  located  as  so  many  miles  from 
Finn's  ranch.  Stephen  Finn  was  born  in  County 
Wicklow,  Ireland,  December  26,  1829.  Some  nine 
years  afterward  his  parents,  following  the  great 
stream  of  emigration,  went  to  Canada  with*  their 
family  of  four  children,  Stephen  being  the  youngest. 
They  settled  in  the  county  of  Kent,  and  commenced 
anew  the  struggle  for  a  home.  A  rigorous  climate, 
lands  to  be  cleared  of  trees,  and  buildings  to  be 
erected,  made  this  a  laborious  task,  but  young  Finn 
did  not  flinch  from  the  trial,  but  stayed  by  his  parents 
until  the  coming  of  age,  acquiring  the  habits  of  in 
dustry  and  self-reliance  which  proved  so  valuable  in 
the  State  of  his  adoption. 

On  the  sixteenth  day  of  February,  1852,  he  mar 
ried  Miss  Catherine  Martin,  a  native  of  Canada,  of 
French  descent,  who  was  born  August  2, 1830.  From 
this  marriage  came  nine  children,  of  whom  six  sur 
vive.  In  1853  Mr.  Finn,  with  his  young  wife,  came 
to  California,  settling  first  in  El  Dorado,  then  known 
as  Mud  Springs.  Their  stay  there  was  short,  how 
ever,  soon  moving  to  this  county,  which  he  made  a 
home  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  or  until 
39 


his   death,  which   occurred  on  February  28,   1880. 

He  was  a  .Roman  Catholic  in  his  religious  opinions, 
but  his  charity  and  hospitality  was  not  limited  by 
church  lines,  all  being  welcomed  to  the  comforts  of 
his  home,  until  the  white  house  under  the  tree  be 
came  famous  for  its  good  cheer.  Easter,  Christmas, 
New  Years,  and  Thanksgiving,  as  well  as  birthdays, 
all  found  a  large  company  of  neighbors  and  friends 
at  his  table. 

He  was  a  good  citizen,  industrious  in  his  business, 
true  to  his  promises,  and  faithful  in  every  position 
in  life. 


L.  J.  FONTENROSE. 

This  gentleman  was  born  September  27,  1850,  of 
Italian  parents,  coming  with  them  to  California 
seven  years  later.  He  received  his  education  in  the 
public  school  of  Sutter  Creek,  carrying  off  a  large 
share  of  the  honors,  being,  in  every  sense  of  the  word, 
but  birth,  a  native  Californian.  His  education  has 
been  supplemented  by  a  liberal  course  of  reading, 
encouraged  by  his  father,  who  early  perceived  the 
advantages  of  education  to  a  citizen  of  the  Republic. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  entered  a  mercantile  house, 
which  position  he  retained  until  he  was  twenty-one, 
when  he  abandoned  that  business  and  engaged  in 
quartz  mining,  running  an  engine  most  of  the  time. 
At  the  death  of  his  father,  five  years  later,  he 
returned  to  his  home  and  took  charge  of  the  busi 
ness  until  1879,  when  he  was  appointed  Deputy 
County  Clerk,  a  position  he  was  especially  qualified 
to  fill.  At  the  county  election  held  in  1880,  he  was 
chosen  to  the  same  position  which  he  still  retains. 
He  is  a  trusty,  patient,  pains-taking  man,  and  wins 
the  confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  has  business. 


MARGARET  FOSTER. 

The  lady  referred  to  in  the  following  sketch  is  a 
native  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  having  been  born  in 
Madison  county  on  the  15th  of  February,  1818.  Her 
lite  was  passed  in  her  native  State  until  the  year 
1852,  at  which  time  she,  in  company  with  her  hus 
band,  crossed  the  plains  to  California  and  settled  in 
Amador  county.  She  was  married  February  14, 
1842,  to  Claiborne  Foster,  who  departed  this  life  at 
the  place  where  his  widow  still  resides,  September  6, 
1876.  Being  left  alone  in  the  world  with  the  excep 
tion  of  her  two  children,  Mrs.  Foster  managed  the 
businen-s  and  ranch  in  a  very  creditable  manner  to 
herself.  She  has  conducted  a  hotel  for  the  weary 
traveler  and  teamster  for  some  years,  and  it  is  a 
pleasure  to  become  an  inmate  of  her  hospitable 
home.  Her  ranch  is  beautifully  situated  in  the 
mountains  six  miles  from  Volcano,  on  the  old  emi 
grant  road,  and  contains  three  hundred  acres  of 
choice  land*  Her  union  with  Mr.  Foster  was  blessed 
with  two  children,  both  girls,  who  are  married,  and 
each  have  families  of  their  own. 


306 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


JOHN  II.  GRAMBART 

Was  born  July  22,  1830,  near  Bremerhaven,  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Hanover.  He  came  to  New  York  in 
October,  1845,  and  to  California,  via  Panama,  in 
1853,  arriving  in  San  Francisco  on  the  anniversary 
of  Washington's  birthday.  He  came  to  Drytown 
soon  after,  and  engaged  in  the  retail  dry  goods  and 
grocery  business  with  J.  C.  Williams.  He  was 
married  August  15,  I860,  to  Miss  E.  D.  Wells, 
daughter  of  Mr.  H.  Wells,  of  Amador  Crossing. 
They  have  one  child,  a  boy,  thirteen  years  of  age. 
Ho  purchased  the  Central  House  in  company  with 
his  father-in-law,  Mr.  H.  Wells,  February  4,  1863. 
This  is  one  of  the  best  known  places  in  the  county, 
occupying  a  central  position  on  the  lines  of  travel. 
It  can  hardly  be  surpassed  for  natural  scenery  and 
beauty  of  location,  having  an  extended  view  of  Sac 
ramento  valley  and  the  western  part  of  the  State. 


CHARLES  GREEN 

Is  a  native  of  Ohio,  having  been  born  in  Licking 
county,  December  5,  1830,  in  which  State  he 
resided  until  1850,  when  he  emigrated,  coming  to 
California.  His  first  halt  was  made  in  Sacramento, 
when,  attracted  by  the  rich  bottom-lands  and  beau 
tiful  crops,  he  went  to  farming,  raising  stock,  hay 
and  grain.  He  sold  out  in  1852,  and  moved  to  Yolo 
county,  engaging  in  much  the  same  business,  where 
he  again  stayed  about  two  years.  Like  almost 
every  one,  he  had  to  try  his  luck  in  the  mines,  and 
mined  two  years  at  Salmon  Falls,  on  the  American 
river.  In  1862  he  went  to  Folsom  and  became 
interested  in  a  large  flouring  mill,  which  he  ran  for 
three  years.  He  then  went  out  on  the  line  of  the 
Central  Pacific  railway,  in  the  interest  of  T.  II. 
Carroll  &  Co.  He  again  turned  to  the  mines,  and  in 
1870  located  in  Amador  county,  looking  for  two  and 
a  half  years  after  the  property  of  the  Sacramento 
and  Amador  Canal  Company.  In  1872  he  went  into 
the  employment  of  the  Phoenix  Mill  and  Mining 
Comp:my,  then  controlled  by  the  Hoopers,  as  super 
intendent  of  the  ditch,  and  was  finally  made  foreman 
of  the  mill,  and  eventually  superintendent.  His 
incumbency  was  marked  by  a  great  development  of 
all  the  works  about  the  mine,  until  it  became  the 
most  extensive  in  the  county.  Ho  was  married, 
June  23,  1878,  to  Miss  E.  M.  Russell,  a  native  of 
Illinois,  having  been  born  September  19,  1848,  in 
the  town  of  Fillmore,  Cole  county.  Mr.  Green  has 
a  beautiful  residence  with  pleasant  surroundings, 
situated  on  a  gentle  eminence  overlooking  the  town 
of  Plymouth,  a  large  portion  of  the  western  part 
of  the  county,  and  part  of  the  Sacramento  valley. 
His  family  at  this  time,  1881,  is  himself,  wife  and 
one  child. 

I.  B.  GREGORY 

Was  born  in  Sumner  county,  Tennessee,  April  5, 
1819,  and  for  the  succeeding  thirteen  years  remained 


a  resident  of  that  State.  His  advantages  for  obtain 
ing  an  education  were  somewhat  limited,  but  he 
managed,  by  energy  and  close  attention  to  his  studies, 
to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  common  branches,  to 
which  ho  added,  in  after  years,  a  large  amount  of 
practical  knowledge,  which  places  him  on  a  firm  basis 
in  that  direction.  In  1832  he  removed  from  Ten 
nessee  to  the  State  of  Missouri,  where  he  remained 
until  1846,  at  which  time  he  went  to  Texas,  and  for 
about  three  years  was  a  resident  of  that  State.  In 
1849  he  again  emigrated,  this  time  to  Iowa,  and 
stayed  there  three  years,  and  then  returned  to  Mis 
souri.  One  year  later  he  started  for  California  by 
way  of  the  plains,  and  after  experiencing  the  usual 
incidents  connected  with  such  a  trip,  reached  his 
objective  point  and  located  at  lone  City,  Amador 
county,  where  he  followed  the  occupation  of  con 
tractor  and  builder.  In  1862  Mr  Gregory  was 
elected  a  Supervisor  of  his  district,  serving  in  that 
position  about  three  years.  In  1867-68,  he  rep 
resented  his  people  in  the  Assembly  of  the  State 
Legislature,  in  a  very  creditable  manner  to  himself 
and  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his  constituents,  and 
was  solicited  to  again  accept  the  nomination  for  the 
same  office,  but  declined.  Mr.  Gregory  possesses  the 
enviable  distinction  of  being  almost  the  only  man  ever 
elected  to  office  in  the  county  who  did  not  urge  his 
canvass  with  whisky.  Some  years  since  he  joined  a 
temperance  society,  the  secretary  of  which  firmly 
pasted  the  two  sheets  containing  his  signature  and 
pledge,  together,  in  consequence  of  which  he  cannot 
erase  his  name,  and  still  feels  bound  by  the  obliga 
tion.  His  honor  and  integrity  are  the  brightest 
jewels  in  his  character.  About  three  years  since  he 
removed  from  lone  City  to  his  present  home  in  Jack 
son  valley,  a  view  of  which  is  to  be  found  in  this 
volume.  Mr.  Gregory  was  married  to  Miss  Martha 
Jane  McMurry,March2, 1843;  nine  children  are  living 
at  the  present  time  to  bless  their  union,  one  being 
laid  to  rest  to  meet  them  no  more  on  earth. 


A.  C.  HAM 

Was  born  on  the  Licking  river  in  Kentucky  in  1841. 
Soon  after  the  family  removed  to  Illinois,  where  they 
resided  until  1855,  when  they  came  to  California, 
joining  the  father,  J.  C.  Ham,  the  extensive  con 
tractor  and  builder,  who  had  preceded  them  some 
years.  They  made  their  re>idence  at  Aqueduct  City, 
the  headquarters  of  some  of  the  largest  enterprises 
of  the  senior  member  of  the  family.  Young  Hum 
soon  "struck  out"  for  nimself,  engaging  in  mining 
and  other  business.  On  the  opening  of  the  Amador 
wagon  road  our  friend  established  a  hotel,  culled 
Ham's  Station,  about  twenty  miles  above  Volcano, 
which  he  managed  for  some  years,  but  which  since 
the  building  of  the  larger  hotel  at  Aqueduct  City,  he 
has  left  to  the  management  of  an  agent.  Mr.  Ham 
has  now  become  sole  owner  of  the  Modoc  mine,  in 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


307 


the  Pioneer  district.  The  mine  bids  fair  to  take  its 
place  among  the  bullion  producers  of  the  Pacific 
coast.  Persons  wishing  for  a  few  days'  rural  amuse 
ment  in  a  romantic  valley  will  do  well  to  make  Mr. 
Ham's  place  their  headquarters,  as  he  is  familiar 
with  all  the  resorts  of  the  grizzlies  and  other  game. 


FRANKLIN  HERMAN. 

The  subject  of  the  following  sketch  is  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  having  been  born  in  Franklin  county, 
February  27,  1830.  When  five  years  of  age  he 
removed  with  his  parents  to  the  wilds  of  Ohio,  where 
he  remained  until  he  entered  the  army,  and  engaged 
in  the  war  with  Mexico.  His  education  was  received 
in  the  common  schools,  and  leaving  school  and 
friends  at  such  an  early  age,  he  was  necessarily 
deprived  of  advantages  in  that  line.  He,  however, 
obtained  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  common 
branches,  and  with  his  one  year's  service  in  the  army 
placed  himself  on  a  fair  footing  with  many  who 
received  more  advantageous  schooling. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service  he  returned 
to  Ohio,  where  he  remained  about  two  years.  He 
was  married  when  quite  young  to  Mi^s  Mary  G. 
Dreisbach,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  soon  after  started 
with  his  bride  for  the  Pacific  coast,  and  located  at 
Shasta  in  1853,  where  he  remained  about  four 
months.  He  is  by  trade  a  blacksmith,  a  business  he 
has  followed  during  all  his  life  on  this  coast.  Upon 
leaving  Shasta  he  settled  at  Sutler  Creek,  Amador 
county,  where  he  has  since  resided. 

Mr.  Herman  is  at  the  present  time  engaged  by  the 
Mahoney  Mining  Company,  as  a  true  son  of  Vulcan. 
He  has  very  few  superiors,  and  is  withal  a  gentleman 
in  whom  repose  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all 
who  know  him.  His  family  consists  of  himself,  wife 
and  two  children,  a  son  and  daughter. 


R.  S.  AND  J.  M.  HINKSON 

Are  natives  of  Washington  county,  Missouri,  where 
they  resided  until  1849,  when  they  crossed  the  plains 
with  the  extentlve  family  of  that  name,  with  their 
connections  by  marriage,  the  Boones.  They  located 
at  Drytovvn,  on  the  north  side  of  the  creek,  in  what 
was  soon  after  El  Dorado  county,  Dry  creek  being 
the  dividing  line.  Few  families  have  been  better 
known  than  the  Ilinksons.  They  were  the  fir^t  to 
open  and  develop  the  Potosi  mine.  The  elderly 
Hinkson  did  more,  perhaps,  to  restrain  arid  culm  the 
anger  of  the  people  during  the  terrible  affair  of 
August,  1855,  than  any  other  man,  his  age  and  rep 
utation  being  appreciated  by  the  honest,  though  hasty 
miners.  The  two  sons  whose  names  are  at  the  head 
of  this  article,  came  to  Volcano  in  Ifc79,  and  engaged 
in  the  livery  business,  which  they  are  still  carrying 
on.  They  run  a  stage  line  to  Jackson  and  al^o  have 
a  mail  contract  between  Jackson  and  Volcano,  and 


al*o  carry  the  express  for  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  and 
do  an  express  business  on  their  own  account.  They 
both  have  families  residing  in  Volcano.  The  Hink- 
eons  are  reckoned  among  the  solid,  reliable  men  of 
the  county. 


FRANK  HOFFMAN 

AVas  born  April  18,  1827,  in  Evarsdorf,  in  Germany, 
coming  to  America  at  the  early  age  of  sixteen,  New 
Orleans  being  his  first  residence.  After  remaining 
here  three  months  he  went  to  St.  Louis,  in  Missouri, 
where  he  remained  seven  years,  engaged  in  the 
butchering  business.  In  1850  he  fell  into  the  big 
column  of  immigration  and  crossed  the  plains  to  Cal 
ifornia,  reaching  Mud  Springs  (El  Dorado)  among 
the  earliest.  Here  he  followed  the  same  business  as 
in  St.  Louis  until  the  following  Spring,  in  company 
with  John  P.  Hoffman,  now  living  near  Ukiah  City. 
In  the  Spring  he  went  to  Grass  Valley  and  started 
business  there,  continuing  in  it  for  about  six  months, 
when  he  sold  out  and  went  to  the  Missouri  House, 
near  Auburn,  where  he  remained  about  six  months. 
Mokelumne  river  was  his  next  location,  settling  on  a 
ranch,  and  remaining  about  four  years.  While  en 
gaged  in  ranching  with  a  partner,  they  started  a 
livery  stable  at  Mokelumne  Hill,  but  not  being  satis 
fied  with  it,  they  abandoned  the  project,  but  started 
in  the  following  season  the  same  business  at  Jackson, 
which  venture  proved  profitable  and  permanent,  for 
the  business  has  been  continued  in  the  same  place  to 
the  present  day. 

He  was  married  in  1862  to  Miss  Christina  Clem. 
They  have  no  children. 

He  has  a  well-equipped  stable,  fine  residence,  and 
a  highly  cultivated  farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres,  adjoining  the  town  of  Jackson.  He  is  one  of 
the  solid  men  of  the  county,  who  was  willing  to  wrest 
wealth  out  of  the  chaos  of  early  days,  with  hard 
work  and  close  attention  to  business,  and  who  did 
it  too. 


JAMES  H.  HOLMAN 

Was  born  in  the  town  of  Versailles,  Indiana,  Febru 
ary  18,  1831,  residing  there  until  he  was  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  acquiring  the  education  and  business 
habits  which  has  served  him  to  such  good  purpose 
in  California.  The  great  wave  of  gold  fever,  which 
swept  over  the  country  in  1852,  took  him  from  the 
parent  home,  and  March  1st  we  find  him  among  the 
crowd,  driving  an  ox-team  and  plodding  his  weary 
way  across  the  plains  towards  the  sunset.  The  long 
est  journey  must  have  an  end,  and  August  7th  he 
looked  down  into  the  Hangtown  (Placerville)  basin, 
famous  for  murder,  hanging  and  gambling,  as  well  as 
its  rich  placers.  What  a  contrast  then  with  now  ; 
then  Lucky  Bill  was  coining  money  on  the  streets,  a 
meal  of  bread,  tough  steak  and  black  coffee  was 
worth  a  dollar,  and  Coon  Hollow  was  giving  up  its 


308 


HISTORY  OF  AHADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


millions  to  thq^e  who  would  dig.  The  oldest  Yula 
Dammer  would  say  that  it  was  a  "  right  peert  place  ;  " 

now ?     He  followed   mining  for  two  years  and 

then  went  to  teaming,  a  business  which  he  has  fol 
lowed  extensively  to  the  present  time,  latterly  for  the 
Empire  Mining  and  Mill  Company  at  Plymouth.  In 
1856  he  located  at  Fiddletown  (Oleta)  where  he 
remained  for  five  or  six  years.  In  1870  he  located  on 
his  present  ranch  one  mile  and  a  half  west  of  the  town 
of  Plymouth,  and  commenced  making  a  permanent 
home.  His  farm  contains  160  acres  of  highly  im 
proved  land.  In  connection  with  farming  and  team 
ing  he  has  raised  stock  of  all  kinds.  He  enjoys  the 
confidence  of  the  community  and  has  held  several 
responsible  offices.  He  was  married  August  4,  1856, 
to  Miss  Catherine  Ashby,  a  native  of  Illinois,  by 
whom  he  had  one  child,  not  now  living.  Mr.  Hoi- 
man's  surroundings  are  pleasant  and  comfortable,  a 
good  place  to  anchor  to,  after  the  hurry -skttrry  of 
thirty  years  of  excitement  and  labor. 


JOHN  HOSLEY. 

"I  knew  him,  Horatio;  a  fellow  of  infinite  jest,  of 
most  excellent  fancy."  Who  does  not  know  John; 
"  rough,  but  generous,  brave  and  kind."  He  has 
played  more  jokes,  said  more  pithy  things,  and  spent 
and  given  away  more  money  than  any  other  man  of 
his  inches  or  avoirdupois  in  the  county,  if  not  in 
the  State.  The  good  jokes  and  sayings  of  his  would 
fill  a  book,  and  make  interesting  reading,  too.  His 
love  of  fun  is  the  strongest  element  in  his  character. 
Sample  No.  1  of  a  lot :  A  number  of  San  Francisco 
mining  sharps  had  been  to  Washoe  in  an  early  day, 
and  returning  with  sacks  of  ore  from  newly-dis 
covered  mines,  stopped  at  his  place.  He  listened  to 
their  speculations  about  the  value  of  this  and  that 
package  of  ore,  and  after  they  had  gone  to  bed. 
judiciously  exchanged  ores,  putting  in  those  he  knew 
to  be  first-class.  They  continued  their  way  to  San 
Francisco,  and  hastened  to  put  their  specimens  in  the 
hands  of  the  assayers.  Their  most  extravagant 
hopes  were  realized.  The  ores  assayed  up  into 
thousands.  Companies  were  formed,  the  mines  pur 
chased,  and  the  expectant  millionaires  started  back 
in  all  haste  to  take  possession  and  make  their  for 
tunes,  but  no  ores  of  the  same  sort  were  found. 
When  they  related  the  circumstances,  they  had  the 
comforting  remark  that  they  were  sold  by  old  John, 
whereat  they  went  home  wiser,  but  not  wealthier 
men. 

He  was  born  in  Yorkshire,  England,  July  14, 1825, 
emigrating  when  about  ten  years  of  age.  He  first 
lived  in  Canada,  but  afterwards  in  Yermont,  coming 
to  California  in  1849  among  the  pioneers.  He  lived 
at  Mokelumne  Hill  for  some  years,  and  ran  the  first 
ferry-boat  that  was  established  on  the  river,  it  being 
at  first  only  a  dug-out.  He  enlarged  it  to  a  plank- 
boat,  capable  of  carrying  three  or  four  passengers, 


and  finally  sold  out,  having  made  all  the  money  he 
wanted.  Dr.  Sober  soon  afterwards  purchased  the 
same  institution  for  twelve  thousand  dollars,  and 
expending  some  thirty  thousand  dollars  more,  inaugu 
rated  the  Big  Bar  bridge.  John  was  present  at  the 
birth  of  Mokelumne  Hill,  knew  all  its  crooked  habits; 
kew  all  the  defaulting  treasurers,  sheriffs,  and  tax- 
collectors;  can  tell  more  yarns  of  their  doings  than 
they  or  their  friends  will  like  to  have  recorded.  He 
has  made  many  rich  discoveries  in  quartz  and  placer, 
but  money  would  never  stick  to  his  fingers  long 
enough  to  stain  them  a  bit.  What  he  had  belonged 
to  all  his  friends,  and  their  name  was  legion.  As  the 
country  became  settled  up,  and  the  free,  flu^h  times 
of  '49  became  impossible,  he  retreated  into  the 
mountains,  and  is  now  manager  and  proprietor  of 
the  toll-road  leading  over  the  mountains  from  Ante 
lope  Springs  to  Kirkwood's  and  Carson  valleys.  He 
has  a  nice  place  some  nine  miles  east  of  Yolcano, 
where  we  advise  all  to  repair  who  wish  to  catch  a 
whiff  of  pioneer  times,  or  get  materials  for  a  book 
of  fun. 


JOHN  W.  HUTCHINS 

Is  a  native  of  the  State  of  Maine,  and  was  born  in 
Hermon,  Penobscot  county,  June  24,  1828.  His 
father  was  one  of  the  principal  farmers  and 
lumber-dealers  of  that  section  of  the  country,  and 
our  subject  was  trained  to  those  callings  during 
his  early  life.  He  received  a  common  school  edu 
cation,  and  in  1853  cut  loose  from  the  ties  that 
bound  him  to  his  native  town,  and  sought  his 
fortune  in  the  far  West.  During  the  last-named 
year  he  arrived  in  California,  and  for  ten  years  was 
engaged  in  mining  in  Amador  county.  In  1863  he 
entered  the  United  States  Army  as  a  member  of  the 
seventh  regiment,  California  Volunteers,  and  served 
as  a  soldier  for  about  eighteen  months.  His  service 
was  principally  in  Arizona,  a  country  well  calculated 
to  destroy  the  ambition  of  the  most  valiant  and 
patriotic  of  our  boys  in  blue.  After  his  discharge 
from  the  service  he  returned  to  Clinton,  where  he 
has  since  resided.  Mr.  Hutchins  has  held  the  office 
of  Justice  of  the  Peace,  being  elected  in  1856  and  '57,  a 
position  he  creditably  filled.  The  history  of  his  suc 
cesses  and  reverses  in  fortune  would  fill  an  ordinary 
volume.  He  is  unmarried. 


W.  C.  JONES 

Was  born  in  Lewis  county,  Missouri,  April  1,  1834, 
where  he  spent  his  boyhood  until  he  was  eighteen 
years  of  ago.  Being  of  an  energetic  temperament, 
he  broke  away  from  the  comforts  of  home  and  made 
his  way  to  the  land  of  gold,  by  way  of  the  plains, 
arriving  in  Diamond  Springs,  El  Dorado  county,  Sep 
tember  30,  1852,  where  he  remained  engaged  in  min 
ing  until  1857,  when  he  removed  to  Amador  county. 
He  was  married  October  11,  1857,  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth 


ISAAC  LEPLEV 


,  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY^ 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


309 


Kelley,  by  whom  he  has  had  six  children,  four  of 
whom  are  now  living.  He  takes  naturally  to  keep 
ing  hotel,  having  been  mostly  engaged  in  that  busi 
ness  since  his  residence  in  the  county.  All  the  trav 
elers  on  the  road  in  1859-60  will  remember  the  com 
forts  of  the  Revere  House  under  his  management. 
He  recently  purchased  a  tract  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  among  the  romantic  hills,  two  and  one- 
half  miles  east  of  lone,  which  he  is  fitting  up  as  a 
pleasant  stopping  place,  and  as  a  resort  for  persons 
seeking  rest  and  amusement.  The  character  of  his 
improvements  will  be  best  learned  from  the  fine 
engraving  of  them  which  accompanies  this  volume. 


THOMAS  KERR 

Was  born  in  1843  in  Crawford  county,  Pennsylvania, 
where  he  remained  until  he  was  fourteen  years  of 
age,  during  which  time  he  took  advantage  of  such 
opportunities  of  informing  his  mind  as  the  place 
afforded.  He  came  to  California  in  1860,  locating  at 
once  in  the  town  of  Amador  which  he  has  since  made 
his  home.  For  a  few  years  he  engaged  in  freighting1, 
the  immense  quantities  of  timber  and  other  supplies 
needed  in  the  heavy  mining  around  the  town,  mak 
ing  that  a  very  extensive  business.  After  four  years 
of  this  kind  of  work  he  engaged  in  the  livery  busi 
ness,  which  he  has  since  followed.  In  1871  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Augusta  Fassett,  a  native  of  Illinois, 
who  died  February  25,  1880.  Have  three  children, 
two  boys  and  one  girl.  Mr.  Kerr  is  a  Californian  in 
spirit  and  fact,  his  active  years  so  far,  having  been 
given  to  the  Golden  State. 


STEPHEN  P.  KIDD 

Was  born  in  Colne,  Lancashire,  England,  in  1825,  liv 
ing  there  until  he  was  twenty-three  years  of  age,  fol 
lowing  the  business  of  landscape  gardener,  seedsman 
and  florist,  callings  for  which  he  had  been  regularly 
educated.  In  1848  he  came  to  the  United  States,  and 
four  years  afterwards  to  California  in  company  with 
the  Surface  family,  who  settled  on  Dry  creek.  In 
the  Summer  after  his  arrival  he  engaged  in  mining  at 
the  old  Winters  Bar,  opposite  Lancha  Plana,  follow 
ing  his  trade  the  following  Summer  on  the  rich  lands 
of  Dry  creek.  Being  naturally  of  a  scientific  turn  of 
mind  he  soon  mastered  all  that  was  known  of  mines 
and  mining,  and  his  advice  became  valuable  in  con 
nection  with  the  mines  afterwards  discovered  in 
Nevada,  some  of  the  most  extensive  and  profitable 
ventures  in  that  State  being  inaugurated  by  him. 
The  fine,  artistic  plans  on  the  Edwards  place,  now 
owned  by  Younglove.  was  the  result  of  his  skill  as  a 
landscape  gardener.  After  spending  some  years  in 
the  Nevada  mines  he  finally  settled  down  on  a  beau 
tiful  place  in  Jackson  valley  to  make  a  home  for  his 
young  and  interesting  family,  he  having  married 
Miss  Mary  M.  Goodding  December  13, 1870;  but  God 


disposes.     In  the  midst  of  his  projects  he  was  taken 
sick,  and  on  Sunday  eve  he  breathed  his  last. 

As  a  man  Mr.  Kidd  was  quiet  and  unassuming, 
always  cheerful,  with  a  kindly  word  for  all.  In  his 
business  relations  he  was  exact  and  reliable,  manag 
ing  with  justice  and  discretion.  Nature  forms  but 
few  such  men. 


MERWIN  LEACH 

Was  born  in  Franklin  county,  Vermont,  in  1837,  and 
came  across  the  plains  in  1860,  bringing  up  in 
Amador  City,  where  he  lived  for  ten  years.  In 
1870  he  went  to  Plymouth,  residing  there  for  one 
year;  thence  to  Church  Union  mines  in  El  Dorado 
county  for  two  years;  thence  to  Kelsey,  where  he 
remained  until  April  18.  1881,  when  he  returned  to 
Plymouth,  and  purchased  a  half-interest  in  the  storo 
of  Thompson  Davis,  with  whom  he  has  since 
remained.  He  is  not  married  at  the  time  of  this 
writing. 


ISAAC  LEPIVE?. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  no  personal  his 
tory  of  this  distinguished  inventor.  We  can  only 
form  an  opinion  of  his  early  days  by  the  fruits  of  his 
matured  mind  and  judgment.  Those  who  are  famil 
iar  with  mining  will  appreciate  the  value  of  the 
machine  at  sight.  For  the  information  of  many  of 
our  readers  who  have  never  seen  a  mine,  we  may 
explain  that  thousands  of  framed  timbers  are  put 
into  the  mines;  some  to  secure  the  walls  from  com! n^ 

'  n 

together  when  the  vein  matter  is  extracted;  some  to 
secure  the  passages  from  one  part  of  the  mine  to  the 
other,  in  short,  timber  is  wanted  everywhere,  with 
mortises  and  corresponding  tenons  or  slots,  as  the 
case  may  be.  In  a  building  every  stick  is  planned 
beforehand;  a  hundred  men  may  work  at  the  differ 
ent  parts,  but  in  a  mine  no  one  knows  what  is  wanted 
until  the  emergency  comes.  The  bell  rings;  an  order 
comes  for  a  timber  of  certain  dimensions  with  tenons 
and  slots;  the  safety  of  the  mine,  perhaps  of  human 
lives,  depends  upon  having  it  immediately.  Some 
times  dozens  of  carpenters  are  kept  in  waiting  for 
such  emergencies;  when  the  order  comes  they  jump 
on  a  log  and  work  as  if  at  a  fire;  but  haste  and  want 
of  space  makes  confusion,  and  liability  of  mistakes 
and  accidents.  The  automatic  timber-framing 
machine  is  equal  to  a  dozen  carpenters.  The  pow 
erful  cutting  head,  which,  by  means  of  hand  screws, 
is  easily  handled,  bends  down  to  the  log  and  rapidly 
chips  a  tenon  or  a  slot,  cutting  a  bevel  or  a  circle  at 
the  will  of  the  operator;  makes  a  mortise,  enlarges 
it  to  the  required  dimensions,  and  in  a  moment  the 
piece  goes  whizzing  down  the  shaft  a  thousand  feet, 
ready  to  go  in  where  the  cracking  timbers  and 
crumbling  rocks  indicate  a  coming  disaster,  and  the 
danger  is  averted.  The  following  description,  with 
accompanying  engraving,  from  the  Scientific  and 
Mining  Press,  will  be  read  with  pleasure  : — 


310 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Isaac  Lepley,  of  Amador  City,  Amador  county, 
has  recently  invented  a  novel  piece  of  mechanism, 
which  is  intended  for  the  framing  of  timbers  of  all 
kinds,  which  are  to  be  joined  together.  One  of  the 
machines  is  now  in  operation  at  the  Keystone  Con 
solidated  mine,  Amador. 

The  invention  consists  in  the  employment  of  a  cut 
ter  head  or  heads,  which  are  caused  to  rotate  upon  a 
suitable  frame,  and  this  frame  is  moved  both  verti 
cally  and  horizontally  by  means  of  slides  and  guides, 
so  that  the  cutters  may  be  carried  across  the  timbers 
upon  either  one  or  all  four  sides  to  form  a  tenon,  dove 
tail,  or  other  cut;  and  if  desired,  a  round  tenon  may 
be  formed  by  the  use  of  a  link  which  has  one  end 
fixed  to  the  frame,  so  that  the  slides  will  move  in  a 
manner  to  carry  the  tool  around  in  a  circle. 

In  the  engraving,  A  represents  the  cutter  head, 
which  is  caused  to  rotate  upon  its  shaft  by  a  belt  to 
the  pulley,  B,  so  that  the  cutter  acts  as  a  planer.  It 
may  be  of  sufficient  height  for  the  tenon  to  be  cut, 
or  by  moving  the  timber  or  carriage  the  length  de 
sired  may  be  cut  at  two  or  more  operations.  Its 
shaft  is  journaled  at  the  top  of  a  frame,  C.  This 
frame  is  moved  up  and  down  in  guides  upon  the 
frame,  E,  by  means  of  friction  rollers,  F,  which  press 
against  a  vertical  central  bar,  A",  which  extends  par 
allel  with  the  frame,  C.  These  rollers,  F,  are  driven 
by  pinions  upon  their  shafts,  and  a  hand  wheel  or 
other  device  upon  a  main  shaft  at  the  end  of  the 
machine,  as  shown. 

The  frame,  £,  is  also  adapted  to  move  horizontally 
upon  the  main  frame,  G,  by  means  of  similar  gearing 
to  that  which  moves  the  frame,  (7,  and  by  these  two 
motions,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  cutters  may  be 
moved  in  any  direction.  The  log  is  laid  upon  a  car 
riage  with  its  end  near  the  frame,  and  its  height  is 
BO  adjusted,  that  when  the  frame,  E,  is  moved  across 
horizontally,  the  revolving  cutters  will  be  carried 
across,  so  as  to  make  a  cut  to  the  depth  desired. 


The  frame,  C,  is  then  moved  downward,  and  the 
cutters  will  cut  the  vertical  face  upon  one  side.  The 
frame,  C,  then  remains  stationary,  while  the  frame, 
E,  is  moved  horizontally  backward  upon  the  guides 
on  the  main  frame,  and  the  cutters  will  complete  the 
lower  part  of  the  tenon.  The  frame,  E,  is  then  held 
stationary  and  the  frame,  C,  is  again  moved  upward, 
so  that  the  cutters  will  be  carried  upward  across  the 
remaining  side,  and  the  tenon  will  be  finished. 

The  cutters  are  blades  secured  to  a  head  similar  to 
those  used  upon  planer-heads,  but  in  order  to  make 
the  vertical  cut  at  the  inner  end  of  the  tenon  so  that 
it  will  present  a  clean,  square  surface,  sliding  plates 
are  fitted  to  move  in  grooves  on  the  end  of  the  planer- 
head.  Their  outer  ends  are  toothed,  or  formed  so  as 
to  make  the  proper  cut,  and  they  are  held  in  place 
by  set-screws. 

In  order  to  allow  the  cutter  shaft  and  its  driving 
pulley  to  move  in  the  directions  and  to  the  distances 
as  described,  the  belt  which  drives  it  is  carried  over 
tightening  pulleys,  suitably  arranged  in  sliding 
frames  with  weights. 

The  tenons  here  described  are  those  which  are 
usually  made  upon  the  ends  of  timbers  in  timbering 
up  mines.  The  timbers  are  united,  and  these  tenons 
allow  the  timbers  to  be  properly  set  together.  It 
will  be  obvious,  however,  that  this  apparatus  r~_ay  be 
employed  to  make  any  kind  of  a  cut  on  a  timber,  or 
to  square  up  the  ends  of  timber,  as  the  cutter  may 
be  moved  in  any  direction  required.  Upon  the  end 
of  the  cutter  shaft,  opposite  the  planer-head,  is  a 
peculiarly  shaped  boring  and  cutting  tool,  J,  which 
is  intended  to  form  mortises  either  in  the  sides  or  ends 
of  timbers.  The  end  of  this  tool  is  nearly  flat,  but  is 
provided  with  a  cutting  bit,  which  enables  it  to  enter 
the  timber  as  far  as  may  be  desired. 

The  sides  of  the  tool  (which  is  cylindrical  in  shape) 
are  cutaway  so  as  to  form  an  enclosed  cutting  edge, 
and  after  it  has  entered  the  timber  far  enough  to  give 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


311 


the  required  depth,  the  frame,  E,  may  be  moved  upon 
the  frame,  (?,  where  the  side  cutter  will  cut  away 
the  wood  until  the  mortise  is  as  long  as  desired. 
The  same  style  of  cutter  may  be  employed  to  form 
what  is  termed  the  boxing,  or  the  depression  which 
is  cut  across  the  timber  equal  to  the  length  of  the 
mortise,  to  receive  the  foot -of  the  timber  which  is 
tenoned  to  fit  the  mortise. 

The  tenon  to  fit  the  mortise  is  formed  by  the  cut 
ter,  A,  in  the  same  manner  as  has  been  described, 
except  that  the  ends  must  be  rounded  to  fit  the  ends 
of  the  mortise,  which  may  be  left  curved  by  the 
tool,  J.  In  order  to  make  these  rounded  ends  to 
the  tenon,  it  is  necessary  to  produce  a  compound 
motion  of  the  two  frames,  C  and  1?,  one  of  which,  as 
before  described,  moves  vertically,  while  the  other 
moves  horizontally. 

This  compound  motion  is  produced  by  the  aid  of 
the  arm,  A',  which  has  one  end  pivoted  to  the  side  of 
the  vertically  moving  frame,  C.  The  opposite  end  is 
adapted  to  slip  into  a  slot  in  a  block,  L,  which  is  piv 
oted  to  a  slide,  J/,  this  slide  moving  in  a  slot  in  the 
bar,  N,  which  extends  from  end  to  end  of  the  frame, 
G,  and  inside  the  frames,  E  and  G '.  Two  stops,  0,  are 
fitted  to  be  moved  to  or  from  each  other  by  the  long 
right  and  left  sere vv,  P,  these  stops  having  projections 
which  enter  the  slot  in  the  bar,  iV,  and  they  serve  to 
limit  the  motion  of  the  slide,  J/,  and  block,  L.  When 
a  tenon  is  to  be  made  with  rounded  ends,  the  bar  or 
arm,  A",  is  slipped  through  the  slot  in  the  block,  L, 
and  is  secured  by  a  set  screw.  This  arm  is  secured 
at  a  distance  from  the  point  about  which  the  arm 
turns,  equal  to  half  the  thickness  of  the  proposed 
tenon,  added  to  the  whole  diameter  of  the  cutter- 
head,  as  the  latter  must  pass  all  around  the  tenon. 
The  stops,  0,  are  adjusted  by  turning  the  screw,  P, 
until  they  are  at  a  distance  apart  equal  to  the  width 
of  the  tenon  to  be  made,  plus  the  diameter  of  the 
cutter-head. 

The  operation  will  thus  be  as  follows:  The  frame, 
C.  being  set  at  a  point  which  will  allow  the  cutter  to 
form  the  top  of  the  tenon,  the  frame,  E,  is  moved 
horizontally  upon  the  main  frame,  G,  until  the  slide, 
Af,  has  moved  the  distance  between  the  stops,  0. 
This  carries  the  cutter  across  the  top  of  the  tenon  to 
the  point  where  the  curve  of  one  side  or  edge  com 
mences.  From  this  point  the  frame,  6',  is  moved 
downward,  and  the  frame,  E,  horizontally,  the  arm, 
1C,  acting  as  the  radius  or  link  to  hold  the  frames  in 
their  relative  positions  and  cutter  to  its  work,  until  it 
has  passed  around  the  side,  and  formed  the  curve  at 
that  part  of  the  tenon.  The  arm,  A',  having  then 
passed  around  its  pivot  to  form  a  half  circle,  the  frame, 
C,  is  allowed  to  remain  stationary,  and  the  frame,  J&,  is 
moved  along  to  allow  the  cutter  to  form  the  bottom 
of  the  tenon,  the  slide,  M,  moving  the  distance 
between  the  stops,  0.  From  this  point  the  curve  at 
the  opposite  side  of  the  tenon  is  formed  in  the  same 
manner  as  before  described. 

If  it  is  desired  to  form  a  complete  cylindrical  tenon, 


the  stops,  6>,  are  curved  up  close  to  the  slide,  M,  the 
block,  L,  having  been  secured  to  the  arm,  K,  at  a  dis 
tance  from  the  centre  pivot  equal  to  half  the  diame 
ter  of  the  proposed  tenon,  plus  the  diameter  of  the 
cutter,  and  the  frames,  C  and  JE,  are  then  moved 
simultaneously,  so  as  to  produce  a  compound  move 
ment,  the  resultant  of  which  will  be  to  form  a  cylin 
drical  tenon. 

This  machine  is  applicable  to  work  upon  any  form 
of  timber,  and  make  any  kind  of  a  cut.  The  tool,  J, 
may  be  made  with  cutters  which  can  be  detached 
to  be  sharpened  or  renewed.  Mr.  Lepley,  who  may 
be  addressed  for  further  information,  at  Amador 
City,  has  applied  for  a  patent  for  his  invention 
through  the  Mininy  an!  Scientific  Press  Patent 
Agency. 


JAMES  LESSLEY 

Is  one  of  our  valuable  men  who  go  straight  to  work; 
satisfied  with  moderate  prospects  they  turn  neither 
to  the  right  nor  left,  but  keep  on  with  slow  and  steady 
accumulations  until  they  outstrip  many  who  start  in 
life  with  much  more  brilliant  prospects.  He  was 
born  in  Putnam  county,  Missouri,  February  16,  1840, 
and  came  to  California  with  his  parents  in  1854, 
making  his  home  since  that  time  in  Amador  county. 
His  education  has  been  rather  practical  than  other 
wise,  being  acquired  mostly  in  business  operations. 
He  was  employed  with  a  team  soon  after  coming 
here,  and  in  due  time  acquired  a  team  of  his  own  aud 
engaged  in  the  lumber  trade  until  he  became  one  of 

O      O 

the  principal  dealers  and  manufacturers  in  the 
county.  He  was  married,  August  22,  1869,  to  Miss 
Mary  McGhee.  They  have  seven  children,  two  boys 
and  five  girls. 

M.  J.  LITTLE 

Was  born  in  Bristol,  Lincoln  county,  Maine,  January 
14,  1821,  where  he  resided  until  he  was  fifteen  years 
of  age,  getting  such  education  as  the  town  afforded. 
Like  most  young  men  in  a  maritime  town  he  had  to 
try  his  fortunes  on  the  sea,  going  abroad  on  his  first 
voyage  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  Being  faithful  and 
efficient,  he  was  promoted  from  one  position  to 
another.  In  1844,  we  find  him  second  mate;  in 
1846,  first  mate,  and  two  years  later  in  charge  of 
the  vessel  John  F.  Strout.  As  might  have  been 
expected  of  one  so  ambitious  and  energetic,  the  gold 
excitement  swept  him  off  his  feet,  and  a  few  months 
later  found  him  on  his  way  around  the  Horn  on  the 
brig  Han'/arian,  arriving  in  San  Francisco  April  27, 
1830.  He  remained  in  that  Babel  of  nationalities  but 
one  month;  then  purchasing  a  small  row-boat,  made 
his  way  up  the  Sacramento  and  Feather  rivers  to 
Marysville,  and  from  thence  to  the  Butte  creek 
mines.  From  here  he  soon  returned  to  San  Fran 
cisco,  and  made  another  start  to  the  mines,  this  time 
to  Stephens  Bar,  on  the  Tuolumne  river,  in  Tuolumne 
county,  where  he  engaged  in  mining,  also  in  trading 


312 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


in  general  merchandise  until  1853,  when  he  sold  out 
and  traveled  around  the  mines,  visiting  Mariposa  and 
other  places,  finally  settling  down  in  Jackson  in 
1854,  which  place  he  has  since  made  his  home.  ILe 
followed  mining  until  1863,  when  the  unsurpassed 
fruit  and  other  California  productions  led  him  to 
adopt  agriculture  as  a  calling,  which  he  has  followed 
since.  He  located  at  that  time  the  farm  of  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty-eight  acres  of  land  adjoining  the 
town  of  Jackson.  It  is  pleasantly  situated,  has  a 
fine  orchard  and  vineyard,  with  good  buildings,  and 
has  in  itself  enough  charms  to  satisfy  a  reasonable 
mind,  and  induce  one  to  forego  vo}Tages  and  explora 
tions  and  live  contentedly  under  his  own  vine  and  fig 
tree.  He  was  married,  March  18, 1861,  to  Miss  Mary 
I),  Pope,  of  Sherburne,  Chenango  county,  New  York. 
Mr.  Little  has  the  same  straightforward,  honest 
ways  which  induced  the  owners  of  vessels  to  entrust 
thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  property  to  his  care 
when  he  was  young,  and  enjoys  the  fullest  confidence 
of  the  community. 


ROBERT  LUDGATE 

Was  born  in  the  city  of  Waterford,  Waterford  county, 
Ireland,  September  22,  1833.  He  came  to  New  Or 
leans  while  still  a  boy  and  from  thence  to  California 
in  1850,  settling  a  year  later  in  lone  valley,  which 
place  he  made  his  permanent  residence.  He  was 
engaged  most  of  the  time  in  stock-raising  and  farm 
ing  until  1863,  when  he  became  associated  with  J. 
W.  Surface  in  the  livery  business,  in  which  he  con 
tinued  until  his  death.  In  1877  he  was  elected  to 
represent  the  people  of  Amador  county  in  the  Legis 
lature  of  California.  He  had  been  in  feeble  health 
for  some  years,  and  was  illy  qualified  to  perform  the 
arduous  duties  of  a  Legislator,  but  with  the  consci 
entiousness  and  fidelity  characteristic  of  his  whole 
life,  he  gave  his  unremitting  attention  to  the  business 
until  nature,  overtasked,  gave  way,  and  he  breathed 
his  last  February  15, 1878,  at  ten  o'clock,  having  been 
present  in  his  seat  the  same  day.  The  next  morning, 
after  the  calling  of  the  Assembly  to  order,  the  follow 
ing  resolution  was  offered  by  Mr.  Dunlap,  his  associ 
ate  member  from  the  county,  and  unanimously 
adopted  by  a  rising  vote  : — 

Jiesolved,  By  the  Assembly,  the  Senate  concurring, 
that  a  committee  of  five  members  of  the  Assembly 
be  appointed  by  the  Speaker,  and  five  Senators  be 
appointed  by  the  President  of  the  Senate  to  attend 
the  obsequies  of  the  Honorable  Robert  Ludgate, 
on  Sunday,  the  17th,  at  3  o'clock,  p.  M.,  at  the  town 
of  lone  City,  in  Amador  county,  and  further  that  the 
Assembly  attend  the  funeral  in  a  body. 

Upon  this  resolution  being  received  in  the  Senate 
Chamber  it  was  also  adopted,  the  President  appoint 
ing  Brown  of  Amador,  Craig  of  San  Francisco, 
Rogers  of  San  Francisco,  Brown  of  El  Dorado,  and 
Nunan  of  San  Francisco  a  committee  to  escort  the 
remains  to  the  late  member's  home.  The  committee 


from  the  Assembly  was  Dunlap  of  Amador,  Wheat  of 
Calaveras,  Meyers  of  San  Joaquin,  Miller  of  El  Dorado 
and  Ames  of  San  Matco.  A  resolution  was  also 
passed  to  wear  the  usual  badge  of  mourning  for  thirty 
days,  arid  as  a  mark  of  respect  both  houses  adjourned 
until  the  following  Monday.  In  Sacramento,  the 
Odd  Fellows,  of  which  Body  he  was  a  distinguished 
member,  assembled  at  their  lodges  and  encamp 
ments  and  made  arrangements  to  escort  the  remains 
of  their  late  brother  to  the  train  which  was  to  take 
them  to  the  Amador  branch  of  the  road.  On  Sun 
day  an  immense  cortege,  consisting  of  the  various 
branches  of  the  Odd  Fellows  in  regalia,  members  of 
the  Legislature,  delegation  of  citizens  from  lone,  and 
private  citizens,  accompanied  the  remains  from  the 
hotel  to  the  depot.  At  Gait  the  escort  was  met  by 
the  members  of  the  lone  Lodge  No.  51  and  theremains 
transferred  to  the  cars  running  to  lone,  where  the 
cortege  was  received  by  the  citizens  of  the  county 
generally  and  accompanied  to  the  home  of  the  late 
member.  The  funeral  services  were  observed  the 
following  day  according  to  the  established  form  of 
the  society  of  Odd  Fellows,  the  Rev.  J.  T.  White  act 
ing  as  clergyman,  assisted  by  the  Rev.  E.  Jacka  and 
J.  W.  Huston,  N.  G. 

As  a  man  Mr.  Ludgate  was  upright  in  his  charac 
ter,  warm  in  his  feelings,  strong  in  his  convictions 
and  outspoken  in  his  opinions  ;  a  devoted  husband 
and  father,  and  a  firm,  unwavering  friend.  In  busi 
ness  transactions  his  word  was  a  bond,  as  sacred  as 
though  God  were  called  to  witness.  He  leaves  a 
widow  and  three  children,  one  boy  and  two  girls,  to 
sorrow  for  his  untimely  end,  and  inherit  the  honor 
of  his  untarnished  name.  Her  maiden  name  was 
Mary  O'Brien,  and  they  were  married  November  8, 
1869. 


O.  E.  MARTIN 

Was  born  in  the  town  of  Guilford,  Maine,  May  28, 
1848.  Mr.  Martin  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his 
parents  at  an  early  age,  and  has  no  recollection  of 
the  tender  love  and  care  of  a  mother.  His  grand 
parents  made  the  loss  less  to  him  by  watching  over 
his  young  life,  he  living  with  them  until  he  was 
eighteen  years  of  age,  at  the  town  of  Montville. 
From  there  he  went  to  Boston,  where  he  spent  two 
years  in  the  drug  business.  During  the  next  four 
years  he  lived  in  Kansas,  Missouri,  and  Maine,  or  at 
least  such  portions  of  the  time  as  he  was  not  travel 
ing,  for  the  desire  to  see  the  world  was  as  strong 
in  him  as  in  most  young  men,  and  must  be  gratified 
ere  the  future  business  man  can  settle  down  to  the 
Avork  of  life.  In  January,  1873,  he  left  his  native 
State  for  California,  arriving  in  Sacramento  in 
June,  and  immediately  located  in  the  county  of  Ama- 
cli>r,  at  Sutter  Creek,  where  he  was  engaged  in  the 
milk  business  for  two  or  three  years.  In  1877  he 
was  confidential  clerk  in  the  lumber  establishment  of 


THOMAS   KERR. 


Of  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


313 


Tarr  &  Co.,  which  resulted  in  the  purchase  of  the 
business  with  J.  O.  Bartlett  of  Sutter  Creek. 

At  the  present  time  the  firm  name  is  O.  E.  Martin 
&  Co.,  being  the  only  extensive  dealers  in  lumber  in 
the  town  of  Amador.  The  lumber  is  brought  from 
Tarr's  mill,  which  is  in  the  mountains  twenty-one 
miles  distant. 

Mr.  Martin  was  married  November  16,  1880,  to 
Mrs.  Sarah  E.  Price,  a  native  of  Illinois. 


L.  McLAINE 

Was  born  in  Charlottetown,  Prince  Edward's  Island, 
March  22,  1830,  where  he  remained  until  he  reached 
manhood's  estate.  He  received  a  liberal  education, 
and  in  May,  1850,  bade  farewell  to  his  early  associa 
tions  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  much-talked-of  Cal 
ifornia.  In  October  of  the  same  year  he  located  in 
Volcano,  Amador  county,  and  for  ten  years  followed 
the  usual  occupation  of  those  days.  Ho  also  served 
six  years  as  Supervisor  for  District  No.  2.  In 
1869  he  commenced  business  as  a  banker  and  broker, 
which  he  has  followed  to  the  present  time,  his  pur 
chases  of  gold-dust  and  bullion  often  amounting  to 
twenty  thousand  dollars  per  month.  He  has  an 
assaying  department  connected  with  his  establish 
ment.  He  is  at  present  also  superintendent  of  the 
Consolidated  Amador  Hydraulic  Gold  Mining  and 
Land  Company. 

He  was  married  in  1872;  to  Miss  Sarah  E., 
daughter  of  Dr.  Wm.  Ives,  of  Volcano.  Mrs.  Mc- 
Laine  is  a  native  of  Moorefield,  Hardy  county,  West 
Virginia,  and  was  born  in  1849.  Their  union  has 
been  blessed  with  five  children. 


JAMES  MEEHAN 

Is  a  native  of  county  Monohan,  Ireland,  where  be 
wan  born  November  1,  1833.  Coming  to  America  at 
the  age  of  thirteen  and  engaging  in  business,  his 
education  was  somewhat  limited,  but  by  study  and 
application  during  leisure  hours  he  succeeded  in  fully 
remedying  the  want,  and  is  remarkably  well  in 
formed  on  all  general  topics.  He  came  to  New 
Orleans  on  the  sailing  vessel  George  Washinyfon, 
arriving  in  July,  1847,  in  company  with  a  brother, 
where  he  remained  until  1849.  On  the  breaking  out 
of  the  gold  excitement  he  embarked  on  the  old  sail 
ing  vessel  Ontario,  which  carried  him  safely  to  Califor 
nia,  though  the  vessel  was  nine  months  on  the  way, 
reaching  San  Francisco  in  1850.  After  taking  a  look 
at  the  chaos  of  people  of  all  nations  and  colors,  he 
left  for  the  mines,  making  his  first  efforts  at  mining 
in  Chinese  Camp,  in  Tuolumne  county.  The  follow 
ing  two  or  three  years  he  alternated  from  Downie- 
ville  to  the  American  river,  and  thence  to  Tuolumne 
again,  finally  reaching  Volcano,  where  his  wandering 
propensities  were  cured  by  meeting  Miss  Mary  A. 
Rawle,  who,  in  1856,  became  his  wife,  since  which 
time  he  has  had  a  residence  in  Amador  county. 
40 


During  the  year  1852  he  made  a  flying  visit  to  New 
Orleans,  but  he  had  seen  too  many  of  the  advantages 
of  California  to  remain  in  the  older  States,  and  soon 
returned  to  the  State  to  make  it  a  permanent  home. 
At  Volcano  he  engaged  in  mining,  with  varied  suc 
cess,  until  1867,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  position 
of  County  Treasurer,  which  place  he  held  for  four 
years,  having  been  re-elected  at  the  end  of  his  first 
term.  He  then  engaged  in  quartz  mining  for  four 
years,  when  he  was  again  elected  to  the  position  of 
Treasurer,  which  he  holds  to  the  present  time.  He 
has  executed  the  duties  of  the  office  with  marked 
ability.  He  was  the  author  of  the  proposition  to 
devote  a  portion  of  the  county  funds  to  the  extin 
guishment  of  the  county  debt,  which,  under  the 
operation  of  the  law,  has  gradually  been  liquidated, 
and  bids  fair  to  soon  take  its  place  among  the  events 
of  the  past.  He  has  operated  quite  extensively  in 
quartz  mining,  having  been  a  stockholder  in  the 
Kennedy,  Monterichard,  and  other  valuable  mines; 
also  owns  a  large  tract  of  gravel-mining  ground  near 
Kennedy  flat,  and  also  a  quartz  vein  called  the  Vol 
unteer  mine,  east  of  the  Kennedy. 

He  has  had  nine  children,  six  of  whom,  four  boys 
and  two  girls,  are  living. 


HIRAM  C.  MEEK 

Is  the  patriarch  of  Amador  county,  dating  his  birth 
as  far  back  as  1792.  He  is  a  native  of  Virginia,  a 
countryman  and  neighbor  of  Washington,  whom 
he  saw  frequently,  and  remembers  well.  Since  that 
time  and  this,  eighty  years  apart,  what  a  change. 
Then,  Jefferson  and  Adams,  Burr  and  Hamilton, 
were  engaged  in  the  political  strife,  which  led  to  the 
death  of  one  of  the  men,  the  political  and  social  ruin 
of  another,  the  destruction  of  the  old  Federal  party, 
and  the  creation  of  a  Democratic  party,  which, 
through  a  nearly  unbroken  line  of  sixty  years, 
shaped  the  political  character  of  the  United  States. 
Well  may  one  say  with  Everett,  "Venerable  man, 
you  have  come  down  to  us  from  a  former  genera 
tion."  The  last  of  the  Revolutionary  soldiers  de 
parted  long  since.  Soon  the  last  of  that  century, 
the  last  of  those  who  were  contemporaneous  with 
the  great  men  of  that  age,  will  have  vanished;  and 
the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  to  have  seen  a  man 
who  had  seen  Washington  will  be  a  matter  of  pride. 
Major  Meek  is  perhaps  the  only  man  in  California 
who  has  seen  the  father  of  his  country;  the  only 
connecting  link  between  this  and  the  century  just 
passed.  The  Major  is  a  brother  of  the  famous  trap 
per,  whose  book  has  been  read  with  such  eagerness 
by  all  the  youth  of  America,  and  accompanied  him 
in  nearly  all  his  travels.  He  is  now  settled  down 
in  comfortable  quarters,  surrounded  by  members  of 
his  family,  enjoying  a  serene  old  age.  His  portrait, 
an  excellent  likeness,  indicates  an  amount  of  vitality 
that  justifies  the  expectation  of  his  reaching  the 
beginning  of  his  second  century. 


314 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOU  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


GEORGE  MOORE, 

Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  the  county  of  Ama- 
dor,  was  born  in  Danville,  Boyle  county,  Kentucky, 
February  14,  1850,  and  is,  therefore,  at  this  time 
thirty-one  years  of  age.  His  parents  were  W.  I.  and 
Elizabeth  C.  Moore,  the  former  being  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  latter  a  native  of  Kentucky. 
Judge  Moore  was  educated  for  the  profession  of  law, 
having  graduated  from  Centre  College,  Kentucky,  in 
the  year  1870,  whereupon,  after  pursuing  his  studies 
for  two  years  in  the  law  office  of  Durham  &  Jacobs, 
at  Danville,  he  attended  the  law  lectures  at  Harvard 
College,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  When  but 
twenty-five  years  old  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
Tilden  and  Hendricks  electors  for  the  Eighth  district 
of  Kentucky.  In  the  Winter  of  1877  he  emigrated 
to  the  State  of  California,  and  commenced  the  prac 
tice  of  law  in  Amador  county  soon  afterwards. 
After  the  adoption  of  the  New  Constitution  in  1879, 
which  brought  about  such  important  and  extreme 
changes  in  our  judicial  system,  Judge  Moore  was 
nominated  and  elected  as  the  presiding  officer  of 
the  new  Superior  Court  for  the  county  of  Ama 
dor,  being  at  the  time  of  his  elevation  to  the 
bench  one  of  the  youngest  judges  of  that  court  in 
the  State.  Judge  Moore  is  of  a  turn  of  mind  pecul 
iarly  adapting  him  to  the  position  which  he  occu 
pies;  logic,  and  its  natural  sequence,  law,  being 
with  him  almost  spontaneous  growths.  The  writer 
recently  had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  his  ability 
in  the  great  mining  case  involving  the  Empire 
and  Pacific  mines  of  Plymouth.  Some  of  the 
most  celebrated  lawyers  in  the  State,  among  whom 
were  Belcher,  Estee,  and  Boalt,  well  known  in  San 
Francisco,  were  present.  His  rulings  and  decisions 
won  the  respect  of  the  entire  Bar.  It  is  hardly 
probable  that  Judge  Moore  will  remain  in  the  mount 
ains  when  the  cities  offer  such  brilliant  rewards  for 
men' of  his  ability.  He  is  pleasantly  situated,  as  the 
sketch  of  his  house  in  another  part  of  the  book  will 
show. 


MATTHEW  MURRAY, 

The  subject  of  the  following  sketch,  is  a  native  of 
Ireland,  born  in  County  Cavan,  September  15,  1834, 
where  he  remained  until,  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
years,  he  emigrated  with  his  parents  to  the  United 
States,  and  settled  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
where  for  seven  years  he  was  engaged  in  the  grocery 
business  and  in  the  cultivation  of  his  mind,  devoting 
his  leisure  moments  to  the  study  of  such  branches  as 
are  required  in  the  interests  of  merchandising. 
Desiring  a  richer  and  more  extensive  field  for  the 
cultivation  of  his  business  talent,  he  decided  upon 
California  as  the  proper  place,  and  landed  in  San 
Francisco  on  the  second  day  of  July,  1855.  He  soon 
after  located  near  Michigan  Bar,  in  Sacramento 
county,  and  was  engaged  in  selling  goods  during  the 
succeeding  three  years.  His  aspirations  did  not  lead 


him  into  the  mines  in  search  of  an  immediate  fortune, 
but  his  ambitions  were  centered  in  the  business  he 
adopted  when  he  first  arrived  in  America.  In  1858 
Mr.  Murray  removed  to  Lancha  Plana,  Amador 
county,  and  still  continued  the  mercantile  business 
until  1863,  since  which  time  he  has  been  interested 
as  owner  and  superintendent  of  water  ditches  used 
in  working  the  mines.  By  strict  application  to  bus 
iness  he  has  been  successful  in  nearly  all  of  his 
business  ventures.  He  is  well  known  throughout  the 
county,  and  has  held  the  position  of  Supervisor  of 
the  First  district  for  several  years,  and  still  remains 
in  that  office,'  performing  the  duties  acceptably  to  his 
fellow-men  and  creditably  to  himself. 

Mr.  Murray  was  married  November  6,  1861,  to 
Miss  Celia  E.  Murray,  and  their  union  has  proved 
fruitful,  as  the  ten  beautiful  children,  seven  girls  and 
three  boys  now  living,  can  testify. 


JOHN  NORTHUP 

Was  born  in  the  town  of  Hamburg,  Erie  county,  New 
York,  October  5,  1822,  and  remained  there  until  he 
reached  the  age  of  fifteen  years.  During  that  time 
he  attended  school,  and  acquired  a  thorough  knowl 
edge  of  the  common  branches  taught  in  the  schools 
to  which  he  had  access.  His  next  location  was  in 
Cass  county,  Michigan,  where  for  fifteen  years  he 
was  a  tiller  of  the  soil.  The  knowledge  acquired 
during  that  time  was  of  great  advantage  to  him  in 
the  succeeding  years  of  his  life.  In  1852  Mr. 
Northup  came  to  California,  and  engaged  in  the 
usual  occupation  of  those  days,  that  of  mining,  in 
Amador  county,  and  for  about  nine  years  followed 
that  pursuit,  experiencing  the  ups  and  downs  of  fort 
une  peculiar  to  the  early  searchers  for  the  golden 
nuggets.  At  length,  after  his  long  experience  in  that 
direction,  he  turned  his  attention  to  other  pursuits, 
and  engaged  in  farming,  and  for  the  past  four  years 
has  been  the  "  champion  melon  man  "  of  the  Pacific 
coast,  often  planting  as  high  as  one  hundred  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  to  that  kind  of  fruit,  and 
shipping  the  melons  to  San  Francisco  and  Oakland, 
his  sales  sometimes  running  as  high  us  two  thou 
sand  melons  per  week.  His  "  melon  patoh  "  is  in 
San  Joaquin  county,  and  he  was  the  first  to  ship  fruit 
direct  to  the  city  from  his  locality  for  the  wholesale 
trade,  in  which  he  has  been  successful. 

His  home  place  is  almost  a  paradise,  he  having  an 
abundance  of  fruit  trees  and  vines,  which  are  care 
fully  cared  for  and  "  show  their  keeping."  His  house 
is  beautifully  situated  near  the  Mokelumne  river, 
and  is  one  of  the  prettiest  places  in  the  county. 

He  was  married  in  1856,  to  Miss  Ann  M.  Harmon, 
and  they  have  six  children,  two  girls  and  four  boys. 

Mr.  Northup  has  the  reputation  of  being  fair  and 
square  in  his  dealings,  and  thoroughly  wide  awake 
when  any  business  is  on  hand,  not  often  being- over 
reached.  * 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


315 


R.  W.  PALMER 


Is  a  native  of  Massachusetts;  came  around  the  Horn, 
or  rather  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  in  1849, 
being  among  the  first,  and  perhaps  last  of  the  Argo 
nauts  to  make  that  interesting  but  perilous  passage. 
The  adventures  of  the  passengers  among  the  sav 
ages,  as  related  by  him,  are  among  the  marvelous 
things  of  a  marvelous  age.  He  was  engaged  in 
trade  for  many  years  at  Sacramento,  but  in  1856 
moved  to  Lancha  Plana,  engaging  in  merchandising 
in  company  with  the  Hon.  J.  W.  D.  Palmer,  with  whom 
he  remained  until  the  partial  failure  of  that  camp 
as  a  mining  region.  The  amount  of  goods  sold  and 
exchanged  for  dust  would  astonish  a  merchant  of 
the  present  day.  At  that  time  the  river,  bluffs,  and 
hills,  were  all  giving  up  their  treasures,  and  thou 
sands  of  dollars  then  were  but  as  tens  now;  but  all 
things  must  have  an  end.  Lancha  Plana  followed 
the  ordinary  custom,  and  failed  to  pay.  Upon 
removing  to  Jackson,  about  1865,  he  engaged  in 
the  livery  business,  and  still  keeps  first-class  turn 
outs  for  those  who  wish  to  explore  the  country  on 
business,  or  pleasure.  He  is  married,  and  has  an 
interesting  family;  is  pleasantly  situated,  and  if  not 
acquiring  riches,  is  in  comfortable  circumstances. 
He  is  a  public  spirited  man,  ready  to  leave  his  own 
business  to  benefit  his  neighbors;  is  generous  and 
hospitable,  ready  to  entertain  his  friends  with  the 
best  in  the  house,  or  with  the  best  of  stories,  of 
which  he  keeps  an  inexhaustible  supply  always  on 
hand. 


JAMES  F.  PARKS 

Was  born  in  Hooper  county,  Missouri,  on  the  ninth 
of  September,  1835,  where  he  remained  until  he  was 
six  years  of  age,  at  which  time  he  removed  with  his 
parents,  to  Benton  county.  His  early  life  was  passed 
in  his  native  State,  but  as  youth  ripened  into  man 
hood,  he  was  not  content  to  remain  quietly  at  home 
while  other  young  men  were  exploring  the  much- 
talked-of  gold  fields  of  the  Pacific,  and  he  accord 
ingly  bade  adieu  to  those  he  loved  and  started  out  to 
seek  his  fortune  with  the  countless  thousands  that 
were  flocking  to  the  Golden  State  of  California. 

In  1855  he  reached  his  objective  point,  and  at  once 
repaired  to  Kern  river,  during  the  great  excitement 
upon  the  discovery  of  those  "  diggins."  He  did  not 
find  what  he  sought  in  that  locality,  and  soon  after 
engaged  in  mining  in  Mariposa  county,  and  after 
wards  in  Nevada  county.  In  1861  he  crossed  the 
Sierras  to  the  Territory  of  Nevada,  and  for  the  suc 
ceeding  eight  years  was  engaged  in  mining  at 
Virginia  City.  In  1869  he  went  to  White  Pine  Dis 
trict,  and  from  there  to  Plumas  county,  California, 
where  he  was  appointed  foreman  of  the  Indian  Val 
ley  mine.  On  the  first  day  of  April,  1873,  he  came 
to  Amador  county,  to  accept  the  responsible  position 
of  foreman  of  the  Keystone  mine,  where  he  has 
since  been  employed.  As  a  foreman  he  stands  second 


to  none  in  the  State,  always  the  same  affable  gentle 
man,  much  esteemed  by  his  employers  and  the 
people  generally. 

His  years  of  experience  among  the  great  mines  of 
Nevada,  place  him  in  the  front  rank  as  a  practical 
mining  man,  and,  to  add  to  his  other  accomplish 
ments,  he  is  a  thorough  practical  surveyor  and  civil 
engineer,  and  does  all  the  work  in  that  line  for  his 
company. 

Mr.  Parks  was  married  October  8,  1871,  to  Miss 
Mary  Phebey,  of  Sacramento,  and  they  have  four 
children. 


PALMER  N.  PECK, 

The  subject  of  the  following  sketch,  is  a  native  of 
New  York  State,  having  been  born  in  Yates,  Orleans 
county,  December  23,  1831.  During  his  youth  he 
removed  with  his  parents  to  the  State  of  Michigan, 
where  he  remained  until  nineteen  years  of  age.  He 
had  durrng  these  years  acquired  a  good  education, 
and  after  leaving  school  entered  a  plow  factory  at 
Peru,  Illinois,  where  he  was  employed  about  one 
year.  The  western  fever  fastened  itself  upon  him 
and  like  thousands  of  others  he  took  up  a  line  of 
march  toward  the  setting  sun,  crossing  the  plains  in 
1852,  and  spending  that  Winter  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah.  The  following  Spring  he  continued  his  jour 
ney  to  California,  arriving  by  the  southern  route  in 
San  Bernardino  on  the  15th  of  May,  1853. 

After  a  stay  of  about  three  months  in  that  town 
he  removed  to  Stockton,  San  Joaquin  county,  where 
he  had  a  step-brother.  For  the  next  three  years  he 
was  engaged  in  business  in  that  place,  generally  mer 
chandising.  He  then  became  a  trader  in  the  southern 
mines,  and  for  two  years  did  an  extensive  business. 
Griving  up  this  last  enterprise  he  went  to  Tuolumne 
county  and  engaged  in  mining  operations,  which 
proved  very  unprofitable  for  him. 

His  next  move  was  to  Volcano,  Amador  county, 
where  he  has  since  resided,  and  generally  engaged 
in  mining,  owning  at  the  present  time  some  thirty- 
one  acres  of  "  mining  ground,"  from  which  he  will 
undoubtedly  realize  a  handsome  fortune,  as  he  fully 
understands  manipulating  such  enterprises.  He  is 
also  interested  in  flumes  and  mines  in  other  places. 

Mr.  Peck  is  well  and  favorably  known  throughout 
the  mines  of  California  as  a  man  of  experience  and 
worth,  and  is  universally  respected.  He  is  still 
a  single  man  and  his  elegant  home  is  without  a 
mistress. 

A.  PETTY 

Was  born  at  Circleville,  Pickaway  county,  Ohio, 
August  6,  1820.  At  the  age  of  eight  years  he, 
with  his  parents,  emigrated  to  Missouri.  In  1842  he 
removed  to  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  and  worked  in 
the  lead  mines  of  that  State  during  the  Winter  and 
followed  his  trade,  that  of  plasterer,  during  the 
Summer,  for  about  seven  years,  In  1849  he  located 


316 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


in  the  town  of  McGregor,  Iowa,  where  he  resided 
until  December  28,  1852,  at  which  time  he  started 
for  California  with  ox-teams,  accompanied  by  his 
wife  and  two  children.  They  crossed  the  State  of 
Iowa  in  winter,  and  arrived  at  Council  Bluifs, 
March  14,  1853,  where  they  encountered  a  terrible 
snow-storm.  May  5th  they  crossed  the  Missouri 
river,  and  were  fairly  on  their  long  and  tedious 
journey,  the  incidents  connected  with  which  would 
fill  a  large  volume.  The  Indians  were  very  trouble 
some,  and  they  had  many  thrilling  adventures  with 
members  of  "  Mr.  Lo's  "  band.  Finally  they  reached 
California  and  settled  at  Volcano,  Amador  county, 
September  15,  1853,  having,  while  en  route,  remained 
twenty-one  days  with  the  saints  at  Salt  Lake,  Utah. 

Mr.  Petty  turned  his  attention  to  mining  as  soon 
as  his  aifairs  could  be  arranged,  and  for  the  succeed 
ing  sixteen  months  prospected  the  country  without 
finding  his  expected  bonanza.  He  then  gave  up  the 
search  for  gold  in  the  earth  and  looked  in  oiher  chan 
nels  for  his  supply,  opening  a  hotel  which  he  con 
ducted  but  a  short  time.  He  then,  in  connection 
with  Captain  Richards,  John  James,  and  others, 
farmed  a  company  for  the  purpose  of  opening  a  bed 
rock  flume,  or  open  cut,  through  the  canon  below  the 
town.  They  prosecuted  this  enterprise  for  about 
two  years,  expending  some  sixty-five  thousand  dol 
lars,  which  was  a  dead  loss.  Mr.  Petty  has  occasion 
ally  followed  mining  since  that  time,  and  also  his 
trade,  as  circumstances  required. 

In  January,  1880,  he  bought  the  St.  George  hotel 
at  Volcano,  and  has  since  been  the  proprietor  thereof. 
He  full}'  understands  catering  to  the  wants  of  the 
traveling  public,  and  is  one  of  the  few  men  who 
know  how  to  keep  a  hotel.  In  1879  Mr.  Petty  was 
elected  County  Assessor  of  Amador  county,  which 
position  he  fills  at  the  present  time. 
•  He  was  married  in  1841  to  Miss  Ophelia  Cooper, 
and  they  have  three  children. 


J.  E.  PETTITT 

W  as  born  in  Licking  county,  Ohio,  November  16, 1828, 
which  place  was  his  home  until  1853;  engaged  mostly 
in  farming  and  raising  stock.  In  1853  he  came  to 
California  via  Panama,  and  immediately  located  on 
Indian  creek,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  present 
county,  or  in  what  then  was  El  Dorado  county, 
making  this  county  his  home  since  that  time.  He 
followed  mining  for  several  years,  but  in  1869  turned 
to  farming,  locating  on  the  place  he  now  occupies. 
Though  making  farming  his  principal  business,  he 
has  combined  with  it  stock-raising  and  freighting, 
the  immense  amounts  of  lumber  used  making  that 
business  profitable. 

He  was  married  December  25,  1855,  to  Miss  Chris 
tina  Cox,  a  native  of  Indiana,  and  his  family  consists 
of  himself,  wife,  three  girls  and  two  boys. 


E.  S.  POTTER 

Is  a  native  of  the  famous  Wooden  Nutmeg  State, 
which  has  sent  such  a  vast  number  of  keen  business 
men  into  the  commercial  channels  of  the  nation.  He 
was  born  in  the  town  of  Litchfield,  Connecticut, 
November  23,  1828,  from  which  place  he  moved  to 
Platteville,  Wisconsin,  in  1847,  coming  overland  to 
Volcano,  California,  in  1852.  After  mining  in  that 
vicinity  for  about  a  year,  he  moved  to  Drj^town,  and 
spent  about  one  year  in  mining  on  Poor  Man's  creek; 
thence  to  Arkansas  diggings,  near  Michigan  Bar, 
where  he  kept  hotel  in  company  with  Geo.  W.  Harris. 
In  1860  he  removed  to  Buckeye  valley,  where  he 
raised  stock  until  1863,  when  he  went  to  Pokcr- 
ville,  in  the  vicinity  of  Plymouth.  When  the  mines 
failed  at  Pokerville  he  moved  to  Plymouth,  then 
beginning  to  attract  attention  as  a  quartz  mining 
region,  where  he  has  since  remained  engaged  in 
various  kinds  of  business,  mostly  teaming  and  lum 
bering.  In  1873  he  opened  a  lumber  yard  to  sup 
ply  the  demand  consequent  upon  the  rapid  building 
of  the  town.  He  was  married,  in  1858,  to  Miss  Har 
riet  Louisa  Howard,  of  Forest  Home.  They  have 
had  fourteen  children,  six  of  whom  are  living. 


HON.  W.  H.  PROUTY. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  native  of  the  Buck 
eye  State.  lie  was  born  March  27,  1837,  in  Knox 
county,  Ohio,  his  early  years  being  spent  on  a 
farm.  In  1846,  in  obedience  to  the  general  impulse 
to  go  west,  the  family  removed  to  Jasper  county, 
Iowa,  being  among  the  pioneers  of  that  region.  In 
1852  they  fell  into  the  column  of  the  California  emi 
gration  and  started  across  the  plains.  The  emigra 
tion  of  that  year  was  perhaps  the  largest  that  ever 
wended  its  way  to  the  Golden  State;  and  its  march 
resembled  the  retreat  of  an  army  more  than  a  tri 
umphal  march  of  settlers  to  a  promised  land.  The 
grass  was  eaten  off  for  miles  away  from  the  road, 
making  long  detours  necessary  to  keep  the  stock  in 
condition  to  travel.  To  add  to  these  difficulties  the 
father  of  the  family  sickened  and  died  near  the 
Devil's  Gate.  But  the  mother,  picking  up  the  reins  of 
authority,  with  the  aid  of  her  elder  sons,  succeeded 
in  reaching  California,  entering  Volcano  August  24th 
the  same  year,  which,  considering  the  circumstances, 
was  a  remarkably  successful  trip.  After  resting  a 
few  days,  and  watching  the  operation  of  extracting 
gold,  the  love  for  rural  life  asserted  itself  and  the 
family  continued  their  journey,  settling  in  the  beau 
tiful  valley  which  has  since  been  their  home.  The 
younger  child,  W.  H.  Prouty,  was  early  thrown  on 
his  own  resources,  and  divided  his  time  between  farm 
ing  and  attending  such  schools  as  the  county  then 
aiforded,  spending  considerable  time  in  attending 
school  at  Volcano.  By  the  time  he  was  twenty-one 
he  had  mastered  the  common  English  branches  and 
accumulated  a  small  capital  of  two  thousand  six 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


317 


hundred  dollars.  It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  he 
firmly  set  his  face  against  the  prevailing  dissipations 
of  those  early  days  which  swept  so  many  young,  and 
even  middle-aged  men  into  the  vortex  of  destruction. 

Having  arrived  at  man's  estate  the  desire  to  see 
more  of  the  world  before  he  settled  down  induced 
him  to  visit  the  home  of  his  childhood,  and  other 
places  in  the  West,  or  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  where 
he  remained  about  five  years,  engaged  in  various 
kinds  of  business,  mostly  farming,  however.  While 
here  he  became  acquainted  with  his  future  wife  and 
companion,  Miss  Helen  Charlesworth,  whom  he  mar 
ried  July  26,  1859,  by  whom  he  has  had  seven  chil 
dren,  six  of  whom  are  now  living. 

In  1863  the  memory  of  the  Golden  State  asserted 
itself  and  he  turned  his  steps  to  California,  making 
his  way  to  the  valley  which  had  seen  him  while  a 


boy  assume  the  duties  and  labors  of  manhood.  Four 
years  later  he  purchased  his  present  home,  and  set 
about  improving  it  with  the  design  of  spending  his 
remaining  years  here.  His  herds  and  flocks  and 
well-filled  granaries  attest  his  judgment  and  devotion 
to  his  business.  Like  most  successful  business  men 
he  has  little  time  or  disposition  to  dabble  in  politics, 
but  when  a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Conven 
tion  who  understood  the  wants  of  the  farming  com 
munity  was  wanted,  the  people  instinctively  turned 
to  him  as  one  whose  judgment  and  integrity  could  be 
relied  upon.  His  actions  in  the  convention  fully  jus 
tified  the  opinions  of  his  neighbors,  and  he  returned 
to  his  home  with  unblemished  honor.  His  farm  and 
home  is  one  of  the  pleasantest  as  well  as  most  valua 
ble  places  in  the  county,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  view 
published  in  this  work. 


B.  F.  RICHTMYER 

Was  born  in  Conesville,  Schoharie  county,  New 
York,  June  17,  1824,  at  which  place  he  resided  until 
he  was  twenty-two  years  of  age,  receiving  such  edu 
cation  as  the  place'  afforded.  In  1844  he  removed 
to  Delevan,  Wisconsin,  where  for  some  years  he  was 
employed  in  a  flouring  mill.  In  1850,  yielding  to 
the  prevailing  California  fever,  he  crossed  the  plains 
with  the  great  emigration  of  that  year,  settling  at 
Drytown  the  Autumn  of  the  same  season.  Here  he 
engaged  in  merchandising  and  mining,  meeting  with 
the  usual  gains  and  losses  in  those  days;  gains  in 
large  profits  then  customary,  and  losses  by  fires, 
bad  debts,  and  ill-luck  in  mining,  which,  as  many 
old  Californians  remember  to  their  sorrow,  were  also 


'CA/ 


common  enough  to  be  called  customary.  During 
his  residence  here,  he  was  express  agent  for  Wells, 
Fargo  &  Co.,  telegraph  operator  and  agent,  etc. 
He  was  associated  with  G.  W.  Seaton  in  the  famous 
Seaton  mine,  which,  in  its  day,  had  the  richest 
quartz  ever  found  in  the  county.  It  was  a  pocket 
mine,  however,  and  did  not  continue  dividends  any 
great  length  of  time.  In  1871,  Mr.  Richtmyer  was 
elected  County  Clerk,  his  personal  popularity  carry 
ing  him  much  beyond  the  average  ticket  in  the 
election.  He  now  removed  to  Jackson,  the  county 
seat,  which  place  he  has  since  made  his  home.  After 
serving  his  term  as  County  Clerk,  he  became  the 
agent  again  of  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  this  time  at 
Jackson,  and  soon  after  was  made  an  agent  for  the 


318 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  both  of  which 
positions  he  has  since  filled.  In  addition  to  his 
other  duties,  he  has  also  filled  the  position  of  Notary 
Public;  was  seven  years  agent  for  the  H®me  Mutual 
Insurance  Company  of  California.  He  is  also  pro 
prietor  and  manager  of  the  Jackson  water-works, 
and  such  is  his  methodical  system  of  business  that 
he  can  do  all  these  things  justice,  and  still  have  time 
to  devote  to  society  and  domestic  affairs.  He  was 
married  September  10,  1855,  to  Miss  Celina  Van- 
netter. 

As  a  man,  Mr.  Richtmyer  is  deservedly  popular; 
unswerving  integrity,  suavifer  in  modo,  capability 
and  modesty,  being  united  in  a  remarkable  degree. 
He  is  unexceptionable  in  his  habits,  and  if  possessed 
of  any  faults  at  all,  they  are  the  amiable  ones  of 
being  too  generous  and  unsuspecting.  He  will  be 
found  equal  to  any  trust  the  people  of  the  county  or 
State  may  choose  to  repose  in  him. 


J.  H.  RINGER. 

The  gentleman  to  whom  this  sketch  refers  is  a 
native  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  born  in  Ray 
county,  on  the  14th  of  June,  1843.  He  remained  in 
his  native  State  until  he  was  eleven  years  of  age, 
and  then,  at  that  tender  age,  endured  the  hardships, 
privations,  and  toil,  consequent  with  a  trip  across 
the  plains  to  California,  where  he  arrived  sound  of 
limb,  and  located  at  Butte  City,  Amador  county. 
He  remained  there  until  1855,  and  removed  to  Aque 
duct  City,  where  he  resided  about  two  years.  He 
then  settled  in  Jackson  valley ,»and  has  since  been 
a  resident  thereof.  As  a  farmer,  Mr.  Ringer  is  a 
decided  success,  and  is  the  owner  of  one  of  the  finest 
ranches  in  the  valley,  containing  four  hundred  and 
thirty-one  acres,  nearly  all  of  which  is  under  a  high 
state  of  cultivation,  his  improvements  also  being 
very  fine.  Mr.  Ringer  was  married  April  23,  1873, 
to  Miss  Emily  E.  Stamper,  and  is  the  proud  father 
of  three  interesting  girls.  He  is  one  of  the  most 
thorough  and  energetic  business  men  in  the  county, 
and  is  rapidly  making  himself  wealthy. 


JAMES  ROBERTSON 

Was  born  in  the  town  of  Ottawa,  Canada,  November 
26,  1828,  where  he  resided  until  1854,  engaged  in 
farming.  Catching  the  prevailing  California  fever, 
and  perhaps  tiring  of  the  long  and  tedious  cold 
Winters,  he  turned  his  steps  towards  the  land  of 
sunny  hills  and  mild  Winters,  reaching  San  Francisco 
by  the  Panama  route,  about  the  first  of  November. 
He  located  on  his  present  place  in  1856,  and  has 
pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his  way  ever  since,  swerv 
ing  neither  to  the  right  nor  left.  His  place  is  a  beau- 
liful  location,  overlooking  Sacramento,  Stockton  and 
i  he  adjoining  plains,  which  places  often  come  into 
distinct  view,  as  the  atmosphere  clears  up  after  a 


storm.  His  business  has  been  chiefly  stock-raising 
and  farming.  He  owns  four  hundred  and  eighty 
acres  of  land  about  midway  between  Jackson  and 
lone,  at  the  junction  of  the  old  Sutter  Creek  and 
Jackson  roads.  Natural  springs  supply  all  the  water 
necessary  for  domestic  and  stock  purposes.  For  a 
view  of  the  house  and  beauty  of  situation  see  engrav 
ing  in  the  body  of  the  book.  Mr.  Robertson  never 
married,  but  has  had  all  the  care  of  a  father  in 
helping  to  raise  the  younger  members  of  the  family, 
and  also  to  support  a  mother  in  her  declining  years, 
the  mother  being  spared  to  him  until  the  Autumn  of 
1880. 


BENJAMIN  ROSS 

Was  born  in  Portland,  Maine,  February  19,  1822, 
whore  he  learned  the  trade  of  mounting  pictures 
and  mirrors;  enlisted  in  Company  E,  Captain  Charles 
B.  Crowninshield,  First  Regiment,  Massachusetts 
Mexican  Volunteers ;  served  under  General  Taylor 
on  the  Rio  Grande  until  September;  then  under  Gen 
eral  Scott  until  the  close  of  the  war,  being  promoted 
during  the  time  to  the  position  of  Sergeant  Major. 
After  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Boston, 
but  started  to  California  soon  after  by  way  of  Fort 
Smith,  Santa  Fee  and  Salt  Lake,  arriving  at  Weber- 
town,  El  Dorado  county,  in  September,  1850.  In 
1852  moved  to  Volcano,  which  place  he  has  since 
generally  made  his  home  except  during  a  trip  to 
Idaho  in  1862-63.  Has  at  different  times  been  en 
gaged  in  mining,  merchandising,  banking  and 
surveying  In  1872  he-was  appointed  United  States 
Deputy  Surveyor  for  mines  by  Surveyor  General  J. 
R.  Hardenburgh,  which  position  he  still  holds  under 
Surveyor  General  Wagner.  In  1878  he  was  elected 
Supervisor  for  District  No.  2,  and  is  now,  by 
virtue  of  seniority,  chairman  of  the  Board.  He  was 
married  December  6,  1865,  to  Miss  Mclntyre,  and 
has  a  family  of  interesting  children. 


JONATHAN  SALLEE 

Was  born  in  Lincoln  county,  Missouri,  June  17, 1832, 
where  he  resided  until  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age, 
when  he  crossed  the  plains  with  an  ox-team,  making 
the  trip  in  four  months.  His  first  halt  was  at  Mud 
Springs,  now  El  Dorado,  but  he  soon  moved  to  Weber 
creek,  where  he  engaged  in  mining  until  1859,  when 
he  returned  to  Missouri,  where  ho  remained  until 
1871,  when  he  returned  to  California  with  his  family; 
for,  however  much  we  may  think  our  State  is  played 
out,  a  few  years'  residence  in  the  Eastern  States  is 
sure  to  make  us  long  for  the  mild  Winters  and  even 
hot  Summers  of  this  State.  He  located  on  his  pres 
ent  ranch,  about  one  mile  and  a  quarter  from  Plym 
outh,  on  the  road  to  Oleta,  where  he  has  since  resided. 
His  place  contains  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres 
of  good  land,  favorably  located  for  business  and 
health,  it  being  in  the  elevated  part  of  the  county, 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


319 


above  the  malarial  region.  He  unites  stock-raising 
with  the  cultivation  of  the  farm,  the  country  around 
being  a  fine  range  for  cattle. 

He  was  married  April  25,  1861,  while  in  Missouri, 
to  Miss  Mary  E.  Beach,  who  died  in  the  Spring  of 
1865.  By  this  marriage  there  were  two  children,  a 
son  and  daughter.  April  26,  1866,  Mr.  Sallee  was 
married  a  second  time,  making  Miss  Sarah  Jane 
Longfellow  his  wife.  By  this  marriage  they  have  had 
two  children,  but  one  of  whom  is  living,  the  family 
now  consisting  of  himself,  wife,  and  three  children. 


ARTHUR  B.  SANBORN, 

Of  the  firm  of  Turner  &  Sanborn,  is  a  modest,  indus 
trious,  and,  consequently,  promising  young  man.  He 
was  born  in  1856,  and  received  such  education  as 
could  be  obtained  in  the  town  of  Jackson,  until  he 
was  fifteen  years  old.  He  made  the  most  of  his 
opportunities,  and,  at  the  close  of  his  school  days, 
commenced  a  regular  course  of  reading,  political 
economy  being  a  favorite  study.  He  is  steady  and 
reliable,  never  having  been  given-  to  the  dissipations 
so  common  to  the  young  men  in  California,  or,  in 
other  words,  he  never  took  time  to  sow  any  wild 
oats,  but  went  directly  to  work  improving  his  mind. 
In  1879  he  became  connected  with  H.  S.  Turner  in 
the  management  of  the  Jackson  Sentinel,  and  is  now 
part  proprietor.  He  is  a  brilliant  and  forcible  writer, 
and  has  a  promising  future. 


JOHN  SANDERSON 

Is  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  was  born  in  the  month  of 
June,  1830.  He  remained  in  the  "  Emerald  Isle," 
until  he  reached  his  seventeenth  year,  at  which  time 
he  came  to  America,  and  settled  in  the  grand  old 
State  of  New  York,  where  he  remained  three  and 
one-half  years.  He  then  removed  to  New  Jersey, 
and  was  a  resident  of  that  State  until  he  came  to  the 
Pacific  coast  in  1864.  Having  had  experience  on 
the  "  briny  deep  "  in  his  trip  from  his  native  country 
to  the  United  States,  he  naturally  chose  the  steamer 
as  his  mode  of  conveyance,  and  arrived  in  California 
by  way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  in  due  time,  sound 
of  limb  and  buoyant  in  spirits,  seeking  like  all  others 
an  easy  fortune  in  the  mines  of  this  State.  His  first 
location  was  at  Sutter  Creek,  in  Amador  county, 
where  he  followed  the  occupation  of  a  miner  for 
about  six  years.  From  his  savings  he  purchased  the 
beautiful  ranch  that  is  now  his  home,  located  about 
one  and  one-half  miles  west  of  Sutter  Creek.  This 
home  place  of  Mr.  Sanderson's  is  admirably  situated 
and  contains  320  acres  of  choice  land,  which  he  is 
cultivating  in  a  manner  that  is  bound  to  make  it  pro 
ductive. 

He  was  married  on  the  13th  of  February,  1863,  to 
Miss  Katy  Hughes,  a  native  of  New  York,  and  their 


union  has  been  blessed  with  eight  children,  seven  of 
whom  are  living.  The  only  son  born  to  them  was 
called  to  the  other  world  on  Thanksgiving  day,  1879. 


BRUNO  H.  SCHACHT 

Is  a  native  of  Germany,  born  about  1850.  He  is  a 
young  man  of  thorough  business  habits,  and  has  the 
confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  associates.  In  1879, 
shortly  after  being  naturalized,  he  was  elected  to 
the  position  of  Public  Administrator,  a  situation 
more  responsible  than  profitable,  which  he  fills  with 
eminent  ability  and  integrity.  He  has  a  beautiful 
residence  in  the  town  of  Jackson,  and  evidently 
intends  making  the  place  his  permanent  home. 


ALEXANDER  SHEAKLEY 

Was  born  at  Sheakleyville,  Mercer  county,  Penn 
sylvania,  May  1,  1827.  In  this  town  he  spent  his 
boyhood,  and  acquired  the  practical  business  educa 
tion  which  has  insured  success  in  his  many  under 
takings.  In  1852  he  followed  the  stream  which  set 
with  so  strong  a  current  to  the  Golden  State,  arriving 
at  Placerville,  where  he  remained  engaged  in  mining 
until  September,  1853,  when  he  came  to  lone  City, then 
growing  into  notice  in  consequence  of  the  rich  lands 
in  the  valley,  and  its  being  on  the  line  of  travel 
from  the  mines  to  Sacramento.  This  place  he  made 
his  permanent  home,  and  materially  aided  to 
develop  into  its  present  prosperous  condition.  He 
has  been  engaged  in  many  kinds  of  business.  For  the 
first  ten  years  he  carried  on  blacksmithing.  Close 
attention  to  his  trade  impaired  his  health,  and  dis 
posing  of  the  business,  he  engaged  in  hotel  keeping, 
becoming  proprietor  of  the  Arcade,  then  one  of  the 
finest  hotels  in  the  State.  Since  then  he  has  been 
engaged  in  many  things,  always,  however,  retaining 
the  ownership  of  the  fine  tract  of  land  containing 
one  hundred  and  eighty-four  acres,  which  is  his  res 
idence.  This  place  is  beautifully  located,  twenty  to 
fifty  feet  above  the  valley,  which  sweeps  in  a  circle 
around  the  elevation  on  which  his  house  is  built. 
Someti  mes  twenty  reapers  can  be  seen  cutting  down  the 
fields  of  golden  grain,  which  alternate  with  orchard 
and  vineyard.  He  has  a  fine  residence,  with  all  the 
modern  improvements,  which  is  a  prominent  object  in 
whatever  direction  one  may  approach  the  valley. 
His  place  is  underlaid  by  a  vein  of  coal,  which  is 
likely  to  become  valuable.  Mr.  Sheakley  is  one  of 
the  solid  men  of  the  county,  always  reliable.  He 
was  married,  April  6,  1864,  to  Mrs.  A.  E.  Mon- 
tandon.  No  children  have  blessed  the  union,  to 
inherit  and  improve  the  fine  property,  though  judg 
ing  from  Mr.  Sheakley's  hearty  appearance,  he  does 
not  contemplate  retiring  from  the  care  of  it  for 
many  years  to  come. 


320 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


JAMES   W.  SHBALOR. 

The  subject  of  the  following  sketch  is  a  native  of 
Virginia,  having  been  born  in  Page  count}^,  August 
24,  1830.  At  the  tender  age  of  six  years  he  removed 
with  his  parents  to  the  State  of  Missouri,  locating 
at  Springfield.  The  father  of  the  present  subject 
was  a  foundryman,  and  James  followed  that  business, 
after  leaving  school,  for  some  years.  He  also 
engaged  in  farming,  and  was  a  tiller  of  the  soil  when 
the  western  fever  first  laid  hold  of  him.  In  1853  he 
moved  with  his  father  and  mother  to  California, 
coming  by  way  of  the  plains,  and  experienced  the 
trials  usually  attending  such  a  trip  in  those  early  days. 

His  first  location  was  at  Volcano,  Amador  county, 
and  his  business  for  some  years  after  reaching  the 
Pacific  coast  was  varied,  he  being  engaged  in  min 
ing,  teaming,  ranching,  milling,  and  other  branches 
of  industry. 

For  the  past  seventeen  years  he  has  resided  on  his 
present  ranch,  situated  six  miles  north-east  from 
Volcano.  He  has  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres 
of  fine  land,  and  thoroughly  understands  the  culti 
vation  thereof.  On  this  ranch  he  has  a  saw-mill  that 
was  erected  in  1860,  and  which  Mr.  Shealor  runs 
about  six  months  in  the  year,  manufacturing  pine 
lumber  for  the  people  in  his  vicinity. 

He  was  married  February  4,  1853,  to  Miss  Melinda 
Simms,  of  Missouri.  Their  union  has  been  blessed 
with  five  children,  four  boys  and  one  girl. 

The  father  of  our  subject  is  still  living,  but  his 
mother  died  December  23,  1863. 


D.  B.  SPAGNOLI 

Is  a  native  of  Italy,  having  been  born  in  the  town  of 
Rooegro,  Province  of  Novara,  November  30,  1840. 
He  obtained  his  early  education  in  the  city  of  Pal- 
lanza.  In  1852,  he  went  to  the  French  college  at 
Vevey,  remaining  there  until  1854,  when,  in  company 
with  his  parents  and  one  brother,  he  came  to  Califor 
nia.  The  names  of  the  family  were  Deodato  Spag- 
noli  and  Maria  Antoinette,  father  and  mother,  and 
the  two  sons,  Silvester  and  I).  Benjamin.  They 
reached  San  Francisco  August  1,  1854,  coming  to 
Clinton,  in  Amador  county,  the  following  September. 
The  elder  Spagnoli  mined  near  Clinton  for  several 
months  and  then  bought  a  store  and  stock  of  goods, 
consisting  of  general  merchandise.  D.  B.,  the  sub 
ject  of  this  sketch,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Frazer 
river  excitement,  went  north  with  the  crowd,  and  had 
about  as  exciting  experience  of  the  dangers  of  navi 
gating  the  Frazer  river  and  of  traveling  among 
the  Indians,  as  any  man  that  ever  returned  alive. 
An  interesting  book  might  have  been'written  on  the 
subject,  if  book-making  had  been  in  his  line  of 
business.  After  his  return  in  1858,  he  followed  stock- 
raising  until  the  death  of  his  father  in  1863,  when  he 
took  charge  of  his  father's  estate,  consisting  of  store, 
mining  interests  and  ditches,  managing  these  until 


1865,  Avhen  he  was  appointed  Deputy  County  Re 
corder,  occupying  the 'position  two  years.  In  1867 
he  was  appointed  Deputy  County  Clerk.  In  1869 
the  offices  of  Clerk  and  Recorder  were  merged  in  one, 
and  he  received  the  nomination  for  the  double  office 
at  the  hands  of  the  Democrats,  and  in  September 
was  elected,  serving  two  years.  At  the  expiration 
of  his  term  of  office  he  formed  a  law  partnership  with 
R.  M.  Briggs,  having  studied  law  and  been  admitted 
to  the  bar  while  County  Clerk.  Mr.  Spagnoli  has 
had  a  liberal  education,  speaking  some  four  or  five 
languages  with  fluency.  He  belonged  to  a  wealthy 
and  refined  family  in  Italy,  and  started  in  life  with 
many  advantages,  which  he  has  not  failed  to  improve. 
He  has  had  great  influence  among  his  countrymen, 
who  would  take  his  advice  and  trust  their  business 
to  his  care.  He  was  married  January  12,  1870,  at 
Stockton,  to  Miss  Rosa  Isabella  Bryant.  In  1872  he 
returned  to  Italy  on  account  of  business,  visiting 
London,  Paris,  Rome,  Lyons,  Milan,  Turin  and  other 
cities  of  the  Old  World.  After  his  return  from 
Europe  he  became  interested  in  the  drug  store  at 
Jackson,  finally  becoming  sole  proprietor. 

His  mother  died  in  Amador  county  in  1873.  He 
lost  his  wife  in  1874,  who  left  two  sons  (now  living), 
two  and  three  years  of  age,  named  respectively,  Syl 
vester  Nelson  D.,  and  Urbono  Giovani  D. 


SYLVESTER  G.  SPAGNOLI 

Was  born  in  the  town  of  Rooegro,  Italy;  came  to 
California  in  1854  in  company  with  his  parents,  Deo 
dato  and  Maria  Antoinette  Spagnoli,  and  a  brother, 
D.  B.  Spagnoli,  now  a  resident  of  Jackson,  and 
settled  in  Clinton,  Amador  county,  in  the  month  of 
September,  1854.  In  1865  he  wert  to  Owyhee,  in 
Idaho,  on  a  mining  excursion,  returning  the  same 
year.  On  the  location  of  his  brother  in  Jackson  in 
the  Autumn  of  1865,  he  took  charge  of  the  home 
business,  consisting  of  merchandising,  mining,  and 
ditching,  which  he  successfully  managed.  He  was 
married  November  23,  1868,  to  Miss  Minnie  V.  Bry 
ant,  by  whom  he  has  had  four  children:  Stella  M.  S., 
now  eleven;  Clotilde  E.  S.,  born  in  Clinton,  and  Min 
nie  R.  S.,  aged  three  years,  born  in  Harmon,  county 
of  Penobscot,  State  of  Maine. 

Mr.  Spagnoli  enjoys  the  confidence  and  respect  of 
the  community,  having  held  the  position  of  Justice 
of  the  Peace  three  terms,  once  in  1876  by  appoint 
ment,  and  twice  since  by  election. 


ROBERT  STEWART 

Was  born  December  17,  1826,  in  Donegall  county, 
Ireland,  and  emigrated  to  the  United  States,  after 
reaching  his  majority,  by  way  of  New  York.  He 
soon  after  wont  to  Freeport,  Stephenson  county, 
Illinois,  where  he  was  engaged  in  farming  operations 
for  eleven  years.  He  started  for  California  in  com- 


^      ROSS. 


PUB  .OAKLAND  CAf- 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


321 


pany  with  Young  and  Johnson,  March  19,  1850,  and 
reached  Placerville  the  4th  of  September  following, 
visiting  the  city  of  the  saints  while  on  his  way. 
He  tried  mining  at  Placerville  (then  bearing  the 
ominous  name  of  Hangtown)  for  two  weeks,  and 
removed  to  Rancheria  creek,  but  in  a  few  days 
went  to  Volcano,  which  place  he  has,  since  October 
16,  1850,  made  his  home.  He  early  b.egan  to  take 
part  in  politics,  and,  in  1859,  was  elected  to  the  position 
of  Supervisor  from  that  district,  serving  two  terms; 
was  then  appointed  Deputy  County  Clerk,  under 
T.  M.  Pawling,  which  position  he  held  for  two  years. 
In  1873  he  was  again  elected  Supervisor,  and  re- 
elected  again  in  1876.  When  not  engaged  in  his 
public  duties  he  has  been  engaged  in  mining,  placer 
and  quartz,  principally  the  latter,  though  during 
the  years  1876-78-79,  he  connected  banking  and 
buying  gold-dust  with  his  mining  operations.  He 
is  still  engaged  in  quartz  mining,  owning  a  mine  and 
mill  on  north  fork  of  the  Mokelumne  river. 

Ireland  never  gave  birth  to  a  more  genuine,  whole- 
souled  man  than  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Whether 
in  the  mines  or  in  the  forum,  as  an  officer  adminis 
tering  the  affairs  of  the  county,  or  as  a  miner  down 
in  the  earth  hammering  out  quartz,  his  genuine 
Irish  humor  never  left  him.  Though  his  education 
was  rather  limited,  his  native  good  sense  and  wit 
has  always  made  him  a  fit  companion  for  the  highest 
as  well  as  the  unassuming.  His  solid  and  substantial 
qualities  were  appreciated  by  others  than  men,  and 
July  2,  1876,  Miss  Celia  Cottingham,  the  acknowl 
edged  belle  of  Volcano,  consented  to  accompany  him 
on  the  afternoon  journey  of  his  life,  the  silver  threads 
contrasting  finely  with  the  gold.  He  has  a  well- 
stocked  library  of  modern  works,  with  which  he 
employs  himself  in  his  leisure  hours,  and  is,  in  con 
sequence,  in  the  front  ranks  of  the  thinking  portion 
of  the  world. 


J.  D.  STOLCKEN 

Is  a  native  of  Germany,  having  been  born  at  Han 
over,  September  7,  1838.  He  remained  in  his  native 
country  until  he  reached  the  age  of  about  fifteen 
years,  at  which  time  he  became  interested  in  the 
"briny  deep,"  and  left  the  scenes  of  las  childhood 
to  become  a  sailor.  His  intelligence,  and  aptness 
for  his  new  calling  soon  manifested  themselves,  and 
he  was  made  an  officer,  and  held  the  responsible 
position  of  mate  on  several  ships  during  the  fourteen 
years  succeeding  his  first  venture  on  the  high  seas. 
During  that  time  he  visited  many  parts  of  the  world, 
and  became  familiar  with  the  higher  branches  of 
the  principles  of  navigation.  In  1870  he  came  to 
California,  desiring  a  change  of  occupation,  and  a 
more  lucrative  field  for  his  labors.  His  first  year 
in  this  State  was  passed  in  the  mines  of  El  Dorado 
county.  He  then  came  to  Amador  county,  and 
located  the  Soto  mine,  at  Pioneer  creek,  which  he 
worked  for  nine  years,  finally  selling  the  claim  to 
41 


an  Eastern  company.  Desiring  a  change  once  more, 
he,  with  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  his  mine,  bought 
property  at  Volcano,  and  also  a  large  stock  of  such 
goods  as  is  generally  to  be  found  in  a  variety  store, 
in  which  business  he  is  at  present  engaged.  His 
store  is  well  appointed,  and  conducted  on  the 
"square"  principle;  and  his  stock  is  complete,  con 
sisting  of  fancy  goods  and  notions,  also  "wet  and 
dry  "  groceries.  He  is  a  single  man  as  yet.  A  view 
of  the  residence  of  Mr.  Stolcken  will  be  found  in  this 
volume. 


A.  A.  VAN  SANDT, 

The  subject  of  the  following  sketch,  is  a  native  of  the 
old  "  Buckeye  "  State,  Ohio  ;  was  born  in  Hamilton 
county,  April  22,  1832.  His  boyhood  days  were 
passed  in  that  county  until,  in  1844,  when  he  removed 
to  Caldwell  county,  Missouri,  where  he  acted  in  the 
capacity  of  plow-boy  on  the  farm  owned  by  his 
parents  for  some  years.  His  facilities  for  obtaining 
an  education  were  somewhat  limited,  but  being  a  lad 
of  more,  than  ordinary  ability  he  succeeded  in  obtain 
ing  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  branches  taught  in 
a  district  school.  His  next  move  was  to  Crawfords- 
ville,  Indiana,  where  he  remained  until  the  year  1852. 
when  he  came  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  entered  the 
mines  of  California,  engaging  in  mining,  which  busi 
ness  in  connection  with  ditching  he  followed  with 
varied  success  until  1868,  at  which  time  he  settled  on 
his  present  ranch,  where  he  has  since  resided.  As  a 
farmer  Mr.  Van  Sandt  has  proved  a  success,  and  is 
to-day  the  possessor  of  a  fine,  large  ranch,  containing 
six  hundred  acres,  and  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of 
every  kind  of  grain,  hay,  and  fruits.  The  ranch  is 
situated  on  the  Mokelumne  river,  and  commands  a 
beautiful  view  of  the  surrounding  country.  He  was 
married  in  1875  to  Miss  McCloucy,  and  their  union 
has  been  blessed  with  two  children,  both  boys,  aged 
respectively  four  and  one  years. 

In  the  possession  of  his  interesting  family,  and 
beautiful  home,  Mr.  Van  Sandt  stands  second  to  none 
of  the  many  farmers  along  the  river,  and  being  in 
the  prime  of  life  bids  fair  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his 
labors  for  many  years  to  come. 


JAMES  W.   VIOLETT 

Was  born  in  Logan  county,  Kentucky,  July  1,  1828, 
residing  there  until  1849.  He  fell  into  the  California 
column  in  1850,  making  his  way  to  Sacramento, 
where  he  followed  the  business  of  a  carpenter  until 
1853,  when  he  came  to  lone  valley,. which  place  he 
has  made  his  home,  with  some  slight  interruptions, 
ever  since,  engaged  in  farming,  in  some  of  its 
branches,  in  which  he  has  generally  been  successful. 
In  1871  he  purchased  the  famous  Pardee  orchard, 
one  of  the  oldest  as  well  as  largest  in  the  county.  It 
contains  one  hundred  and  eight  acres  of,  perhaps,  as 
productive  land  as  can  be  found  in  California.  The 


322 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


fruit  from  this  place  has  always  borne  a  high  charac 
ter.  The  writer  of  this  article  has  seen  bunches  of 
the  Eschol  or  Palestine  grape  over  two  feet  in 
length,  growing  on  the  place.  Twenty-one  acres  are 
now  planted  in  choice  fruit  trees  numbering  over 
two  thousand. 

Mr.  Violett  was  married  September  7, 1871,  to  Mrs. 
Martha  Watkinson,  formerly  Miss  Martha  Gregory. 
They  have  six  children.  Mr.  Violett  is  an  honest, 
industrious,  and  intelligent  man,  having  the  confi 
dence  and  respect  of  his  neighbors,  and  is  foremost  in 
every  work  calculated  to  improve  schools,  churches 
or  other  beneficent  projects. 


JOHN  VOGAN, 

Whose  name  frequently  appears  in  the  body  of  our 
history,  was  born  in  Valley  Forge,  Pennsylvania, 
May  7,  1822.  He  early  began  to  "go  West,"  his 
first  move  being  to  Memphis,  Tennessee.  In  1849  he 
came  to  California,  making  his  first  halt  at  San 
Francisco,  where  he  remained  but  a  short  time,  his 
next  destination  being  Sacramento.  Here  he  engaged 
in  staging,  the  business  which  afterwards  developed 
into  extensive  proportions,  having  lines  to  Marys- 
ville,  Auburn,  Jackson,  and  Mokelumne  Hill.  In 
1854  he  moved  to  the  Q  ranch,  and  in  company  with 
Charles  Green  still  further  extended  its  lines,  one  of 
the  longest  being  a  daily  from  Sacramento  to  Sonora, 
via  Jackson  and  Mokelumne  Hill,  a  distance  of  one- 
hundred  and  twenty  miles.  These  lines  were  all 
well  stocked,  the  horses  and  coaches  being  first-class. 
The  Forest  line  of  stages  were  well  known  for  com 
fort,  speed  and  safety,  through  the  State.  Though 
the  expenses  were  enormous,  so  were  the  profits,  the 
fare  from  Sonora  to  Sacramento  being  twenty  dol 
lars;  from  Jackson  ten  dollars.  The  lines  were 
afterward  consolidated  with  the  California  Stage 
Company,  which  proved  a  losing  concern.  After  the 
staging  business  had  ceased  to  be  profitable,  Vogan 
commenced  the  construction  of  a  graded  wagon 
road  from  lone  to  Jackson.  An  experience  of  ten 
or  twelve  years  in  staging  over  the  rough  roads,  or 
rather  over  no  roads  at  all,  enabled  him  not  only  to 
appreciate  the  value  of  good  roads,  but  also  to  plan 
the  grades  and  curves  that  would  make  a  good  road. 
It  was  finished  about  the  year  1863,  and  was,  and 
still  remains,  a'  monument  of  skill  and  perseverance, 
being  one  of  the  best  roads  considering  the  circum 
stances,  to  be  found  in  California. 

He  was  elected  Sheriff  in  1876,  and  re-elected  every 
term  since. 

He  was  married  July  19,  1860,  to  Miss  Lucy 
Green,  at  the  Q  ranch.  They  have  six  children,  five 
girls  and  one  boy.  He  has  a  beautiful  home  and 
twelve  hundred  acres  of  land  at  the  well-known 
Mountain  Springs. 

Mr.  Vogan  is  liberal  in  his  sentiments,  genial  and 
pleasant  in  manner,  with  no  disagreeable  angles  in 


his  character,  and  is  always  reliable  for  a  first-class 
anecdote  of  any  and  every  prominent  man  of  the 
country.  In  his  business  operations  he  is  a  square 
dealer,  above  reproach.  As  an  executive  officer  he 
has  exceeded  the  expectations  of  his  friends,  making 
one  of  the  best  detectives  in  the  State,  his  quiet, 
undemonstrative  manner  enabling  him  to  ferret  out 
many  transactions  which  would  be  successfully  hid 
den  from  a  noisy  man. 


RICHARD  WEBB 

Is  a  native  of  England,  born  about  the  year  1841; 
was  naturalized  in  San  Francisco  in  1876,  and  made 
his  appearance  in  Amador  county  the  same  year,  as 
editor  of  a  semi-weekly  paper  published  at  Sutter 
Creek,  which  was  soon  consolidated  with  the  Ledger 
at  Jackson,  he  becoming  sole  proprietor.  Soon  after 
removing  to  Jackson  he  married  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  Jones,  Esquire,  of  the  same  place,  thus  com 
pleting  his  identification  with  American  interests. 
His  career  as  an  editor  has  been  more  fully  referred 
to  in  connection  with  the  newspapers  of  Amador 
county.  It  may  be  added,  however,  that  he  has 
paid  particular  attention  to  the  administration  of 
county  affairs,  and  has  unearthed  many  irregulari 
ties  (a  severer  term  might  be  used),  and  has  in  many 
ways  assisted  in  bringing  about  the  present  econom 
ical  management  of  financial  matters.  No  crooked 
official  bears  any  good-will  to  Richard  Webb. 


CONRAD  WELLER 

Was  born  in  the  town  of  Helmstadt,  in  Germany, 
December  14,  1832,  living  there  until  he  was  sixteen 
years  old,  acquiring  a  good  business  education  at  the 
schools  for  which  Germany  is  so  famous.  Following 
the  tide  of  emigration,  which  was  then  beginning  to 
set  heavily  towards  America,  in  company  with  an 
elder  brother,  he  landed  in  New  Orleans  in  1849, 
going  directly  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  completed  the 
trade  of  tinning  and  sheet-iron  working,  which  he 
had  partially  learned  in  Germany.  From  thence  he 
went  to  Belleville,  Illinois,  where  his  brother  resided, 
remaining  there  until  1853,  when  he  crossed  the 
plains  to  California.  He  first  located  in  Sacramento, 
working  at  his  trade,  but  finally  came  to  Jackson 
October  24,  1855,  and  three  days  afterwards  opened 
the  store  which  he  has  since  occupied,  except  when 
interrupted  by  fires,  the  great  fire  of  1862  totally 
destroying  his  goods  and  store.  In  addition  to  the 
mamifacture  of  tin  and  sheet-iron  ware,  he  has 
always  kept  on  hand  the  best  stock  of  stoves  and 
other  hardware  to  be  found  in  the  county. 

He  was  married  in  1861,  to  Miss  Katie  Griesbach, 
of  Volcano;  have  one  child,  a  son,  born  August  3, 
1862. 

Mrs.  Weller  was  born  in  Munich,  March  3, 1845,  of 
Jacob  and  Catherine  Griesbach. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  AND  DESCRIPTIVE  SKETCHES. 


Mr.  Weller  and  wife  are  good  samples  of  the  emi 
gration  from  Germany,  who,  by  honest,  persistent 
industry  which,  satisfied  with  a  fair  prosperity,  move 
straight  along  without  grumbling  to  competence  and 
wealth,  and  who  have  done  so  much  to  develop  the 
resources  of  the  country,  and  establish  the  habits  of 
life  so  invaluable  to  a  nation. 


MATTHEW  H.  WELLS 

Was   born   May  9,    1809,  in   Suffolk  county,   Long 
Island,  and  is,  therefore,  a  New  Yorker.     He  resided 
on   the    romantic    island   until    he  was    seventeen, 
obtaining  a  practical  business  education  while  there.' 
His  next  residence  was  in  New  York  City,  where  he 
was  engaged  in  an  extensive  grocery  store  for  three 
years.     The  desire  to  see  the  world  being  strong,  he 
enlisted  in  the  service,  going  on  the  United  States 
ship  Boston,    where    he    remained  four    and  a  half 
years.     The  next  thirteen  years  were  spent  in  New 
York  City  in  various  kinds  of  business.     Upon  the 
breaking  out  of  the  gold  fever  he  took  passage  in  the 
brig  Cordelia,  leaving   New  York  January  30, 1849, 
reaching  San  Francisco  July  15th,  which,  considering 
the   character  of  the  vessel  and   ignorance  of  the 
winds  and  currents  in  those  days,  was  a  remarkably 
quick  trip.     He  followed  raining  for  a  short  time, 
but  soon  engaged  in  butchering  in  Sacramento,  which 
he    followed  for    some    months.      Then  he  tried  a 
boarding-house  for  awhile,  and  then  a  store,  for  in 
those  days  lawyers  sold  peanuts  and  blacked   boots, 
and  ministers  occasionally  dealt  monte,  no  one  fol 
lowing  his  own  trade,  or  indeed  any  one,  long.     In 
1852  he  came  to  Amador  creek,  where  he  kept  a 
store  for  eleven  years,  falling  into  the  steady  habits 
of  the  New  England  life.     In  1863  he  located  on  the 
ranch  where  he  now  lives,  about  forty  miles  east  of 
Sacramento,    on   the    road   to   Jackson,    Plymouth 
and  Oleta.     He  has  large  and  commodious  buildings, 
making  a  comfortable  residence  for  both  man  and 
beast.      His    farm    contains    about    seven  hundred 
acres  of  land. 

He  was  married  in  1838  to  Miss  H.  M.  Watts,  who 
lived  with  him,  as  companion  and  adviser,  for  forty- 
two  years,  dying  in  June,  1880.  A  married  daughter, 
husband  and  family  reside  with  him,  sharing  the 
ownership  and  labors  of  the  farm. 


ISAAC  W.  WHITACRE 

Is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  having  been  born  April 
16,  1823,  in  Lycoming  county.  At  the  age  of  nine 
years  he  removed  with  his  parents  to  Logan  county, 
Ohio,  where  he  resided  until  he  was  fourteen  years 
of  age.  In  1837  the  family  returned  to  Pennsylva 
nia,  where  they  remained  two  years,  when  they  again 
made  a  move  west,  this  time  going  to  Washington 
county,  Iowa,  where  the  subject  of  this  sketch  resi 
ded  until  1853,  when  he  made  his  way  to  California 
with  ox-teams,  being  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  days 


on  the  road.  They  doubtless  wondered  if  a  railway 
would  ever  be  laid  down  over  the  interminable  ter- 
tory  of  sage-brush  and  alkali  plains?  He  first 
ocated  in  Nevada  county,  remaining  there  one  year 
engaged  in  mining ;  from  there  to  Fresno  county 
where  he  lived  five  years,  engaged  in  teaming  and 
freighting.  In  1858  he  removed  from  Fresno  to 
Amador  county,  locating  on  his  present  ranch,  about 
two  and  one-half  miles  from  Plymouth,  on  the  road 
to  Oleta.  The  place  contains  two  hundred  acres  of 
land,  which  is  pleasantly  situated  and  convenient  for 
business.  He  was  married  in  1844  to  Rachel  Sim 
mons,  a  native  of  Ohio.  The  family  consists  of  Mr. 
Whitacre,  wife  and  two  children,  a  son  and  daughter^ 
the  latter  being  married,  the  son  residing  with  the 
parents. 

STEPHEN  C.  WHEELER 

Is  a  native  of  Indiana,  having  been  born  November 
14,  1828,  at  the  town  of  Seymour,  Jackson  county, 
where  he  resided  until  1852,  when  he  migrated  to 
California,  traveling  across  the  plains  with  an  ox- 
team,  reaching  Amador  county,  September  30th,  set 
tling  in  that  portion  of  it  which  at  that  time  formed 
apart  of  El  Dorado  county.  He  followed  mining 
some  fifteen  years  with  varied  success,  making,  how 
ever,  no  big  strikes.  His  experience  in  a  gold-bear 
ing  lava  bed  was  more  interesting  than  profitable, 
interesting  to  mineralogists  at  least,  as  throwing 
some  light  on  the  method  of  the  superficial  deposit 
of  gold.  Most  of  his  mining  was  done  in  Amador 
county,  his  family,  during  the  time,  living  on  the 
ranch  which  he  is  now  cultivating,  about  two  miles 
west  of  Plymouth.  Since  1867  Mr.  Wheeler  has 
paid  more  attention  to  agriculture  as  more  sure,  if 
not  so  brilliant  in  its  results,  than  mining. 

He  is  also  interested,  with  another  party,  in  the 
introduction  of  the  "  Asbestine  Sub-irrigation  Pipe," 
which,  it  is  thought,  will  be  generally  adopted,  and 
work  a  great  revolution  in  the  method  of  irrigation, 
as  agriculture,  in  many  places,  depends  upon  an 
economical  use  of  water. 

He  was  married  February  21,  1850,  to  Miss  Mary 
E.  Thompson,  a  native  of  Indiana.  His  family  con 
sists  of  himself,  wife  and  ten  children,  five  sons  and 
five  daughters,  two  of  the  daughters  being  married. 


F.  M.  WHITMORE. 

Flint  Monroe  Whitmore  was  born  at  Ashburnham, 
Massachusetts,  December  22,  1822.  He  remained 
in  his  native  Sfate  until  1845,  when  he  moved  to 
Baltimore,  which  place  he  made  his  home  until  1849, 
when  he  returned  to  Massachusetts,  making  his  home 
in  Boston.  Following  the  current  of  emigration  he 
embarked  for  California  via  the  Isthmus,  and  arrived 
in  San  Francisco  in  June,  1850,  reaching  Volcano  in 
November  following,  which  latter  place  he  has  since 
made  his  home.  Mr.  Whitmore  engaged  in  both 


324 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


placer  and  quartz  mining  with  varied  success,  some 
times  winning  moderately,  but  not  making  himself 
a  millionaire.  In  1862,  he  engaged  in  farming  a  few 
miles  above  "Volcano,  planting  out  quite  an  extensive 
orchard;  the  climate,  soil,  and  elevation,  being  pecu 
liarly  adapted  to  the  production  of  fruit.  Stock  and 
grain  farming  also  received  a  share  of  his  attention. 
In  1862,  he  purchased  a  saw-mill  and  a  tract  of 
timber  land  on  Antelope  creek,  which  have  since 
demanded  the  largest  share  of  his  attention.  The 
region  in  which  he  is  located  is  one  possessing  many 
attractions  to  the  lovers  of  nature.  The  lofty  pines, 
the  magnificent  prospect  overlooking  the  great  Sac 
ramento  valley,  the  pure  atmosphere,  and  cool  water, 
form  a  combination  of  pleasing  objects  which  never 
tires  the  beholder.  Though  Mr.  Whitmore  has  drawn 
around  him  many  of  the  comforts  and  elegancies  of 
life,  he  remains  a  single  man,  a  niece,  Mrs.  C.  E. 
Heath,  doing  the  honors  of  his  house.  As  a  citizen, 
Mr.  Whitmore  is  conscientious,  firm,  and  inde 
pendent,  possessing  the  confidence  and  respect  of 
the  community,  always  maintaining  the  self-respect 
and  honor,  characteristic  of  his  place  of  birth.  A 
view  of  his  mill  and  surroundings  is  given  in  another 
part  of  the  work.  No  artist  can  do  justice  to  the 
scenery,  which  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated.  His 
ranch  contains  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of 
land;  his  timber  tract,  one  hundred  and  sixty. 


N.  C.  WILLIAMS 

Is  a  native  of  the  State  of  Maine,  having  been  born 
at  Embden,  Somerset  county,  January  20, 1834.  His 
life  was  passed  in  the  town  where  he  first  saw  the 
light,  until  he  reached  the  age  of  sixteen  years.  He 
had  acquired  a  good  education  during  these  years, 
and  in  1850  left  home  and  obtained  a  situation  in  the 
city  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  where  he  remained 
about  three  years  as  clerk  in  a  ship  yard. 

As  youth  ripened  into  manhood,  he  aspired  to 
something  different  from  the  old  routine  to  which  he 
was  accustomed,  and  fired  with  enthusiam  from  the 
reports  of  people  on  the  Pacific  coast,  he  determined 
to  ascertain  personally  what  Dame  Fortune  had  in 
store  for  him  in  that  region;  accordingly  with  the 
thought  came  the  action,  and  in  1855  he  bade  fare 
well  to  his  eastern  friends  and  sought  new  ones  in 
California,  arriving  in  San  Francisco  in  due  time,  by 
way  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 

His  first  permanent  location  was  in  Amador  county, 
where  he  has  since  resided,  with  the  exception  of 
one  year,  during  which  he  visited  his  old  home  in  the 
States.  His  occupation  for  the  firsften  years  of  his 
California  life,  was  in  the  usual  vocation  of  mining; 
but  upon  his  return  from  the  States  he  engaged 
in  various  kinds  of  business. 

In  1871  he  settled  on  his  present  ranch,  which  is 
located  on  tho  Pine  Grove  and  Antelope  toll-road, 
fourteen  miles  east  of  Jackson.  He  is  very  pleas 
antly  situated,  and  is  a  gentleman  esteemed  by  all 


who  have  the  honor  of  his  acquaintance.     He  was 
married  May  13,  1874,  to  Miss  Rosella  Worley. 


JOSEPH  WOOLFORD 

Was  born  at  Ramsbure,  Wiltshire,  in  England,  Feb 
ruary  7,  1832,  where  he  resided  until  1858,  when  he 
went  to  Peru,  in  South  America,  by  way  of  Cape 
Horn,  where  he  resided  for  four  years.  After  this 
he  came  to  California  and  lived  at  the  place  then 
called  "Puckerville,"  about  a  half  mile  to  the  west 
of  the  town  of  Plymouth. 

Mr.  Woolford  is  a  blacksmith  by  trade,  having  fol 
lowed  it  most  of  his  life,  being  at  present  in  the  em 
ploy  of  the  Pacific  Mining  Company,  though  he  has 
at  other  times  been  employed  by  the  Empire  Mining 
Company.  He  is  a  first-class  mechanic,  and  has  sug 
gested  and  perfected  many  improvements  in  tools 
and  machinery.  Among  other  things  he  has  invented 
a  ratchet  wrench  which  works  equally  well  on  round 
as  on  square  heads,  for  which  he  has  obtained  a 
patent. 

He  is  a  single  man,  living  with  his  brother,  who 
occupies  his  ranch.  His  experiences  in  the  mines 
and  in  South  America,  make  an  interesting  narrative 
when  he  can  be  induced  to  speak  of  them. 


D.  YOUNGLOVE 

Was  born  July  13,  1833,  at  Great  Barrington,  Berk 
shire  county,  Massachusetts,  where  he  spent  his 
boyhood  and  acquired  his  education.  In  1851,  he 
removed  to  Waushara  county,  Wisconsin,  where  he 
engaged  in  farming  until  1864,  when  he  sought  the 
Golden  State.  Here  he  engaged  in  freighting  from 
Sacramento  to  the  different  mining  towns  of  Ama 
dor,  making  his  home  at  first  north  of  Volcano.  He 
followed  this  business  until  1875,  when  he  purchased 
the  highly  improved  Edward's  property,  for  about 
ten  thousand  dollars,  which  place  he  has  since  made 
his  home.  This  place  contains  two  hundred  and 
thirty -three  acres  of  lone  valley  land,  than  which 
nothing  better  can  be  said.  The  orchards,  buildings, 
and  approaches,  are  laid  out  in  European  style,  with 
drives  and  graveled  walks,  bordered  with  flowers 
and  fragrant  herbs.  It  was  for  many  years,  and 
probably  is  now,  the  most  artistically  improved  place 
in  the  county.  The  coal  vein  underlies  a  large  por 
tion  of  the  place.  The  Gait  &  lone  railroad  passes 
through  the  southern  side  of  the  place,  the  depot 
being  but  a  few  hundred  feet  from  his  land,  thus 
affording  ample  market  facilities  for  coal,  or  the 
produce  of  the  farm.  The  vein  of  coal  is  from  three 
to  fifteen  feet  in  thickness,  lying  nearly  on  a  level 
with  the  valley  in  the  adjoining  hills.  The  cost  of 
mining  is  less  than  one  dollar  per  ton.  The  coal 
burns  freely,  and  is  used  for  domestic  purposes,  and 
also  as  a  steam  coal,  being  worth  per  ton  about  the 
same  as  a  cord  of  wood.  The  orchard  contains 
about  sixteen  hundred  trees,  bearing  choice  fruit. 


j.     F.     PARKS 


OF  THE 

(UNIVERSITY) 

CALIFORNIA 


CHRONOLOGICAL 


1513. 
Discovery  of  the  Pacific  ocean  by  Balboa. 

1518. 
Invasion  of  Mexico  by  Cortez. 

1519. 
First  Navigation  of  the  Pacific  by  Magellan. 

1534. 
Discovery  of  Lower  California  by  Cortez. 

1535. 
Further  Exploration  of  the  California  gulf. 

1537. 
Explorations  on  the  Western  coast  by  Ulloa. 

1542. 
Expedition  of  Cabrillo.     Cape  Mendocino  discovered. 

1554. 
Death  of  Cortez. 

1577. 
Sir  Francis  Drake's  discoveries. 

1579. 

California  taken  possession  of  by  Sir  Francis  Drake 
in  the  name  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 

1596. 
Viscaino  takes  possession  of  Lower  California. 

1602. 
San  Diego  harbor  discovered  by  Yiscaifio. 

1683. 

First  attempt  to  colonize  Lower  California  at  La  Paz 
by  Admiral  Otondo  and  Friar  Ktihn. 

1697. 

October  25.     The  first  Jesuit  Mission  established  at 
Loreto,  in  Lower  California,  by  Father  Salvatierra. 

1700. 
The  second  Jesuit  Mission  established  at  San  Xavier, 

Lower  California,  by  Father  Ugarte. 
First  Expedition  into  the  Interior  by  Father  Kino. 

1720. 
Expedition  of  Father  Ugarte  to  the  river  Colorado. 

1766. 
Expeditions  of  Father  Wincestus  Link. 

1767. 

The  Jesuits  expelled  from  Lower  California,  and  the 
Franciscans  installed. 

1768. 

Caspar  de  Portala  appointed  Governor  of  Californias, 
and  Francis  Junipero  Serra,  Missionary  President. 

1769. 
Expeditions  dispatched  by  land  and  water  into  Upper 

California. 
July  16.     San  Diego  Mission  founded. 

1770. 
June  3.     Monterey  Mission  founded. 

1771. 
July  14.     San  Antonio  Mission  founded. 


September  8.     San  Gabriel  Mission  founded. 
Eeinforcements  and  supplies  arrive  at  San  Diego. 

1772. 

September  1.     San  Luis  Obispo  Mission  founded. 
Father  Serra  returned  from  Mexico  with  reinforce 
ments  and  supplies. 

1775. 

Expedition  of  Friar  Garzes  through  the  upper  terri 
tory. 
November  4.     San  Diego  attacked  by  Indians. 

1776. 

June.     San  Diego  Mission  repaired. 
October  9.     San  Francisco  (Dolores)  Mission  founded. 
November  1.     San  Juan  Capistrano  Mission  founded. 

1777. 
January  18.     Mission  of  Santa  Clara  founded. 

1781. 
September  4.    Pueblo  de  Los  Angeles  established. 

1782. 
March  31.     San  Buena  Ventura  Mission  founded. 

1784. 

Los  Nietos  tract  granted  to  Manuel  Nieto. 
October  20.     San  Eafael  tract  granted  to  Jose  Maria 
Verdugo. 

1786. 
December  4.     Santa  Barbara  Mission  founded. 

1787. 

December   8.      La    Purissima    Conception    Mission 
founded. 

1791. 

August  28.     Santa  Cruz  Mission  founded. 
October  9.     La  Soledad  Mission  founded. 

1797. 

June  11.     San  Jose  Mission  founded. 
June  24.     San  Juan  Bautista  Mission  founded. 
July  25.     San  Miguel  Mission  founded. 
September  8.     San  Fernando  Mission  founded. 

1798. 
June  13.    Mission  of  San  Luis  Key  deFrancia founded. 

1802. 
Humboldt  visits  California. 

1804. 
September  17.     Mission  of  Santa  Inez  founded. 

1810. 
Santiago  de  Santa  Ana  tract  granted  Antonio  Yorba 

*  1812. 

December  8.    Mission  of  San  Juan   Capistrano  de 
stroyed  by  earthquake. 
December  21.     Church  of  La  Purissima  destroyed  by 

earthquake. 

1815. 

W.  Whittle  claims  to  have  arrived  in  Los  Angeles, 
being  the  first  English-speaking  settlerin  California. 


326 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


1818. 

Bouchard's  privateer  attacked  the  coast  towns. 
Joseph  Chapman  and  Thomas  Fisher  captured  and 
taken  to  Los  Angeles. 

1819. 
December  14.     San  Rafael  Mission  founded. 

1822. 

Mexican  independence  established. 
Captain  John  Hall,  of  the  British  Navy,  examined 
and  reported  on  the  Pacific  coast  harbors. 

1824. 

Santiago  McKinley  settled  in  Los  Angeles. 
First  Act  of  the  Mexican  Government  toward  secu 
larization  of  the  missions  passed. 

1826. 
Jedediah  S.  Smith  entered  California  overland. 

1826. 
Manumission  of  the  Indians  declared. 

1827. 
First  Mexican  school  established. 

Great  drought. 

1828. 

Jesse  Ferguson,  Richard  Laughlin,  N.  M.  Pryor, 
Abel  Stearns,  and  Louis  Bouchette,  settled  in  Los 
Angeles.  Continued  drought. 

1829. 

Michael  White  and  John  Domingo,  settled  in  Los 
Angeles. 

1831. 

Manuel  Victoria  became  Governor. 
J.  J.  Warner,  William  Wolfskill,  Luis  Vignes,  Joseph 
Bowman,  John  Rhea,  and  William  Day,  settled  in 
Los  Angeles. 
The  schooner  Eefugio  built  at  San  Pedro. 

1833. 
Death  of  Padre  Sanchez. 

1834. 
August  9.    Complete  secularization  of  the  missions 

decreed. 

Hijar's  expedition. 
Destruction  of  the  mission  property. 
Luis  Vignes  plants  the  first  orange  orchard  in  Los 

Angeles. 
First  soap  factory  established. 

1835. 

Hijar's  insurrection.     Death  of  Governor  Figueroa. 
R.  H.  Dana  visits  California. 

Henry  Mellus  and  Hugo  Reid  settle  in  Los  Angeles. 
The  first  lynching. 

1836. 
Census  taken. 

Graham's  insurrection. 

Los  Angeles  erected  into  a  city. 

1838. 

Arrest  of  suspected  persons. 
Second  Mexican  school  established  in  Los  Angeles. 

1840. 
Isaac  Graham  and  companions  arrested  and  sent  to 

Mexico. 
May  18.     Grant  of  Arroyo  Seco  made  to  Theodosia 

Yorba,  by  Juan  B.  Alvarado. 


1841. 

United  States   exploring   expedition   examined   the 
California  coast. 

1842. 

Micheltorena  Governor. 
October  19.     Seizure  of  Monterey  by  United  States 

Commodore  Jones. 
October  20.     Its  restoration. 
Discovery  of  gold  in  Los  Angeles  county. 

1843. 

January    18.     Commodore    Jones    visits    Governor 
Micheltorena  at  Los  Angeles. 

1844. 

Great  drought. 
Lancasterian  school  established  in  Los  Angeles. 

1845. 

Continued  drought. 

February  21.     Battle  at  Cahuenga  between  Michel 
torena  and  Alvarado.     A  mule  killed. 
1846. 

March.     Arrival  of  Fremont  and  exploring  party. 

Sutter  sawed  lumber  on  the  divide   between  Sutter 
and  Amador. 

April.     The  Donner  party  start  for  California. 

May  11.     War  with  Mexico  declared  by  Congress. 

June  11.     First  act  of  hostility  by  Fremont's  party. 

June  15.     The  Bear  flag  hoisted. 

July  7.     Monterey  captured  by  Commodore  Sloat. 

July  8.     Yerba  Buena  captured. 

July  27.     Fremont's  battalion  sent  to  San  Diego. 

July  28.    Rev.  Walter  Colton  appointed  alcalde   of 
Monterey. 

July  29.     Commodore  Sloat  sailed  for  the  East. 

August  1.     Stockton  sails  for  San  Pedro. 

August  4.     Stockton  captures  Santa  Barbara. 

August  6.     Stockton  arrives  at  San  Pedro. 

August  15.     Los  Angeles  City  occupied  by  Stockton. 

August  15.     The  Californian  issued,  by  Semple  and 
Colton,  at  Monterey. 

September  4.     First  jury  trial  in  California  at  Mon 
terey. 

September  23.     Flores'  insurrection  against  Gillespie. 

Gillespie  surrenders,  and  embarks  at  San  Pedro. 

B.  D.  Wilson's  party  captured  by  Varelas. 

October  7.     Captain  Mervine  landed  at  San  Pedro, 
and  was  defeated. 

1847. 

January  8.     Battle  of  the  Rio  San  Gabriel. 
"       9.     Battle  of  the  Mesa. 
"     10.     Los  Angeles  re-occupied  by  Commodore 
Stockton. 
January  11.     Proclamation  by  Stockton. 

"  12.  Treaty  of  peace  agreed  upon  between 
General  John  C.  Fremont  and  General  Andres 
Pico  at  Cahuenga. 

March  1.     Stephen  W.  Kearney  recognized  as  Gov 
ernor. 
April.     Semi-monthly  mails  established  between  San 

Francisco  and  San  Diego. 
May  31.     Richard  B.  Mason  became  Governor. 


CHRONOLOGICAL. 


327 


1848. 

January  19.     Discovery  of  gold  at  Coloma. 
February  2.     Treaty  of  peace  signed  at  Guadalupe 

Hidalgo. 

1849. 

January  4.  Alta  California  newspaper  established  in 
San  Francisco. 

February  7.  First  Pacific  Railroad  bill  introduced  in 
Congress. 

February  28.  Steamer  California  reached  San  Fran 
cisco. 

April  13.     General  Bennett  Riley  became  Governor. 

June  3.  Governor  Riley  issued  proclamation  for  a 
Convention  at  Monterey. 

October  13.     Constitution  signed. 

November  13.     Constitution  ratified  by  the  people. 

December  15.  First  Legislature  convened  at  San 
Jose. 

December  20.  Governor  Peter  H.  Burnett  inaug 
urated. 

1850. 

February  18.  State  divided  into  twenty-seven  coun 
ties.  Calaveras  county  organized. 

County  seat  captured  at  Double  Spring  and  moved 
to  Jackson. 

April  9.     State  Library  founded. 

May  4.     Second  great  fire  in  San  Francisco. 

June  3.     Third  great  fire  in  San  Francisco. 

Celebration  of  the  Fourth  at  Jackson,  McDowell 
delivering  an  oration. 

Colonel  Collyer  shot  by  Judge  Smith. 

September  9.     California  admitted  into  the  Union. 

September  17.  Fourth  great  fire  in  San  Francisco. 
1851. 

Second  Legislature  convened  at  San  Jose. 

February  14.  Act  approved  removing  capital  to 
Yallejo. 

The  Irving  party  massacred  by  the  Cahuilla  Indians. 

Gregory's  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Express  established. 

November  12.  Attempt  to  assassinate  Benjamin 
Hayes. 

September  9.     Grand  Division  Sons  of  Temperance 

organized. 

1852. 
January  2.     United  States  Land  Commission  met  at 

San  Francisco. 

January  5.     Third  session  of  Legislature  at  Vallejo. 
September.     Riot  at  Jamison's  ranch,  four  Mexicans 

being  whipped.     Arrest  of  Jamison  and  son  by 

posse  comitatus  from  El  Dorado. 
County  seat  removed  to  Mokelumne  Hill. 
August.     Whitehead  murdered  near  Butler's,  on  the 

road  between  Plymouth  and  Drytown. 
August  4.     Sacramento   Valley   Railroad  Company 

organized. 
November  1.     Claim  four  hundred  and  forty-one,  for 

Arroyo  Seco,  filed  with  Land  Commissioners. 

1853. 
January  3.     Fourth  session  of  the  Legislature  met 

at  Vallejo. 


February  4.     State  Capital  removed  to  Benicia. 

Tejon  Indian  reservation  established. 

June.     A  man  named  Smith  died  from  the  effects  of 

a  rattlesnake  bite  near  Fiddletown. 
—  Portor,  superintendent  of  the  Willow  Spring  ditch, 

murdered  near  the  race-track,  probably  by  Dutch 

Chris,  and  Harry  Fox,  who  murdered  Beckman  at 

Volcano  about  the  same  time. 
August.     Eureka  Hotel  burned  at  Volcano. 
November.    A  gambler,  named  Baldwin,  shot  and 

killed  by  another  of   the  same  profession,  named 

Whitney. 

Doctor  Beck  killed  Norton  at  Lancha  Plana. 
Death  of  Joaquin  Murietta. 
December.     H.  A.  Carter  and  E.  B.  Harris,  citizens 

of  lone,  learned  the  existence  of  the  claim  called 

the   "Arroyo  Seco,"  while  at  Benicia,  the  then 

capital. 

1854. 

January  1.  California  Stage  Company  began  opera 
tions. 

January  2.     Legislature  convened  at  Benecia. 

February  25.     State  Capital  removed  to  Sacramento. 

March  1.  California  Steam  Navigation  Company 
organized. 

March  23.     Hanging  of  the  Swede  at  Jackson. 

April  4.  Fire  at  Jackson,  loss  twenty-eight  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars. 

May  13.  Act  approved  establishing  a  State  Agricul 
tural  Society. 

June  17.  Election  to  determine  whether  the  county 
of  Amador  should  be  formed  out  of  a  part  of  Cal 
averas. 

July  3.  Commissioners  appointed  by  Legislature 
met  to  call  election  for  county  officers  of  the  new 
county. 

July  17.     First  county  officers  elected. 

August  3.  G.  F.  Elliot  killed  in  a  difficulty  by  C.  Y. 
Hammond. 

September  10.     First  Court  of  Sessions. 

September  11.  J.  K.  Payne  allowed  twelve  dollars 
and  fifty  cents  for  services  in  building  a  school- 
house  at  Grass  Valley. 

E.  P.  Hunter  killed  at  Lancha  Plana  by  John  Chap 
man. 

October  4.     First  State  Fair  held  at  San  Francisco. 

October.  Joseph  H.  Antonio,  Francis  Munioz,  sub 
jects  of  Coroner's  investigations. 

George  Simmons  on  trial  for  manslaughter. 

November  9.  Sacramento  Valley  Railroad  Company 
re-organized. 

November.     Messer  hung  by  a  mob  at  Volcano,  for 
the  murder  of  McAllister. 
1855. 

January  1.  First  financial  report  of  Amador  county. 
$10,532.50  in  treasury,  which  on  May  4th  amounted 
to  $16,649.59;  outstanding  orders,  07,972.84,  leav 
ing  a  net  of  $8,876.75. 

February  27.     Claim  four  hundred  and  forty-one,  for 


328 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


Arroyo    Seco  grant,  rejected   by  Land    Commis 
sioners. 

May  5.  Win.  M.  Seawell  and  J.  T.  King  are 
appointed  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

May  8.     Townships  No.  5  and  6  organized. 
1855. 

May  9.  E.  B.  Yates  appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace 
for  Township  No.  6. 

May  15.  William  M.  Seawell,  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
resigned,  and  F.  G.  Hoard  appointed  in  his  place. 

May  16.  Four  dollars  road  tax  assessed  on  persons 
between  twenty-one  and  fifty. 

May  19.  Board  of  Supervisors  allowed  J.  C.  Ship- 
man  five  hundred  dollars  for  acting  as  County 
Auditor,  which  he  declined  taking,  deeming  it  in 
sufficient. 

June  21.  Supervisors  ordered  the  building  of  a 
county  jail,  costing  four  thousand  two  hundred  and 
eighty  dollars;  Craft  &  Beale,  contractors. 

August  6.  Killing  of  six  persons  at  Lower  Ranch- 
eria  by  banditti. 

August  7.  Hanging  of  three  Mexicans  at  the  same 
place. 

General  disarming  of  the  Mexicans. 

August  12.  Death  of  Sheriff  Phoenix  at  Chinese 
Camp. 

Burning  of  the  church  and  other  houses  at  Drytown. 

Samuel  A.  Phcenix  appointed  Sheriff,  in  place  of  W. 
A.  Phcenix,  deceased. 

Hanging  at  Jackson  of  three  Mexicans  concerned  in 
Rancheria  tragedy — day  uncertain. 

Manuel  Escobar  was  the  last  of  the  party  hanged  ; 
he  was  also  the  last  executed  on  the  famous  tree. 

Supervisor  Districts  established. 

August  24.  First  railroad  train  in  California  placed 
on  the  track  of  Sacramento  Yalley  Railroad. 

September.     Board  of  Supervisors  organized. 

October  27.     Amador  Ledger  commenced  at  Yolcano. 

November  15.  J.  C.  Shipman  allowed  three  hun 
dred  and  fifty-two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  for 
making  out  assessment  roll  and  tax  list. 

December  21.  Three  professional  robbers,  camping 
about  three  miles  below  Jackson,  were  attacked 
by  Sheriff  Thorn,  of  Calaveras,  detective  Hume, 
and  J.  W.  Surface  of  lone,  two  being  captured. 
A  large  amount  of  burglars'  tools  found  in  the 
camp. 

1854  AND  1855. 

Legislature  set  off  territory  of  El  Dorado  as  part  of 
the  county  of  Amador. 

1856. 

January  8. killed  by  Cottrell,  at  Yolcano. 

March.     Survey  of  Arroyo  Seco  Grant. 

April  6.  Cottrell  re-arrested  at  Placerville  and 
placed  in  Amador  jail ;  eventually  tried  and  ex 
ecuted. 

May  16.  Yigilance  Committee  formed  in  San  Fran 
cisco. 

May  22.  Caeey  and  Cora  hung  by  Yigilance  Com 
mittee  in  San  Francisco. 


June  3.  Governor  Johnson  issued  a  proclamation 
calling  out  the  State  militia  to  suppress  Yigilantes. 

June  21.  Arrest  of  Judge  David  S.  Terry  by  Yigi 
lance  Committee  of  San  Francisco. 

July  29.  Hetherington  and  Brace  hung  by  Yigilance 
Committee  in  San  Francisco. 

October  5.  D.  L.  Wells,  of  the  Gate,  thrown  from 
his  carriage  while  riding  down  the  grade  between 
Mokelumne  Hill  and  the  river  and  killed. 

October   6.     Death  of  Thomas  Hodges,  alias  Tom 
Bell,  the  noted  highwayman. 
1857. 

June  15.  First  stage  on  the  wagon  road,  completed 
round  trip,  Placerville  to  Carson  Yalley. 

September  18.     Death  of  Chief  Justice  Hugh  Murray. 

September  29.     State  Fair  held  at  Stockton. 

November  7.  M.  Y.  B.  Griswold  murdered  by  China 
men. 

November.  Difficulty  near  Yolcano  in  which  two 
men  were  killed  by  Stevenson,  who  was  tried  and 
executed. 

1858. 

April  16.  Three  Chinamen  hung  at  Jackson  for 
the  murder  of  M.  Y.  B.  Griswold. 

July  23.  First  overland  mail  via  Placerville  and  Salt 
Lake  left  Sacramento. 

Frazer  River  excitement. 

1859. 

Discovery  of  the  Comstock  Ledge. 

August.  Survey  made  by  Mandeville,  locating  Ar 
royo  Seco  ten  miles  further  west. 

September  13.     State  Fair  held  at  Sacramento. 

September  14.  Terry  and  Broderick  duel,  San 
Mateo  county;  Broderick  mortally  wounded. 

November.      Large    fire    in    Yolcano,    burning   St. 
George  Hotel  and  twenty-five  other  buildings. 
1860. 

April  26.  Judge  McAllister  decided  that  the  Arroyo 
Seco  Grant  should  be  located  west  of  the  Lyons 
and  Martin  mountains. 

April.  Pony  express  established,  and  first  mes 
senger  left  Sacramento. 

May  12.  Massacre  of  the  Ormsby  party  near  Pyra 
mid  lake. 

September.      Death   of   the   Indian    chief    Captain 

Truckle. 

1861, 

January  13.     State  Agricultural  Society  decided  to 

make  Sacramento  a  permanent  location. 
Instrumental   survey   of  the  route  for  the  Central 

Pacific  railroad  over  the  Sierras  made  during  this 

year. 
February  16.      Meeting   in   Yolcano  regarding  the 

building  of  a  wagon  road  to  Nevada. 
February  19.     Joseph  Worthy  killed  by  a  slide  of 

earth  at  Irishtown. 
February  23.      Meeting  in    Jackson  regarding  the 

building  of  a  wagon  road  to  Nevada. 
May  15.     Corner-stone  of  State  House  laid. 


CHRONOLOGICAL. 


329 


June  28.  Articles  of  incorporation  of  Central  Pacific 
Railroad  of  California  filed  with  the  Secretary  of 
State. 

1862. 

January  23.  Legislature  adjourned  to  San  Fran 
cisco  on  account  of  flood. 

July  1.     Pacific  Railroad  Act  approved  by  President. 

August  8  and  9.     First  fair  held  in  Amador  county. 

August  8  and  9.  First  bale  of  hops  raised  in  Amador 
county  on  exhibition  at  the  county  fair  by  J.  D. 
Mason. 

August  23.     Fire  at  Jackson,  destroying  the  town. 

Hanging-tree  at  Jackson  cut  down. 

August.  Mandeville's  survey,  on  appeal  from  Dis 
trict  Court,  confirmed  by  Judge  Hoffman. 

October.  Fire  at  Volcano  destroying  the  St.  George 
Hotel  and  other  property. 

November  4.     Earthquake  shock  felt  at  Tarr's  Mill. 

November  14.  Fitzgerald  killed  by  the  caving  of  a 
bank  at  Lancha  Plana. 

November  18.  William  Golman  found  dead  near  his 
residence;  cause  of  death  heart  disease. 

December  13.  Western  Pacific  Railroad  Company 
incorporated. 

1863. 

January  8.     Ground   broken  for  the  Central  Pacific 

railroad  at  Sacramento. 
January  20.     Beeson's  store  entered  by  masked  men. 

Beeson  "  bucked  and  gagged,"    and  then  robbed; 

names  of  robbers  unknown. 
February  3.     Appeal    to    United    States    Supreme 

Court  from  the  decision  of  Judge  Hoffman  in  the 

matter  of  locating  the  survey  of  the  Arroyo  Seco 

Grant  dismissed  without  a  hearing. 
February  9.     Jerry  Conley  killed  at  Lancha  Plana 

by  the  caving  of  a  bunk  of  gravel. 
February  11.     Harry  Hatch,  long  known  in  Ama 
dor  county,  died  at  the  residence  of  D.  C.  White. 
February   22.      Construction  of  the  Central  Pacific 

railroad  commenced. 
Act  approved  by   Governor  granting  ten  thousand 

dollars  per  mile  to  the  Central  Pacific  railroad. 
April    25.     A   colored   boy,    aged   eighteen,   iatally 

stabbed  his  father. 
May.     Capp  killed  on  his  claim  at  Pokerville  by  A. 

Moore. 
June  2.     J.  S.  Porter  appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace 

for  Township  No.  4.,  vice  II.  Wood,  resigned. 
June  5.     Conny  Mahoney  fatally  stabbed  by  Jack 

\Villson. 

July  7.  Precinct  established  at  Copper  Center. 
July  7.  Precinct  established  at  Elliott's  Ranch. 
July  14.  James  II.  Allen  drowned  in  Sacramento 

river. 

July  20.  House  of  Edward  Dosh,  lone  valley,  de 
stroyed  by  fire  ;  loss,  two  thousand  five  hundred 

dollars. 
July  21.     Philip  Morgan  fell  two  hundred  feet  in  a 

shaft  of  the  Eureka  mine,  killing  him  instantly. 
42 


August  8.  The  Amador  wagon  road  opened  to  the 
public. 

August  17.  Fernandino  Belliuomini  kttled  at  French 
Bar  by  the  falling  of  a  timber. 

September  7.  Three  prisoners  escaped  from  the  jail 
by  making  a  hole  through  the  brick  walls. 

September.  Child  of  Sylvester  Rogers,  near  Willow 
Spring  creek,  crushed  by  the  displacement  and 
rolling  of  a  rock. 

October.  A.  F.  Northrup  exhibited  an  apple  weigh 
ing  thirty  and  one-half  ounces,  of  the  Glori  Mundi 
variety. 

November  4.  Frederick  Fernsner,  of  Drytown,  com 
mitted  suicide  by  shooting  himself. 

November  14.  Charles  K.  Williams  killed  by  a  fall 
in  the  shaft  of  the  Plymouth  mine. 

November  15.  A  heavy  wind  blew  down  a  tree  on 
the  house  of  B.  Henderson,  near  Yolcano,  fatally 
injuring  him. 

November  17.  Stage  stopped  and  express  robbed  of 
two  thousand  dollars  between  Fiddletown  and 
Drytown. 

December  16.  Peter  McCabe  died  from  injuries 
received  by  being  thrown  from  a  wagon. 

December  31.  Two  teamsters  robbed  of  five  hun 
dred  dollars  by  highwaymen  on  the  Carson  grade. 

Three  cases  for  murder  came  before  the  District 
Court. 

Thomas  Hodge  found  dead  in  Cook's  Gulch.  No  clue 
to  i he  murderer. 

Thieves  were  plentiful  around  Jackson. 

Nevada  City  destroyed  by  fire.  Loss,  five  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars. 

1864. 

February  13.     Samuel's  store  in  Jackson   robbed  of 

cash   and  clothing  amounting  to   seven  hundred 

dollars. 
February  21.     David  Armstrong  died  at  Gold  Hill, 

Nevada  Territory. 
February  24.     The   dwelling   of    George   Clark,    in 

New  Yurk  Gulch,  destroyed    by  fire;  loss,  three 

thousand  dollars. 
April  6.     J.  R.  Blackwell  and  -    -  Sturtevant,  near 

Yeomet,  got  into  an  altercation   in  which  the  first 

was  killed  and  the  latter  severely  wounded;  cause, 

a  woman. 
April  14.     Chestnut's  building  and  Crosson's  saloon, 

Oleta,  destroyed  by  fire.     Mr.  Ford,  jeweler,  lost 

his  tools  and  a  portion  of  his  stock. 
June  13.     The    wire    suspension    bridge    over   the 

Mokelumne  river,  between   Mokelumne  Hill  and 

West  Point,  fell  with  sixty  head  of  cattle,  all  of 

which  were  killed.     The  bridge  was  about  fifty 

feet  high. 
August  20.     Child   of'  Mrs.   Lewis,    near    Newton 

mine,  burned  to  death  by  clothes  taking  fire. 
September.      Rattlesnake   killed   ne;.r  M.iddle  fork, 

Jackson  Creek,   measuring   eight   feet  and  three 

inches  iu  length,  thirteen  rattles. 


330 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


1864. 

October  26.  Writs  of  ejectment  at  the  instance  of 
Benjamin  'Bellock  issued  against  William  Atkin 
son,  J.  C.  Fithian,  Thomas  Rickey,  and  others, 
by  Judge  Field. 

November  22.  E.  H.  Chase  and  E.  Rickey  died  at 
lone  City,  as  was  believed,  from  small-pox. 

November.     An  elderly  man  by  the  name  of  Mer 
chant  killed  by  Michael  Doonan. 
1865. 

January  6.  Daniel  Kerrigan  was  crushed  to  death 
in  the  Oneida  mine,  near  Jackson. 

January  8.  C.  N.  W.  Hinkson,  Drytown,  killed  in 
a  difficulty  with  his  son-in-law,  a  Mr.  Hadsell. 

February  11.  Captain  Starr,  with  seventy -five  sol 
diers,  come  into  lone  valley  to  dispossess  the 
settlers. 

February  17.  J.  C.  Fithian,  William  Scully,  Charles 
Black,  Samuel  Deardorff,  and  others,  ejected  from 
their  homes  in  Jackspn  valley,  by  Captain  Starr 
and  a  company  of  United  States  troops,  acting 
under  the  directions  of  Herman  Wohler. 

February  19.     Herman  Wohler  shot  at  lone. 

March  6.  Second  body  of  soldiers  enter  lone  valley, 
making  total  number  three  hundred. 

April  23.  John  Gaver  arrested  by  Captain  Starr  for 
"exulting  over  the  assassination  of  Lincoln." 

May  5.  Fire  in  Volcano.  Loss,  twenty  thousand 
dollars. 

May  8.  L.  P.  Hall  and  W.  M.  Penry  arrested  by 
Captain  Starr  of  Company  D,  United  States  Cav 
alry,  and  conveyed  to  Fort  Alcatraz. 

June  6.  Chinaman  shot  by  an  Indian  at  Sutter 
creek,  for  refusing  to  clean  up  his  sluices  for  the 
Indian's  benefit. 

June  11.  Fire  in  Amador  City,  destroying  several 
buildings. 

June  18.  Herbertville  quartz  mill,  near  Amador, 
totally  destroyed  by  fire.  Loss,  thirteen  thousand 
dollars. 

July  1.  Fire  in  Jackson,;  Congress  Hall,  Washing 
ton  Hotel,  and  Schlacter's  building,  being  consumed. 

Two  men  injured,  one  fatally,  in  the  Eureka  mine, 
by  the  falling  of  a  timber.  Hayne  bled  to  death 
in  a  few  minutes. 

July  3.  William  Ritter,  owner  of  ditch  property  in 
Amador  county,  shot  near  Michigan  Bar,  by  masked 
persons.  Sam.  Marshall  supposed  to  be  one  of  the 
party. 

July  17.  Lipker  killed  in  the  Keystone  mine,  by 
the  falling  of  a  timber. 

July  22.  Earthquake  shock  felt  through  the  county; 
severest  on  the  junction  of  the  foot-hills  and  plains. 

July  23.  Andrew  McClure  fatally  injured  by  pre 
mature  explosion  of  a  blast  in  the  Seaton  mine. 

July.  Discovery  of  rich  pock'et  in  the  Hinkley  mine, 
Jackson. 

August  10.  Son  of  Mr.  Raymond  of  Jackson,  aged 
two  years,  drowned  in  Silver  lake. 

August   20.     Quarrel    among   a   party  of  Mexicans* 


near  Aqueduct,  in  which  one  Francisco  Vedall  was 
killed  by  Manuel  Peralto. 

August  31.  Azariah  Sollers  committed  suicide,  by 
shooting  himself  through  the  head.  Cause,  finan 
cial  embarrassment. 

August.  Central  Pacific  railroad  purchased  Sacra 
mento  Valley  railroad. 

October  8.  Great  fire  in  lone,  destroying  one  entire 
block. 

October  12.  Explosion  of  the  steamer  Yo  Semite,  in 
which  W.  A.  Rogers,  and  Senator-elect  G.  W. 
Seaton,  were  killed. 

October  26.  James  Casey,  while  intoxicated,  was 
run  over  by  the  stage  in  the  night,  near  the  sum 
mit,  and  fatally  injured. 

October  27.  Martin  Collins  killed  in  the  Eureka 
mine,  at  Sutter  Creek. 

October  29.  Spaniard  killed  by  Mr.  Moore,  in  a 
difficulty  on  Wilson's  ranch. 

October.  J.  W.  -Bicknell  vs.  Amador  County,  in  Dis 
trict  Court.  Plaintiff  recovered  $1,362.19,  for  acting 
as  clerk  of  District  and  Probate  Courts. 

December  3.  James  Fagan  killed  near  Drytown, 
by  a  cave  in  the  Potosi  mine. 

December  23.  A.  H.  Rose  elected  Senator,  to  fill 
the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death  of  G.  W.  Seaton. 

Cosumnes  copper  mine  shipped  four  hundred  tons 
of  ore  during  June,  July,  and  August. 
1866. 

February  1.  Attack  made  on  a  Chinese  mining 
camp  near  Upper  Rancheria,  in  which  two  China 
men  lost  their  lives.  Dan  Myers,  hearing  the  firing, 
ran  to  the  assistance  of  the  Chinamen,  receiving 
a  ball  in  his  knee,  after  which  the  robbers  left. 

February  28.  The  body  of  L.  L.  Leonard  found 
west  of  the  town  of  Enterprise,  accidentally  shot 
by  himself. 

February.  David  Robinson,  raining  near  Volcano, 
picked  up  a  nugget  of  pure  gold,  weighing  five 
and  three-fourths  pounds. 

March  18.  Nugget  found  near  Clinton,  worth  six 
hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars  and  twenty-five 
cents. 

March.  Titus  Rowe  shot  and  instantly  killed,  by 
M.  Tynan,  who  was  acquitted  at  the  June  term 
of  the  District  Court,  1867. 

April  2.  Mexican,  name  unknown,  found  dead  in 
his  claim,  near  Jackson. 

April  3.  Niel  Toland  killed  near  Irish  Hill,  by  cav 
ing  of  bank  of  earth. 

May  16.     Dr.  Lund  of  Muletown,  near  lone,  com 
mitted  suicide  by  cutting  his  throat  with  a  razor. 
Financial  embarrassment. 
May  20.     Child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Galavia  burned  to 

death  at.  Volcano. 

June  2.     Report   of  Supervisors,    outstanding  war 
rants,  exclusive  of  interest,  $104,094.57$. 
June   24.     Anson   Perry  died  from  the  effect   of  a 
pistol  shot,  by  a  Chinaman  engaged  in  robbing  a 
chicken  roost. 


CHRONOLOGICAL. 


331 


June  25.     Hoisting  works  of  the  Sorocco  mine,  near 

Volcano,  destroyed  by  fire. 
June.     Bank  of  California  organized. 
July  3.     J.   Weimbach  killed    by  John  Fridenburg, 

with  a  billiard  ball,  during  a  quarrel  at  Volcano. 
July  4.     Pedro  Koja,  a  native  of  Chili,  murdered  by 

parties  unknown,  near  Fiddletown. 
Santa  Nino,  a  native  of  Chili,  killed  at  Jackson,  by 

Louis  Robinson. 
A  woman,  named  Paublo  Monaz,  killed  in  her  house 

on  Main  street  in  Jackson,  by  a  Spaniard  known 

as  Jose  G.  Froile. 
Three   men,   Fitzgerald,   Branahan,  and   Faulkner, 

burned  to  death  while  asleep,  in  a  house  at  Copper 

Hill. 
July  7.     Precincts  under  the  new  registration  law 

established  by  Board  of  Supervisors. 
July  18.     Otto  Walther  appointed  Treasurer  in  place 

of  L.  Rabolt,  declared  ineligible. 
August  16.     Harvey  Lee,  Assemblyman  from  Ama- 

dor  and  Alpine  counties,  and  Judge  of  the  16th 

Judicial  District,  thrown  from  a  wagon  and  killed, 

in  Sacramento. 
August  18.     J.  H.  Hammond  robbed,  and  left  tied 

to  a  tree  near  Sutter  Creek,  where  he  remained 

two  days  before  he  was  released. 
August  24.     Water  melon  brought  into  Jackson  from 

Chaleur's  ranch,  Mokelumne  river,  weighing  fifty- 
six  pounds. 
August.     Wash.    Wright,   formerly  connected  with 

the  press  in  the  county,  died  at  San  Francisco  of 

delirium  tremens. 
September.     Four   cases   of  murder   to  be  tried  in 

District  Court. 
October  10.     M.  Bates,  near  middle  fork  of  Jackson, 

lost  his  house  and  contents  by  fire. 
December  24.     Z.  H.  Denman  found  a  thirty-three 

ounce  lump  of  gold,  near  Grass  Valley. 
December  25.     A.  B.  Crawford  died. 
December  29.     Stage  stopped  between  Forest  Home 

and  lone  City,  by  robbers;  no  treasure. 

1867. 
January   5.     Mrs.    Church   and   child    drowned    in 

Indian  creek. 
March  15.     Nicholas  Orleans  killed  in  the  Atchison 

quartz  mine. 

March  31.    Italian  stabbed  by  countryman,  at  Sut 
ter  Creek. 
May  5.     James  Rodda  and  Samuel  Poglaise  killed, 

by  falling  down  the  shaft  of  the  Plymouth  mine. 
June  3.     Manuel  Timothy  killed  at  Volcano,  by  the 

caving  of  his  mine. 
July  10.     Philip   Burger's  brewery,  near  the  Gate, 

consumed  by  fire.     Loss,  two  thousand  dollars. 
July  20.    John  Phillips  of  Fiddletown,  fatally  stabbed 

during  a  quarrel,  by  W.  T.  Gist,  formerly  Deputy 

Sheriff  of  the  county. 
August  4.     Wagstaif,  of  Volcano,  thrown   from   a 

wagon   going   down   the   Sutter  Creek   hill,   and 

fatally  injured. 


August  6.     James  M.  Hanford  appointed  Justice  of 

the  Peace,  vice  H.  T.  Barnum  resigned. 
August  30.     A.  M.  Ballard,  a  forty-niner,  and  for 

many  years   a  resident  of  Volcano,  fell  from   a 

bridge  in  Alamo,  Contra  Costa  county,  and  sus 
tained  injuries  from  which  he  died  in  a  few  hours. 
October  10.     Amador  Mining  Company  incorporated. 

Trustees,   Alvinza   Hayward,   L.   A.    Garnett,  F. 

Sunderland,  A.  H.  Rose,  and  S.  F.  Butterworth. 
October  22.     D.  R.   Whitman  crushed  to  death  in 

the  Eureka  mine  at  Sutter  Creek. 
October  23.     Two  men  fell  one  hundred  feet  in  the 

Seaton  mine,  Dry  town,  and  sustained  no  serious 

injury. 
October  31.-    Large  barn  owned  by  O.  N.  Morse  of 

Q   Ranch,   with    three    horses   and   eleven    hogs, 

totally  destroyed  by  fire.     Loss,  eight  thousand 

dollars;  insured  for  three  thousand  five  hundred 

dollars. 
November.  8.     James  C.  McFarland,  a   fair-haired, 

girlish  looking  boy,  convicted  of  attempting  to 

commit  murder  by  poisoning.     A  terrible  natural 

depravity  was  proved.     Sentenced  to  four  years 

in  State  Reform  School. 
November  28.     James  Morgan,  of  the  Oneida  mill, 

broke  his  leg. 
November  30.     A.  M.  Chappelle  committed  suicide, 

by  tying  weights  to  his  feet,  and  jumping  into  the 

water. 

December  3.     First  frost  sufficient  to  kill  melon  vines. 
December  10.     Mrs.  Foster,  a  widow  lady  at  Sutter 

Creek,  was  killed  by  a  man  called  "  Eureka  John," 

by  a  blow  from  his  fist. 
December    16.     R.   Bradshaw    removed    from    the 

office  of  Assessor   and   Collector,  and  James   H. 

Lowrey  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
December   17.     Joseph    King   killed   in   the   R.   R. 

mine  by  a  cave,  which  lacerated  the  femoral  artery, 

producing  death  in  a  short  time. 
December  27.     Big  Bar  bridge  nearly  destroyed  by 

high  water;  the  loss  falling  mostly  on  Mr.  Parrish. 
December.     Stage  robbed  near  lone  of  ten  thousand 

dollars,  which  was  recovered  by  detectives. 
Forty-five  thousand   gallons  of  wine  made  in   the 

vicinity  of  Jackson.     Estimate   for  county,   two 

hundred  thousand  gallons. 

1868. 

January  1.  Robinson,  of  Fiddletown,  drowned  in 
the  Cosumnes  river,  near  Yeomet. 

January  4.  Body  of  unknown  man  found  on  End- 
sley's  ranch. 

January  7.  Boundaries  of  school  districts  estab 
lished. 

January  18.     Brinn  and  Newman's  store  at  Sutter 

'  Creek  robbed  of  goods  valued  at  one  thousand 
dollars. 

February  15.  Steckler's  house  at  Jackson  burned, 
the  inmates  barely  escaping. 

February   25.     Owen    Fallen,   a    respectable    man, 


332 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


being  mistaken  for   an  escape  from   Mokelumne 
Hill  jail,  was  shot  by  William  Boj'd. 

March  29.  Isaac's  store  at  Newtonville  destroyed 
by  fire;  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  an  incendiary. 
Loss,  three  thousand  dollars. 

April  3.  First  train  of  cars  run  on  Western  Pacific 
railroad. 

April  6.  Stage  robbed  on  the  Mokelumne  Hill  road. 
Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.'s  box  rifled.  Robbers  caught 
the  same  day. 

April  19.  Fire  at  Volcano,  destroying  Mooney's 
saloon,  and  other  property.  Loss,  twenty  thou 
sand  dollars. 

May  16.  Fire  at  Sutter  Creek,  destroying  Sheri 
dan's  harness  shop,  Myer's  saloon,  Cuppet's  tin 
shop,  Grady's  saloon,  and  Sutter  Creek  bakery. 
Loss,  ten  thousand  dollars. 

May  26.  Shoemaker  shot  in  Sacramento  by  A.  B. 
Courtwright,  formerly  of  lone. 

May  27.  Large  fire  in  Jackson,  originating  in  China 
town.  Loss,  fifteen  thousand  dollars;  mostly  prop 
erty  of  A.  C.  Brown. 

June  2.  Fire  in  Volcano,  destroying  Goldworthy's 
saloon,  Burleson's  warehouse,  and  other  property. 

June  10.    Amador  wagon  road  leased  to  John  Hosley. 

June  13.  William  Moore  tried  several  times  for 
murder;  the  jury  in  the  cases  disagreeing,  he  plead 
guilt}^,  and  was  sentenced  for  one  year  to  State 
prison. 

June  16.     Fire  at  Volcano,  destroying  Sorocco's  store. 

June  17.  District  Court  decided  that  James  Carroll 
was  the  lawful  Supervisor  for  District  No.  1, 
thereby  ousting  C.  H.  Ingalls. 

June  25.  A  man  by  the  name  of  Williams  fell  into 
the  Eureka  shaft  and  was  instantly  killed. 

June  27.  Captain  Richards  shot  by  Levy  Conley  at 
Volcano;  did  not  terminate  fatally. 

July  12.  Ed.  Burns  falls  four  hundred  feet  in  the 
Eureka  mine,  at  Sutter  Creek,  and  is  instantly 
killed. 

August  25.  Workmen  killed  in  Eureka  shaft  at 
Sutter  Creek. 

September  7.     Kennedy  mill  started. 

September  11.     D.  C.  White's  house,  Jackson,  burned. 

September  12.  Volcano  burned  from  the  St.  George 
to  Casinelli's  store,  including  Friden  burg's  saloon, 
Nicholas'  meat  market  and  stable,  George  Shaffer's 
saloon,  and  Other  property. 

September  23.  Death  of  Mrs.  A.  II.  Rose,  at  Ama 
dor  City. 

October  21.  Earthquake  at  San  Francisco;  sharp 
shock  along  the  foot-hills  of  Amador  county. 

November  28.  Cuneo's  house,  about  two  miles  from 
Jackson,  burned. 

December  30.  Fire  in  Jackson.  Loss,  fifteen  thou 
sand  dollars. 

Year  of  fires  at  Volcano,  five  having  occurred. 
1869. 

January  1.  Attempted  murder  of  two  children  and 
suicide,  by  J.  R.  Walker,  at  Zimmerman's  ranch, 


near  Mokelumne  river.  One  child,  a  son,  died 
January  13. 

January  2.  Stage  robbed  by  four  highwaymen, 
between  Fiddletown  and  Drytown. 

January  21.  Isaac  Pierce  killed  by  Joseph  Damonti, 
near  the  Newton  copper  mine. 

February  10.  High  water;  streams  as  full  as  in  '61, 
without  doing  much  injury. 

February  11.  Chinaman  found  frozen  to  death  on 
the  hill  above  the  Jackson  brewery. 

March  14.  Coblentz's  store  at  Fiddletown  partially 
destroyed  by  fire. 

March  22.  Sanguinetti's  store-house,  at  Jackson, 
burned.  Loss,  one  thousand  dollars. 

April  6.  Stage  line  established  to  Gait,  connecting 
with  the  California  Pacific  railroad. 

April  21.  Mexican  found  dead  near  Fiddletown, 
supposed  to  have  been  murdered  by  Chinamen. 

April  29.  Death  of  Judge  S.  W.  Brockway,  of  con 
gestive  chills,  in  San  Mateo  county,  at  the  house 
of  Alvinza  Hay  ward. 

May  10.  Union  Pacific  and  Central  Pacific  rail 
roads  met  at  Promontory  Point. 

May  30.  Frenchman  near  Volcano  committed  sui 
cide  by  shooting  himself. 

Chinaman  near  Volcano  committed  suicide  by  hang 
ing- 
German,  name  unknown,  near  New  York  ranch, 
committed  suicide  by  taking  strychnine. 

June  24.     Stage  line  to  Gait  established. 

June  27.  John  Scandling  killed  at  the  Oneida  mine, 
by  falling  down  the  shaft. 

August  1.  Dwelling  of  A.  P.  Woods  near  Fiddle- 
town  destroyed  by  fire. 

August  6.  Fire  at  Jackson,  destroying  Martell's 
blacksmith  shop,  Berry's  livery-stable,  Wells,  Fargo 
&  Co.'s  express  office;  supposed  to  be  incendiary. 

August  8.  Attempted  assassination  of  Phipps,  engin 
eer  at  Keystone  mill. 

August  21.  Fire  in  Jackson,  destroying  the  shop 
of  Edward  Muldoon,andthe  dwelling-house  of  San- 
guinettti  Caminetti. 

September  6.  John  Fitz  Simmons'  store  at  Buena 
Vista  entered,  safe  abstracted  and  robbed.  Loss, 
slight. 

September  11.  John  Cables,  at  Indian  Diggings, 
assassinated  in  the  night  time  by  unknown  parties. 

September  12".  J.  Foot  Turner,  of  Jackson,  attacked 
with  paralysis. 

September  19.  Sale  of  the  Keystone  mine  and  mill, 
by  A.  H.  Rose  to  a  San  Francisco  company,  for 
one  hundred  and  two  thousand  dollars. 

October  8.  Charles  Curratto  found  dead  near  the 
Court  House,  with  the  appearance  of  having  fallen 
from  an  upper  window. 

October  13.  Union  House  at  Jackson  fired  by  Julia 
Dorr,  the  cook. 

November  6.  Francis  Tibbetts  of  Sutter  Creek  died, 
aged  forty-five  years. 

December  6.     Lamb's  bridge  fell,  instantly  killing 


CHRONOLOGICAL. 


333 


George  Kopp  of  Sutler,  with  seven  of  the  eight 

horses  composing  the  team. 
December  19.     House  of  Joseph  Zerga,  at  Clinton, 

destroyed  by  fire. 
California  Steam.   Navigation  Company  transferred 

all  their  property  to  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad 

Company,  sometime  during  the  year. 

1870. 

February  7.  Board  of  Supervisors  passed  a  resolu 
tion,  requesting  our  delegation  in  the  Legislature 
to  use  their  influence  to  get  a  law  passed  author 
izing  and  compelling  the  Board  of  Supervisors  to 
set  aside  sixty  cents  on  each  hundred  dollars,  as 
a  sinking  fund  for  outstanding  registered  warrants. 

March  2.  An  Italian,  name  unknown,  killed  in  his 
claim  by  a  cave  of  earth. 

March  15.  Thomas  Leach  killed  by  Joseph  in  a 
quarrel. 

March  18.  Act  approved  to  provide  for  the  redemp 
tion  of  outstanding  warrants,  and  to  prevent  a 
farther  increase  of  the  debt  of  said  county. 

April  10.  Amador  mine  took  fire  on  the  seven-hun 
dred-foot  level,  men  all  escaping. 

April  18.  Stage  robbed  between  lone  and  Fiddle- 
town  of  two  thousand  dollars;  robbers  arrested, 
and  money  recovered. 

The  house  of  John  Kelly,  near  Jackson,  destroyed 
by  fire. 

April  30.  A  son  of  Mr.  Veley,  living  near  Jackson, 
fell  from  a  tree,  and  was  fatally  injured. 

May  15.  School-house  at  Sutter  Creek  burned  by 
an  incendiary. 

May  20.  Isaac  Tripp,  a  highly  respected  citizen, 
killed  by  a  cave  of  earth  in  his  claim  at  Butte  City. 

May  28.  Fire  at  Sutter  Creek,  destroying  McHenry's 
saloon,  Byrd's  barber  shop,  Joyce's  tin  shop,  Tib- 
bett's  pattern  shop,  Quinlan's  saloon,  Harris'  vari 
ety  store ;  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  an  incendiary. 

May  29.     Snow  fell  at  Pine  Grove. 

June  4.  Hubert  Pritchard,  formerly  a  resident  of 
Volcano,  committed  suicide  by  shooting  himself 
in  the  head  with  a  pistol. 

June  20.  Row  in  a  camp  of  Indians,  resulting  in 
the  death  of  one,  and  seriously  wounding  several 
more. 

July  8.     Tom  Taylor,  an  Indian    desperado,  killed 
with  a  dose  of  strychnine  by  another  Indian,  on 
account  of  wounded  honor  in  family  matters. 
July  29.     Two  Chinamen  killed  at  Sutter  Creek,  by 

the  falling  of  a  bank  of  dirt. 

August  7.  Stage  stopped  near  Volcano,  and  Wells, 
Fargo  &  Co.'s  treasure  box  robbed  of  a  bar  of 
gold  worth  five  thousand  dollars;  four  thousand 
dollars  was  offered  for  the  apprehension  of  the 
robbers. 
August  20.  Larry  Gannon  killed  in  the  Eureka 

mine,  by  falling  out  of  the  bucket. 
August.     Laborers'  Association  established  at  Sutter 
Creek. 


September  8.  Robert  Buss'  house,  in  lone  City, 
burglarized  of  coin  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred 
and. seventy-five  dollars. 

1871. 

March  7.  Tax  of  the  Arroyo  Seco  Grant  company 
reduced  from  $11,499.67  to  $7,287.50.  Assessed 
value,  $394.500. 

Tax  on  Oneida  mine  reduced  from  the  basis  of 
assessment  of  $100.000,  to  that  of  $76,800,  making 
the  taxes  $2,238.72. 

July  23.     Shooting  affray  at  Sutter  Creek,  in  which 
Hugh   McMenemy   and   E.  W.  Hatch    lost    their 
lives. 
August  28.     Death  of  J.  Foot  Turner,  County  Judge, 

at  Jackson. 
September  12.     T.  M.  Pawling  appointed  Judge  in 

place  of  J.  Foot  Turner,  deceased. 
October  1.     Indian  killed  by  members  of  his  tribe, 

in  a- drunken  row. 

October  4.     Three  Indians  near  lone  lassoed  a  Mexi 
can,  and  dragged  him  until  he  was  dead. 
October  7.     House  of  Chas.  Bennett,  Sutter  Creek, 

destroyed  by  fire. 
November  11.     Giovanni  Quirolo  fatally  injured  in 

the  Paugh  mine,  near  Clinton. 
December  23.     High  water  and  dangerous  traveling; 

roads  nearly  impassable. 

December.  J.  A.  Eagon  announced  his  intention  of 
acting  with  the  Republican  party. 

1872. 
February  5.     Lamb's   bridge   fell,   instantly  killing 

Larkin  Lamb  and  John  Kirk. 

February  13.  A  Chileno  killed  a  Mexican  in  Mur 
derers'  Gulch,  near  Drytown. 

February  17.     L.  N.  Ketcham,  formerly  State  Sen 
ator  from  Amador  county,  died  at  Yreka. 
February  23.     J.  W.  Holman  fatally  shot  during  a 
quarrel,  by  W.  Johnson,  who   was   sentenced   to 
State  prison  for  life. 
March  1.     Austrian  killed  in  the  Eureka  mine>  by 

the  falling  of  a  stick  of  timber. 
March   23.     Hoisting  works   of  the   Summit  mine 

destroyed  by  fire;  supposed  to  be  incendiary. 
March    24.     A.   McElrath    instantly   killed    in   the 

Mahoney  mine,  by  a  swinging  stick  of  timber. 
March  25.     Severe  shock  of  earthquake  felt  all  over 

the  county,  2:30  A.  M. 

May  1.  Stage  robbed  between  Pine  Grove  and  Vol 
cano,  of  ten  thousand  dollars. 

May  11.  The  Marklee  mine  cleaned  up  thirteen 
thousand  dollars,  after  sixteen  days'  run  with 
twelve  stamps. 

June  13.     Amador  mine  (Eureka)   took   fire;    Tom 
Frakes  seriously  injured  during  the  efforts  to  con 
trol  it.     Loss,  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
June  15.     George  Parker,  of  Plymouth,  thrown  from 
a  horse  while  riding  in  Sutter  Creek,  and  becoming 
entangled  in  the  stirrups,  was  dragged  to  death. 
July.     Kennedy   mine   in   twelve   days'   run    made 
nine  thousand  dollars. 


334 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


August  25.     August  McLarnan  thrown  from  a  horse 

and  killed,  near  Jackson. 
September  1.     W.  H.  Bledso  thrown  from  his. horse 

and  instantly  killed. 
September   12.     Fire   in   Slitter   Creek   on    Eureka 

street,  destroying  several  buildings. 
September  13.     A  son  of  George  Pregnall  fell  from 

a  wagon,  near  Mace's  mill,  and  broke  his  neck. 
September    19.     Italian    boarding-house    at    Sutter 

Creek  burned. 
September   20.     Fire    in   Sutter   Creek,   consuming 

dwelling-house,  and  other  property. 
October  18.     House  of  Clement  Zeres,  at  Volcano, 

destroyed  by  fire. 
November  15.     Richard   Jackson   thrown   into   the 

Amador  shaft  (Eureka)   by  the  swinging  of  the 

hoisting  tub,  and  precipitated  to  the  bottom,  thir 
teen  hundred  feet,  tearing  his  body  to  pieces. 
November   18.     Peiser's   clothing   store  and  Peck's 

butcher  shop,  at  Sutter  Creek,  burglarized.     Loss, 

one  thousand  dollars. 
November  20.     James  Burke  ran  over  by  his  team, 

and  fatally  injured. 
December  2.    Store  of  S.  Hanford,  Yolcano,  destroyed 

by  fire.     Loss,  forty  thousand  dollars. 
December  5.     George  Howard's  barn  with  contents, 

near  Jackson,  destroyed  by  fire. 
December  21.     James  Cole  found  dead  in  his  cabin 

near  the  Oneida.     Excessive  drink. 
December  23.     J.  L.  Howard,  foreman  of  the  Lincoln 

Mining  Company,  Sutter,  caught  in  the  machinery, 

and  instantly  killed. 
December.     Phoenix  mill,  at  Plymouth,  forty  stamps, 

put  in  operation. 

1873. 

January  6.  Total  indebtedness  Amador  county, 
$208,884.58. 

January  13.  Attempt  to  poison  four  men  with 
strychnine,  by  putting  it  in  the  bread;  James  Avis, 
John  Yates,  N.  Rodovich,  and  an  Austrian,  par 
taking  were  made  sick,  but  recovered. 

February  1.  Shooting  affray  at  the  Lincoln  mine, 
on  account  of  strike  and  change  of  time.  No  one 
killed. 

February  16, 17.  Heavy  snow-storm;  several  inches 
at  Jackson,  two  feet  at  Pine  Grove,  three  feet  at 
Butterfield's. 

February  18.  Stabbing  affray  between  George  En- 
field  and  Cal  Dickens,  the  former  being  seriously 
wounded. 

February  21.  John  J.  Watkinson,  formerly  of  lone, 
shot  and  killed  I.  S.  Robinson  at  Vallejo. 

Masquerade  ball  given  by  the  B.  B's  at  Jackson. 

February  22.  Fred  Tardif  shot  and  instantly  killed, 
by  Abram  S.  Wooly. 

March  1.  Waterman  H.  Nelson,  an  old  resident  of 
Amador,  shot  near  Los  Angeles,  by  a  man  named 
Parker. 

March  2.  Harker's  barn,  near  Yolcano,  with  fifty 
tons  of  hay,  burned. 


March  7.  Shooting  affair  at  Plymouth  between 
Upton  and  Deakins,  wounding  Jackson,  who 
undertook  to  separate  them. 

March  8.  George  Chiradelli  and  Patrick  Collier 
instantly  killed  in  the  Mahoney  mine,  by  the  break 
ing  of  the  hoisting  ropo,  and  the  fall  of  the  bucket 
on  the  men  who  were  working  in  the  bottom  of 
the  shaft. 

March  16.  J.  S.  Tanner's  house,  near  Sutter, 
destroyed  by  fire. 

March  31.     Masquerade  ball  at  lone. 

April  25.  B.  Traboca  mysteriously  killed  in  the 
Oneida  mine,  while  descending  the  shaft  in  a  large 
iron  bucket. 

April  28.  Decision  of  Secretary  of  Interior  averse 
to  the  State  of  California,  in  the  matter  of  title  to 
the  school  sections. 

April.  Prevalence  of  epizootic  through  the  county, 
nearly  all  the  horses  in  the  livery  stables  being 
useless. 

May  24.  D.  Maher's  barn,  two  miles  from  Jackson, 
burned  with  the  contents,  hay,  grain,  etc. 

June  6.  The  body  of  John  Ker  found  (formerly 
working  at  the  Oneida),  having  been  exposed  to 
the  weather  and  depredations  of  wild  animals 
during  the  winter.  Supposed  to  have  wandered 
away  in  a  fit  of  insanity. 

June  7.  John  Everest  killed  in  the  Eureka  (Amador) 
mine  by  falling  down  the  shaft. 

June  20.  The  house  of  A.  Sheakly  burned  in  the 
night  time,  the  owner  barely  escaping  with  his 
life.  Supposed  to  be  an  incendiary  fire. 

John  Collins  instantly  killed  in  the  Amador  mine 
by  falling  down  the  shaft  two  hundred  feet. 

June.  Bryant  &  Co.  commenced  the  preliminary 
work  of  floating  lumber  and  wood  in  the  Mokel- 
umne  river. 

July  1.  Amador  Canal  Company  incorporated  ;  cap 
ital  stock  five  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

July  12.  George  Hosenfelt  instantly  killed  by  the 
explosion  of  a  giant  cartridge  while  fishing  in  the 
Mokelumne  river. 

August  12.  Jerry  King  thrown  from  his  wagon  near 
Jackson  and  seriously  maimed,  losing  both  hands. 

August  16.  Residence  of  P.  Grady,  Sutter  Creek, 
destroyed  by  fire. 

August  17.  L.  McLaine  of  Yolcano  thrown  from  his 
carriage,  breaking  a  leg. 

August  25.  Death  of  Dr.  Win.  Ives,  one  of  the  old 
est  practicing  physicians  of  Amador  county. 

August  30.  Shooting  affray  between  Silas  Penry  and 
E.  Turner,  in  Folger's  saloon,  Jackson. 

September  5.  Great  disaster  in  Lincoln  mine  by 
which  nine  persons  lost  their  lives,  namely,  Patrick 
Frazier,  John  Collier,  Dennis  Lynch,  William 
Coombs,  W.  H.  Rule,  G.  B.  Bobbino,  Bartholomeo 
Gazzolo,  Antonio  Robles,  and  Nicholas  Balulich. 

September  8.  Death  of  E.  Turner  of  Jackson  from 
effect  of  a  pistol  shot  by  S.  Penry. 


CHRONOLOGICAL. 


335 


September  11.  Death  of  J.  H.  Bradley  at  San  Buena 
ventura. 

September  15.  House  of  General  McMurran  de 
stroyed  by  fire  and  two  men  severely  burned,  at 
Ham's  station. 

September  20.  House  of  John  Van  Dusen,  near 
Mountain  Springs,  destroyed  by  fire.  Loss,  two 
thousand  dollars. 

October  3.  B.  Gardella  fell  down  one  of  the  shafts 
of  the  Oneida  and  instantly  killed. 

October  18.  The  house  of  John  Cook,  near  Lancha 
Plana,  entered  by  six  masked  men  for  the  purpose 
of  robbery,  failing  because  they  could  not  keep  the 
children  (John  has  a  full  dozen)  from  running  out 
and  giving  the  alarm. 

November  28.    Mrs.  Good's  house  at  Buckeye  burned. 

December  2.  Snow  fell  to  the  depth  of  several  inches 
on  the  plains  around  lone  as  well  as  in  Stockton 
and  Sacramento. 

December  7.  Dennis  Townsend,  school  teacher  and 
ex-School  Superintendent,  pronounced  insane  and 
sent  to  Stockton. 

December  9.  Daniel  O'Donnell  killed  by  the  falling 
of  rock  in  the  Amador  mine. 

December  18.  James  Cyne  murdered  by  John  Can- 
ifex  near  Forest  Home,  by  stabbing  with  a  knife, 
Canifex  being  intoxicated. 

December  20.  George  Shonat  drowned  in  Sutter 
creek,  three  miles  above  the  town,  while  intoxica 
ted. 

December  21 .     John  Harker,  living  above  Volcano, 
mysteriously  shot  while  in  bed. 
1874. 

January  1.  Estimated  population  of  Amador  county 
ten  thousand  five  hundred.  Estimated  assessment 
roll  two  million  seven  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy  dollars. 

January  23.  Clement  Zeres  found  dead  in  his  room, 
with  the  appearance  of  having  committed  suicide 
by  shooting  himself  through  the  head  with  a  rifle. 

January  25.  Thomas  Filmer  found  dead  in  his  cabin 
five  miles  from  Jackson. 

February  6.  Dwelling-house  of  E.  S.  Schultz,  near 
Volcano,  destroyed  by  fire  while  the  family  were 
absent. 

February  26.  T.  A.  Springer,  State  Printer,  and 
j  founder  of  the  Amador  Ledger,  died  at  San  Fran- 
I  cisco  after  several  months'  illness. 

February  28.  School-house  at  Sutter  Creek  burned. 
Supposed  to  be  an  incendiary  fire. 

March  1.  Cutting  affray  at  Volcano,  between  G. 
Cassinelli  and  A.Deluchi,  in  which  the  former  was 
instantly  killed. 

Cutting  affray  between  two  Chilenos,  in  which 
Antonio  Lopez  was  fatally  stabbed. 

March  2.  G.  W.  Wagner,  first  Associate  Judge  of 
Amador  county  and  formerly  a  member  of  the  Leg 
islature,  died  in  Jackson. 

March  4.  R.  N.  Smith  killed  by  the  premature  ex 
plosion  of  a  blast  on  the  line  of  the  Amador  canal. 


April  1.  A  little  daughter  of  James  Grello  drowned 
in  a  flume  at  Volcano. 

April  18.  Joseph  Largomarcino  fell  into  the  shaft  of 
the  Lincoln  mine  and  was  instantly  killed. 

April  24.  E.  P.  Gilliland,  a  native  of  Alabama,  found 
dead  in  his  cabin. 

April  25.  Cutting  affray  between  James  Sibert  and 
Francis  Bergoon ,  in  which  the  former  was  instantly 
killed. 

May  28.  Stephen  Kenton  found  dead  in  his  cabin 
four  miles  above  Amador  City. 

May  30.  Terrible  accident  in  Amador  mine,  caused 
by  the  slipping  of  the  reel  on  the  shaft  while  hoist 
ing  the  cage  containing  five  men  named  Frank 
Fallon,  James  Moyle,  A.  A.  Corleiss,  Samuel  James, 
and ,  all  of  whom  were  instantly  killed. 

June  11.  Barn  belonging  to  Mr.  Chautelle,  Sutter 
Creek,  destroyed  by  fire. 

June  12.  Death  of  James  H.  Hardy  at  San  Fran 
cisco. 

June  27.     Last  issue  of  the  Sutter  Creek  Independent. 

August  1.     Water  turned  into  the  Amador  canal. 

Contract  between  H.  B.  Platt,  constructor  of  I. 
and  S.  Eailroad,  and  Arroyo  Seco  Grant  Company 
filed  in  county  records. 

August  22.  John  Shearer  killed  by  the  fall  of  a  rock 
from  the  ascending  bucket  while  working  in  the 
Phoenix  mine,  Plymouth. 

August  29.  J.  R.  Hardenburg's  house  at  the  Casco 
mine  burned  by  an  incendiary. 

August.  John  Ratto  killed  by  John  Devoto.  Seven 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  offered  for  Devoto's 
apprehension. 

September  2.  Local  option  election  in  Township  No. 
2.  On  the  same  day  also  was  held  an  election  for 
Supervisor  in  Supervisor  District  No.  1,  including 
Township  No.  2.  M.  Murray  was  elected  Super 
visor.  The  election  for  or  against  license  :  lone, 
for  license,  one  hundred  and  seven,  against,  one  hun 
dred  and  nine  ;  Lancba  Plana,  for  license,  thirty- 
nine,  against,  twenty-three. 

September  18.  Boarding  house  at  the  Kennedy 
mine  destroyed  by  fire. 

October  13.  Water  run  through  the  Amador  canal 
reaching  the  distributing  reservoir. 

O.  B.  Burton  thrown  from  his  horse  near  Butte 
City,  sustaining  fatal  injuries. 

October  16.  Barn  at  Tarr's  mill  destroyed  by  fire. 
Loss,  five  thousand  dollars. 

October  25.  Heavy  snow-storm  in  the  mountains, 
causing  considerable  difficulty  in  getting  the  cattle 
and  sheep  off  the  Summer  pastures. 

December  18.  John  11.  Kruger  committed  suicide 
at  the  house  of  W.  Atkinson,  Jackson  valley,  by 
shooting  himself  through  the  head. 

1875. 

/January  12.     James  Melody  killed  by  falling  rock 
in  the  Phcenix  mine,  Plymouth. 

January  24.  Death  of  John  B.  Reyes  at  Sutter 
Creek. 


33G 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


March  1.  House  of  J.  M.  F.  Johnston  at  Muletown 
destroyed  by  fire.  Loss  estimated  at  ten  thou 
sand  dollars. 

May  1.  M.  E.  Pearson  fatally  shot  by  David  Ryal, 
about  three  miles  from  Drytown. 

May  2.  Stage  and  passengers  robbed  on  the  Gait 
road  near  lone,  of  about  one  thousand  dollars. 

May  8.  Great  robbery  of  county  funds,  amounting 
to  fifteen  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty-eight 
dollars,  most  of  which  belonged  to  the  school  fund. 

June  17.  Special  meeting  of  Board  of  Supervisors, 
to  consider  the  matter  of  the  loss  of  the  county 
funds. 

June  20.  David  Ryal  found  guilty  of  murder  in  the 
first  degree,  for  killing  M.  Pearson,  April  last,  near 
Drytown. 

June  21.  Death  of  Rev.  S.  G.  Briggs,  for  many 
years  Superintendent  of  Schools. 

July  18.  The  residence  of  William  Smith,  in  Sutter 
Creek,  destroyed  by  fire. 

Daniel  Moon  killed  while  blasting  logs,  near  Amador 
City. 

September  1.  Thomas  Andrews  found  dead,  par 
tially  devoured  by  hogs,  at  Bledford's  ranch  on 
Amador  wagon  road,  in  accordance  with  a  dream 
to  that  effect. 

September  25.  George  Lafferty  fatally  injured  by 
being  thrown  from  his  horse,  near  Plymouth. 

September  26.  John  Devoto  acquitted  of  the  charge 
of  murder  in  killing  John  Ratto,  in  1874. 

November  7.  Frank  Williams  killed  in  a  difficulty 
with  Peter  Yaoan,  near  Drytown. 

November  27.  Thos.  McCullough  found  drowned  in 
Jackson  creek,  near  Filmer's  ranch. 

December  15.  A  Cornishman,  named  Rogers,  while 
ascending  the  ladder  of  the  Amador  mine,  fell  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and  was  instantly 
killed. 

December  18.  Extensive  fire  in  the  Amador  mine. 
1876. 

January  1.     Masquerade  ball  by  the  K.  A.  C. 

January  3.  Francisco  Yiannelli  found  dead  in  his 
cabin,  near  the  Zeile  mine. 

January  9.  Stage  robbed  between  Plymouth  and 
Fiddletown. 

January  31.  Attempted  robbery  of  stage  near  Wil 
low  Springs. 

March  18.  Ca.pture  of  the  noted  stage  robber,  Joa- 
quin  Murietta,*  who  escaped  from  the  cabin,  below 
Jackson,  when  two  others  were  arrested. 

March  18.  Three  persons,  Mr.  D.  B.  Baccigalupi, 
Miss  Carrie  Payne,  and  Miss  Louisa  Periare, 
drowned  in  attempting  to  cross  the  Mokelumne 
river,  below  Lancha  Plana. 

April  13.  Fire  in  Amador,  destroying  G.  W.  Kling's 
saloon,  W.  Burn's  drug  store,  P.  Heisch's  barber 
shop,  William  Payton's  saloon,  M.  Mooney's  saloon 
and  dwelling,  Kerr's  livery-stable. 

April  14.  Samuel  Mugford  fell  in  the  shaft  of  the 
Garfield  mine,  and  was  instantly  killed. 

*Not  the  famous  bandit  of  18527" 


May  2.     Richard  Webb   arrested,  at  the  instance  of 

the  Board  of  Supervisors,  for  libel. 
May  19.     Mrs.  Murphy's  saloon  and  dwelling,  near 

Jackson,  burned. 
May   20.     Snow   at   Jackson,   and   other  mountain 

towns,  falling  five  inches  deep  at  Yolcano. 
May  23.     Robbery  of  safe  in  Wells,  Fargo  and  Co.'s 

office  in  Amador. 
May  26.     G.   W.  Arthur,  a  patient  at  the  hospital, 

committed  suicide  by  hanging. 
June  2.     Attempt  to  murder  L.  Largomarcini  and 

family,  at  Sutter  Creek,  with   giant  powder,  by 

which  the  building  was  seriously  damaged,  but  no 

lives  lost. 
June    18.     Younglove's  barn  at  lone  burned,  with 

three  mules  and  seventy-five  tons  of  hay.     Fire 

supposed  to  be  incendiary. 
June  20.     Indian  killed  by  trap  gun  while  robbing 

Joseph  Cuneo's  sluices. 

July  1.     James  Welch,  Kennedy  Flat,  died  from  sun 
stroke. 

Arnold  Slinghaide,  Plymouth,  died  from  sun-stroke. 
July   4.     Paolo   Largomarcini,   mentally   deranged, 

perished  from  sickness   and   exposure  in  Sailor's 

Gulch,  near  Slabtown. 
William  Baker,  of  Jackson  valley,  thrown  from  his 

horse  near  lone,  and  fatally  injured. 
July  18.     Barn  belonging  to  Mrs.  Westfall,  in  Jack 
son,  destroyed  by  fire. 
July   20.     Edward  Going  fatally  injured   by  a  cave 

in  the  Oneida,  mine. 
July  27.     Miguel  Doraneo  found  dead  in  his  cabin, 

evidently  murdered  some  days  before,  by  parties 

unknown. 
July  30.     Death  of  Dr.  J.  A.  Brown  of  Sutter  Creek, 

an  old  and  highly  esteemed  resident  of  the  town. 
July  31.  Yolcano  Tunnel  Company  broke  ground. 
August  3.  M.  W.  Gordon  announced  his  return  to 

the  Democratic  party. 
September  11.     Stage  robbed  on  the  Drytown  road 

near    Finn's    ranch,    by    Chas.    Thompson     and 

Chas.  Tedeman,  both  of  whom  were  subsequently 

arrested  and  convicted. 
September  26.     Blass  Thomas  instantly  killed  in  the 

Oneida  mine,  by  the  falling  of  a  timber  down  the 

shaft. 
October  21.     Accident  in  the  Oneida  mine,  instantly 

killing  two  men  and  wounding  two  others. 
November  3.     Tournament  at  lone  City. 
November  11.     Samuel  Keller,  of  Sutter  Creek,  com 
mitted  suicide  by  shooting  himself  with  a  pistol. 
November  26.     Major  Green's  house,  between  lone 

and  Jackson,  destroyed  by  fire. 
December  7.     Trains  commenced  running   between 

lone  and  Gait. 
December  11.     F.  N.  Hoss  kicked  by  a  horse,  from 

the   effects   of  which   he   died   on   the   following 

morning. 
December  14.  House  of  Nicholas  Radovich  destroyed 

by  fire.     Insured  for  sixteen  hundred  dollars. 


CHRONOLOGICAL. 


337 


Assessment  roll  of  Amador  county,  two  million  five 
hundred  and  sixty-three  thousand  three  hundred 
and  seventy  dollars. 

1877. 

January  15,  16,  17.  Heavy  rains,  doing  much  dam 
age  to  the  Gait  and  lone  railroad,  one  car-load  of 
passengers  having  to  remain  on  the  road  all  night. 

January  21.  Death  of  Hon.  T.  M.  Pawling,  County 
Judge. 

February  1.  Butte  Basin  Mining  Company  incor 
porated. 

February  2.  Incorporation  of  the  lone  Coal  Com 
pany  by  Mark  Hopkins,  D.  D.  Colton,  C.  E.  Green, 
F.  S.  Dougherty,  and  C.  H.  Redington. 

February  4.  Stage  robbed  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars 
near  Mountain  Springs  House. 

February  23.  Boarding-house  of  Mrs.  Hurley,  at 
Sutter  Creek,  destroyed  by  fire;  adjoining  houses, 
owned  by  Burns  and  Hubbel,  seriously  damaged. 

March  6.  Wife  and  three  children  of  A.  Liversedge, 
formerly  of  this  county,  burned  to  death  at  Colusi. 

March  18.  Three  children  of  Jesse  Rhodes,  of  Buck 
eye  valley,  aged  eight,  six,  and  three  years,  died  of 
diphtheria  about  the  same  hour. 

March  21.  Coffin  warehouse  of  Songer  and  Fagan, 
Sutter  Creek,  consumed  by  fire. 

March  31.  Nichola  Rossiggi  fatally  stabbed  by 
Dominico  Caranza. 

April  17.  Doath  of  William  II.  Stowers,  Superinten 
dent  of  Schools,  at  Bartlett  Springs,  where  he  had 
gone  for  his  health. 

May  6.  A.  Norton,  of  Jackson,  nppointed  to  fill  the 
unexpired  term  of  W.  II.  Stowers,  deceased. 

May  26.  Laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  Presby 
terian  church  at  lone. 

June  5.  Dwelling-house  of  Antone  Silva,  Jackson, 
destroyed  by  fire.  Loss  two  thousand  dollars. 

June  10.  Charles  Cox,  of  Lancha  Plana,  found  dead 
near  the  suspension  flume,  with  the  appearance  of 
having  fallen  over  the  cliff  of  rocks,  which  at  that 
place  is  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet  high. 

June  13.  Dwelling-house  of  Jones  and  Angore, 
Buckeye  valley,  destroj'ed  by  fire. 

June  21.  New  safe  put  into  the  County  Treasurer's 
office. 

June  22.  Dwelling  of  L.  Rabolt,  at  Sutter  Creek 
destroyed  by  fire.  Loss,  three  thousand  dollars. 
Dwelling  of  John  Battiste,  near  Jackson,  burned. 
Loss,  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars. 

August  7.  John  Baker,  while  in  a  fit  of  delirium  tre- 
mens,  threw  himself  against  a  circular  saw  in  rapid 
motion,  at  Brannon's  mill,  receiving  fatal  wounds. 

August.  25.  Fire  at  Jackson,  destroying  Dr.  Peter's 
office. 

September  1.  Roy  Chamberlain,  a  forty-niner  and  an 
old  resident  of  Amador  county,  found  dead  in  his 
chair  at  his  home  near  the  Newton  Copper  mine. 
Coroner's  verdict,  "  Death  from  disease  of  the 
heart." 
43 


September  12.  Cars  ran  off  the  track  below  lone, 
fatally  injuring  W.  F.  Gury. 

October  8.  House  of  Jerry  Donovan,  Sutter  Creek, 
destroyed  by  fire. 

October  17.  James  McGee,  former  engineer  at  the 
Oneida,  while  in  a  condition  of  mental  derange 
ment  jumped  into  one  of  the  shafts  of  the  mine, 
falling  a  distance  of  six  hundred  feet,  being 
instantly  killed. 

October  22.  Bucket  fell  in  Oneida,  killing  John  Gard 
ner  and  John  Luderman,  and  wounding  James 
Fore  hey. 

October  31.     House  of  P.  Dwyer,  Clinton,  burned. 

December  2.  James  Arthur  fatally  injured  in  the 
Amador  mine  bj  the  caving  of  the  drift  in  which 
he  was  at  work. 

December  7.  Edward  E.  Stitt  died  at  Drytown  from 
injuries  received  while  taking  down  the  old  Loyal 
mill. 

December   22.     Hon.   John   A.    Eagon   and    W.    L. 
McKimm  thrown    out  of  a  buggy  near  Jackson. 
The  former  seriously  and  the  latier  fatally  injured, 
Mr.  Mclvimm  dying  in  two  or  three  hours  after. 
1878. 

January  23.     Willow  Springs  school-house  burned. 

February  15.  Death  of  the  Hon.  Robert  Ludgate, 
member  of  the  Assembly  for  Amador  county. 

February  17.  Mequel  Vara  found  dead  in  his  cabin 
at  Butte  City. 

High  water  at  lone  and  all  the  western  part  of 
the'  county,  destroying  much  property. 

Highest  water  ever  known  in  Amador  City,  de 
stroying  considerable  property  and  flooding  some 
of  the  mines. 

Great  flood  in  Jackson,  drowning  seven  persons 
and  carrying  off  and  wrecking  fifteen  buildings. 
Loss,  thirty  thousand  dollars. 

February  23.  James  Tippet  killed  in  the  Phoenix 
mine  by  falling  out  of  the  bucket  while  ascending. 

February  26.  High  wind,  unroofing  and  blowing 
down  buildings;  Catholic  church  at  Butte  City 
blown  down,  steeple  blown  off  Catholic  church  at 
Jackson,  trees,  fences,  barns,  flumes,  and  other 
things  destroyed. 

February.  The  name  of  Fiddletown  changed  to 
Oleta,  by  Act  of  the  Legislature. 

March  20.  II.  Trueb  and  Louis  Dabovich  taken  to 
the  asylum. 

May  3.  House  of  Mrs.  Botto,  Sutter  Creek,  destroyed 
by  fire.  Loss,  two  thousand  dollars. 

Difficulty  between  E.  ML  Phibbs  and  Fred  Varvigat, 
lone,  the  latter  being  killed. 

May  12.  Big  reservoir  of  the  Amador  Canal  Com 
pany  blown  up  and  destroyed. 

June  5.     Body  of  Giovani  Arata  found  near  Jackson. 

June  8.  Jackson  and  Sutter  Creek  united  by  tele 
phone. 

June  14.     Largomarcini's  hotel  at  Amador  destroyed 

by  fire. 


338 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


June  19.  Special  election  for  delegates  to  Constitu 
tional  Convention;  John  A.  Eagon  and  William 
H.  Prouty,  elected. 

July  3.  Barn  owned  by  Mr.  Cox,  near  Whitmore's 
mill,  burned. 

July  5.  Shooting  affray  between  George  Harville 
and  Peter  Smith,  the  latter  being  instantly  killed. 

July  10.  McDonald's  house,  at  Amador  City,  de 
stroyed  by  fire. 

August  22.     Moore  mine  started  up. 

September  22.  New  York  ranch  house,  blacksmith 
shop  and  barn  burned,  with  all  the  contents. 

October  8.  Mrs.  Joseph  Carreau,  of  Jackson,  while 
in  a  condition  of  mental  aberration,  committed 
suicide  by  shooting  herself  through  the  head  with 
a  shot-gun. 

November  8.  E.  C.  E.  Vile,  of  lone,  committed 
suicide  by  cutting  his  throat  with  a  pen-knife. 

1879. 

January  4.  Henry  Peck,  County  Clerk,  died  of 
heart  disease.  He  was  a  "49er,"  had  been  an 
extensive  traveler,  having  visited  Australia,  the 
Amazon  mines,  Nevada,  etc.;  was  a  native  of  New 
York. 

January  6.  Little  daughter  of  Mrs.  Hudson,  near 
lone,  accidentally  shot  by  a  playmate. 

February  1.  Death  of  William  H.  Hooper,  in  Oak 
land.  He  was  formerly  a  proprietor  of  the  Phoenix 
mine  at  Plymouth. 

February  5.     Sorocco's  store  and  adjoining  build 
ings,  at  Dry  town,  burned. 

February  21.  Hugh  Ward  killed  in  a  hydraulic 
claim  at  Irish  Hill. 

May  6.  Johnson  drowned  in  Mokelumne  river,  near 
Clinton  Bar. 

May  10.  0.  N.  Morse's  house,  at  the  Q  ranch, 
destroyed  by  fire.  This  was  one  of  the  oldest 
houses  in  the  county,  the  Q  ranch  having  been  a 
noted  place  since  '49.  It  was  originally  claimed 
by  members  of  Company  Q,  United  States  Infantry. 

May  25.  Edward  Phibbs  killed  in  a  difficulty  with 
Jesus  Valles,  near  Jackson  Gate. 

June  18.     lone  connected  with  Jackson  by  telephone. 

June  18.     House  of  Mrs.  Zeres,  at  Volcano,  burned. 

June  25.     Amador  Sentinel  started. 

September  1.  Dr.  Morse's  fruit  dryer,  Q  ranch, 
destroyed  by  fire.  Loss,  fifteen  hundred  dollars. 

September  4.  The  house  of  David  Schuler,  Jackson, 
destroyed  by  fire,  with  all  the  contents. 

September  19.  R.  H.  Young,  of  Amador,  committed 
suicide  by  taking  poison. 

September  30.  Five  hundred  feet  of  the  Amador 
Canal  Company's  pipe,  near  Clinton,  blown  up 
by  giant  power;  supposed  to  have  been  done  by 
parties  damaged  by  the  breaking  of  the  reservoir, 
February  17. 

October  15.  Boarding-house  of  Fopiano,  at  Key 
stone  mine,  destroyed  by  fire. 

October  19.     Son  of  Ed.  Wiley,  at  the  Wiley  station 


on  the  Amador  wagon  road,  fell  into  a  deep  well 

and  was  drowned. 
November  6.     Two  men,  Richard  Collict  and  John 

Bachi,  seriously  injured,  the  latter  fatally,  by  pre 
mature  explosion  of  blast. 
November  9.     Jesus  Aguirra  killed  by  S.  Higuerra, 

for  alleged  seduction  of  the  latter's  wife. 
November  15.     Lodge  of  I.  O.  G.  T.  organized  at 

Amador. 
November  17.     John  Bachi  died  from  the  effect  of 

a  premature  blast  in  the  Oneida  mine. 
December  6.     A.  Swithenbank  caught  in  the  machi 
nery  of  the  marble  mill,  near  Plymouth,  and  torn 

to  pieces. 
December  12.     A  Cornishman  by  the  name  of  Moyle 

fatally  injured  in  the  original  Amador  mine  by  the 

fall  of  a  rock  down  the  shaft. 
December  17.     J.  M.  Myers  robbed  by  highwaymen 

near  Jackson. 

December  18.     House  of  G.  Bardaracco,  near  Jack 
son,  burned. 
C.  A.  Cordell  instantly  killed  by  falling  six  hundred 

feet  down  the  shaft  of  the  Phcenix  mine. 
December.     Stewart  and  Gillick  sold  their  mine  for 

twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 

1880. 
February  1.     Difficulty  in  Jackson  between  C.  Geno- 

chio,  John  Mori,  A.  Galli,  Robert  Venglio,  and  John 

Balles,  resulting  fatally  to  the  two  latter. 
February  5.     House  of  Joseph  Carrara,  Amador  City, 

destroyed  by  fire. 
April   20.     Flood   at   Drytown   doing    considerable 

damage  to  the  mines. 
Flood  in  lone,  the  main   streets   being   inundated, 

also  many  of  the  ranches  in  the  vicinity,  thirteen 

hundred  feet  of  the  railroad  track  being  washed 

away. 

May  1.     Last  number  of  the  lone  Times  issued. 
May  4.     House  of  William  Sutherland,  lone,  dam 
aged  by  fire. 

May  6.     Attempted  robbery  of  stage  near  lone. 
May  7.     G.  Clincinovich  instantly  killed  by  falling 

down  the  Lincoln  shaft. 
May  22.     Several  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  harnesses 

and  wagons  stolen  from  A.  H.  Palmer,  Jackson 

valley,  of  which  no  trace  was"  obtained. 
May  27.     House  of  William  Marshall,  Sutter  Creek, 

destroyed  by  fire.     Loss,  one  thousand  dollars. 
May   30.     Difficulty    between     William    Cook   and 

Charles  Tedeman  at  Buena  Vista,  the  latter  person 

being  shot  through  the  body. 
June  15.     Joseph  Anderson  found  dead  near  Dane's 

ranch,  Grass  Valley. 
July  31.     A.  D.  McDonald  fatally  injured  by  a  fall 

from  the  balcony  of  a  hotel  at  Amador. 
August  3.     Barn  belonging  to  W.  O.  Clark,  Drytown, 

destroyed  by  fire. 
August  18.  Augustus  Feine  fatally  injured  by  being 

caught  in  the  machinery  of  the  Florence  mills  at 

lone. 


CHRONOLOGICAL. 


339 


September  1.     Charles  Hutz  found  dead   at  lone. 

Death  said  to  have  been  caused  by  heart  disease. 
September  3.     Charles  Steckler   of  Jackson,  an  old 

and  much  respected  citizen,  committed  suicide  by 

hanging. 
September  9.     Celebration  of  admission  day  by  the 

pioneer  society  and  citizens  generally. 
October  9.     Chautauqua  literary  society  organized  at 

Jackson. 
November  5.      Difficulty  between  William  Frasier 


and  Charles  McKinney  in  Volcano,  in  which  the 

latter  person  was  fatally  stabbed. 
November  21.    The  residence  of  Mr.  Clark,  Plymouth, 

consumed  by  fire  with  all  its  contents. 
November  23.     Dr.  Charles  Boarman  died  of  small 


pox. 
December. 


Small-pox  prevailed  extensively  in  Jack 


son. 


Extraordinary  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Supervisors 
to  consider  the  situation.    Pest-house  erected. 


PATRONS   DIRECTORY. 


TOWNSHIP    NO     1,   AMADOR    COUNTY. 


NAME. 

RESIDENCE. 

BUSINESS. 

NATIVITY. 

Came  to 
State 

Came  lo 
County. 

POST  OFFICE. 

No. 
Acr^s. 

Aitken,  Robert     .                  ... 

lackson  •  .  . 

Butcher  

Scotland  

1850 
^56 
1853 

185S 
1856 
1853 

Jackson  .... 

Andrews,  E  .*  

[Wnship  No.  1  .... 
Clinton 

('..rmer  
7,  inner.  ..        

England  
Italy  

lackson.  .  .  . 
Pine  Grove. 
Pine  Grove. 
Jackson.  .  .  . 

160 
3lO 

Anita    Nicholas  P 

Clinton  

Vineyard  &  mining  . 
National  Hotel   
farmer  and  miner  .  . 
''armer  
Jhysici;m  &  Surgeon 
Superintendent  .... 

California  

Askey,  A          .      .                   ... 

Jackson  

Pennsylvania  

1J-50 
1852 
1852 
1849 
1876 
1851 
1855 
1853 

1850 
1M54 
1853 
Ifc58 
1876 
1851 
1855 
1856 

A  vise,  James  

Township  No.  1  .... 
Township  No.  1  .... 
Jackson  

New  Jersey  

lackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
fa.  kson.  .  .  . 
Sutter  

160 
40 
160 

Bartlett  S.  H 

Massachusetts  

B  >;uni;ui,  Charles,  M.  D. 

Virginia  

AmadorCanal  Resv'r 
lackson  
Jackson  

Canada  

Brown,  A.  C  
Brown,  C   Y       ... 

Attorney-at-Law  .  .  . 
•'hysician  &  Surgeon 
\lini;ic 

Missouri  
Amador  County,  Cal 
New  York  

Jacks  'ii.  .  .  . 

Jackson.  .  .  . 

Brown   J    Ward 

Butte  City 

Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 

7 

Brown,  Jasper  

New  York  Ranch.  .  . 

Farmer  

California  

Caminetti,  A  ....        

lacksou  

District  Att  >rney.  .  . 
Under  Sheriff  

Amad  >r  County,  Cal 
Ireland  

Jackson.  .  .  . 

Coalon,  Thomas  

lackson  

1854 
1857 
1869 
18156 
1852 
1851 
1849 
1858 
1852 
1853 
1847 
1860 
1852 
1850 
1850 
1852 
1850 
1854 
1853 
1869 
1852 
1851 
1850 
1850 
1851 
1852 
1853 
1850 
1852 
1877 

1854 
1868 
1872 
1875 
1852 
1851 
1849 
1859 
1852 
1853 
1854 
1860 
1852 
1864 
1850 
1853 
1852 
1854 
1853 
1869 
1861 
1851 
1854 
1850 
1851 
1868 
1853 
1854 
1854 
1879 

lackson.  .  .  . 

Cox,  John  H  

Township  No.  1.  ... 
lacks.  m  Gate  

\madorCanal  tend'r 
Farmer  .  .    
Miner..        

British  America.  .  .  . 
Italy  
Ohio  

Pine  Grove. 

lackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jacks  n 

Devoto   Autone  

320 
80 
320 

Driwitt,  Isaac  N  

Murphy's  Ridge   .  .  . 

Dick,  John  R.      .                  .         . 

Township  No.  1  .... 
Jackson  
Jackson..    .    . 

Ohio      

Eagon,  John  A  .  :  
Evans,  Ellis  

Attorney-at-Law  .  .  . 
National  Hotel.    .  .  . 

Virginia   

Pennsylvania  

Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .    . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 

100 

Foutenrose,  L.  J  

Jackson  

County  Clerk  

Pennsylvania  

Freeman,  E.  G  

Jackson  

Saddlery  and  harness 
Farmer  
Retired         

New  York  

Froelich,  G  •  

Township  No.  1  .... 
Jackson.  .  .    

Germany  
Germany  

Jackson.  .  .  . 
•Jackson.  .  .  . 

480 

Froelich,  Rosa  

Fullen,  George  

Township  No.  1  .... 
Township  No.  1  .... 
Clinton  District.  .  .  . 
Jackson  

Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Pine  Grove. 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  . 
Lancha  Pl'a 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  . 

160 
160 
160 
8 
480 
160 
160 
1 

Fullen,  John  

Farmer 

Ireland  

Ohio              .        ... 

Gardner,  Eli  T  .        .      . 

Farming  &  teaming. 
Attorney-at-Law  .  .  . 
Farmer 

Gordon,  Marion  W.  Sr  
Heming,  D      

Tennessee  

Towhship  No.  1  .... 
Jackson..    .        .    .  .  . 

Ohio    

Hoffman,  Frank  

Livery  and  ranching. 
"Wood  Ranch 

Germany  

Horton,  William  J  

Camp  Opera  Districl 

Clinton. 

Kentucky.        

Hutching,  John  W  

Maine     

Kay,  Wallace  

Jackson  

Variety  Store    . 

Massachusetts  

Keeney,  L.  G  

Township  No.  1  .  .  .  . 
Jackson  

Pennsylvania 

Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .    , 

140 

Kent,  Mrs.  C.  S.  G  

Illinois  

Little,  M.  J  

Jackson    .    .  . 

Farmer  &  orchardist. 
Liquor  dealer  

Maine  

Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 

120 

Love,  Thomas  

Jackson  

Ireland  

Loveridge,  H.  L  

Butte  City 

Ditch  Agent 

New  York.  .  . 

Jackson  .... 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 

5 
120 
20 
50 
20 

McKay,  Daniel  

Township  No.  ]  .  .  .  . 
Jackson 

Farmer  and  miner. 
Merchant  and  miner 
Co.  Treas'r  &  miner. 
Postmaster 

New  Brunswick  .... 

McKinney,  Abraham  

Meehan,  J  

Jackson 

Meek,  C.  M  

Jackson..  . 

Missouri     .      .  . 

Moore,  George  

Jackson  
Township  No.  1  .... 
Township  No.  1  .... 
Jackson  

Lawyer  

Kentucky  

Myers,  Oscar  

California 

Jackson.  .    . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson 

160 
320 

Nichols,  J.  B  

Wisconsin 

1859 
1857 
1849 
1850 
1850 
1853 
1854 
1850 
1869 
1852 
1854 
1854 
1852 
1855 
1855 
1849 
1871 
1849 

1859 
1864 
1852 
1850 
1851 
1853 
1868 
1850 
1877 
1873 
1854 
1854 
1856 
1855 
1855 
1852 
1875 
1849 

Penry,   William  M  

Ed.  Amador  Dispatch 
Attorney-at-Law  .  .  . 
Farmer 

Mississippi  

Phelps,  T.  J  

Jackson 

Kentucky 

Pitt,  William  -  

Township  No.  1.  .  .  . 
Township  No.  1  .  .  .  . 
Sntter  Creek 

Connecticut 

Jackson.  .  .  . 
SutterCreek 
SutterCreek 
SutterCreek 
Jackson.  .  .  . 

160 

Reaves,  John  E  

Foreman  Oneida  mill 
Forem'n  Oneida  mine 

Forem'ii  Oneida  mine 

* 

Rees,  H  

W^ales 

Richardson,  L.  C  

Township  No.  1  .  .  .  . 
Jackson  

Maine     .  . 

Richtmyer,  B.  F  

New  York  

Schacht,  B.  H  

Jackson  ... 

f 

Prussia 

Jackson.  .    . 

Simmons,  Thomas  H  

Sutter  Creek 

SutterCreek 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 
Jackson.  .  .  . 

Spagnoli,  D.  B  

Jack  son 

Attorney-at-Law  .  .  . 
Merchant  and  miner 
Deputy  Clerk  

Italy  
Italy 

400 
300 

Spagnoli,  S.  G  

Clinton  

Turner,  C.  Helmer  

Jackson  

Michigan   .  .        .    .  . 

Vaudament,  Eli  P  

Township  No.  1  .  .  .  . 
Township  No.  1  ... 
Jackson  . 

Farmer  and  miner.  . 
Farmer  and  miner 

Ohio 

Pine  Grove. 
Pine  Grove. 
Jackson.  .  .  . 

170 

Vaudament,  W.  B  

Ohio 

Vogan,  John  

Sheriff 

1200 

Webb.  Richard  

Jackson 

Publisher  

England  

Wiley,  William  

Townsnip  No.  1  ... 

Pine  Grove. 

640 

*  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.'s  agent,  telegraph  operator,  and  proprietor  of  Jackson  Water- works.     tDruggist,  Coroner  and  Public  Admst'r. 


PATRONS  DIRECTORY. 


341 


TOWNSHIP    NO.    2,   AMADOR    COUNTY. 


NAME. 

RESIDENCE. 

BUSINESS. 

NATIVITY. 

Oa"«e  to 
State. 

2ame  to 
bounty. 

POST  OFFICE. 

No. 
Acres. 

Amick,  A.  J  

)ry  Creek  
Dry  Creek  

farmer 

tforth  Carolina  

1849 
1855 
1852 
1858 
1861 
1856 
1850 
1850 
1852 
1852 
1856 
1850 
1853 
1852 
1854 
1870 
1867 
1854 
1858 
1863 
1852 

1874 
1854 
1853 
1868 
1852 
1852 
1863 
1853 
1868 
1852 
1852 
1830 
1853 
1878 
1857 
1869 
1858 
1853 
1849 
1847 
1862 
1855 
1852 
1854 
1855 
1852 
1849 
1852 
1856 
1852 
1852 
1854 
1852 
1852 
1852 
1865 
1849 
1857 
1853 
1853 
1852 
1849 
1873 
1852 
1850 
1856 
1850 
1849 
1854 
1851 
1850 
1868 
1856 

1850 
1855 
1858 
1858 
1861 
1856 
I,s57 
1850 
1852 
1852 
1874 
1852 
1853 
1855 
1854 
1875 
1867 
1855 
1858 
1864 
1876 

1876 
1857 
1853 
1868 
1853 
1855 
1863 
1858 
1878 
1857 
1852 
1858 
1853 
1878 
1857 
1869 
1858 
1858 
1849 
1848 
1862 
1858 
1852 
1854 
1858 
1852 
1849 
1878 
1856 
1852 
1865 
1859 
1852 
1870 
1853 
1865 
1850 
185S 
1866 
1860 
1852 
1855 
1873 
1853 
1851 
1857 
1854 
1849 
1854 
1863 
1850 
1868 
1858 

718 
160 
840 
360 

Ainick,  J.  S  

Banner. 

B-.mest,  Charles  

\>wnship  No.  2.... 
Drench  Camp  
one  City  

Merchant  &  farmer. 
Stock  raiser.   
jren.  Merchaudise  .  . 
Farming  

Lancha  Plana  .  . 
Lancha  Plana  .  . 

Burnett,  Susanna  
Bishop,  Ed_;ar  

Pennsylvania  

New  York 

Black,  Charles  S  

Buena  Vista  

Ohio..  . 

46 

200 

Blyther,  J.  C  

\lokelumne  River.  .  . 
lone  City  

Farm'r  &  fruit  gr'w'r 
Jhysii-iau  &  druggist 
Funning  

Maine  

Brusie,   L  

Connecticut  

Burris  William  

lone  Valley  

144 

Button,  0  

lone  City  

Teaming  

New  York 

Clark,  J.  S  

jancha  Plana  
lone  City  

Teacher  

California 

Coombs,  W.  S  

Carpenter  

Pennsylvania 

Corneal,  A  

L>ne  City.  . 

Miner  

Kentucky  

Crail,  W  

jancha  Plana  

Blacksmith  

Ohio.  .  . 

Dillian,  H  

Jackson  Creek  

Farming  

Iowa  

160 

Diiinap,  G.  H  

lone  Valley  

Drayman  

W  isconsin  

Earle,  S.  B  

Lone  City     

Laborer  

Massachussetts  . 

Farn-swoith,  J  

one  Valley  

farming  

Ohio  

150 
60 
20 
33000 

Fischer.  Bernhard  

Forest  HI  une  

Wine  grower.    .  . 

Germany     .  . 

Forest  Home  .  .  . 

Ford,  H.  \V  

>iif  na  Vista  

Teachiiio1  

Kentucky  ... 

Frutes,  Frank  

lone  Valley  

Mangr  of  lone  Grant 
&  lone  coal  &  ir'n  Co 
Kiigineer    .  .        .      . 

Azores  

lone  Valley  .... 

Frates,  J.  C  

lone  City  

Portugal 

Gooddiug,  J.  A  

Put's  Bar  

Ranohe  r  

Missouri  

Lancha  Plana  .  . 
lone 

250 
320 

Gregory,  I.  B.  .    

•lackson  Valley  

Farming  

Tennessee  

Gregory,  U.  8  

lone  

Sawyer  

Texas  

lone 

Heffrnu,  M  

lone  Valley  

Farming    

Ireland  

lone 

106^ 

Hall,  H.  F  

lone  City  

Miller  

Connecticut  

lone.      .              . 

li;imrick,  George  K  

lone  City  

Carpenter  

Kentucky  

lone  

Horton,  J.  Q  

Township  No.  2.  .  .  . 
Michigan  Bar  .  .    .  . 

Farmer  

Kentucky  

Jackson  

480 

Johnson  A    M 

Teaming  

Maine  

Michigan  Bar 

lone  Township  

Hotel  

Missouri  

lone  

160 
340 
145 

Kidd  Stephen  

Jackson  Valley  

Farming  &  mining.  . 
Farm'r&  fruit  gr'w'r 
Hotel  

England  

lone  

Mokelumne  River.  . 

Germany  

Lancha  Plana.  . 

Kinsley    M    R 

Illinois  

Le  (Jlair  Joseph 

Bueua  Vista 

Blacksmith  

Canada  

Jackson  Valley 

Farminf 

lone,  Cal  

lone  

130 

Ludgate,  Mrs.  Mary  H.  .  .  . 

Indiana  

Butchering  

England  

lone  

35 
172 
300 
1000 
30 
30 

Maroon,  \V.  Q    

Lancha  Plana  

Fruit  grower  
Fanning 

Ohio  
New  York  

Lancha  Plana  .  . 

J  ackson  Valley  
Sutter  creek  
lone  Valley 

Martin   J  P 

Farmer  &  stock  rais'r 
Farmer  &  orchardist 
Farming  and  mining 
Express  messenger.  . 
Farm'r  &  stock  rais'r 
Mining  &  ditching.  . 
Fruit  grower  

Virginia  .   •.  .  . 

McDonald   A   B 

New  York  

lone  

lone  Valley 

New  York  

lone  

California  

lone  City  

French  Camp 

Ireland  

Lancha  Plana  .  . 
Lancha  Plana  .  . 
Lancha  Plana  . 
Lancha  Plana  .  . 

320 
300 
80 

Ireland  

Northup    John 

Julien  District  .  .    . 

New  York  

Palmer   J   W    D 

Lancha  Plana  
Irish  Hill 

Merchant 

Vermont  

Ditch  agent     

Kentucky  

lone  

Prichard    F   M 

Store  keeper  

New  York  

lone  

10 
350 
240 
340 
431 

Prouty   W   H 

Jackson  Valley.  .  .  . 
Buckeye  Valley.  .  . 

Farmer  
Teaming  &  farming  . 
Ranching  &  thrash  'g 
Farming  

Ohio...  
Missouri  

lone  

lone  City  

Richey  J   H 

New  York  

lone  

Missouri  

lone  

Holstein,  Germany. 
Pennsylvania  
Virginia  

Forest  Home  .  .  . 

Farmer     

lone  

184 
160 

Sibole   I   W 

Mt   Echo 

Farmer  

lone  

Smith     Frpfl  P 

Hotel              

New  York  

lone  Valley  .... 

Painter  

Massachussetts  
Maine  .  .  . 

lone  

Slta  \7pna     T      AT 

Jackson  Creek  

Farm'r  &  stock  rais'r 
Undertaker  .  .'  
Li  very,  notary  public 
Justice  of  the  Peace 

lone  

3000 

Strono1   C   B 

Vermont  
Missouri  

lone  

lone  Valley.  .  .  . 

Swift   H   T* 

New   York  

lone  City  

Pennsylvania  

lone  

Van  Sandt,  A.  A  

Vinlptt      T     \V 

Mokelumne  River  .  . 

Farm'r  &  fruit  rais'r 
Farmer  

Ohio      

Camanche  

600 
107 

Kentucky  

lone  City  

A7i  \rilii      T?      T 

Ditching  
Mining  &  clerking  .  . 
Farm'r  &  stock  rais'r 
Farmer  

England  
Maryland  

Lancha  Plana  .  . 

Lancha  Plana  .  . 
lone  

80 
240 
320 

TlTot/ai-a    TT     TT 

Ireland  

Township  No.  2.  .  .  . 

Illinois  
Indiaha  

Jackson  

WUitlof^V.     T»    TT 

lone  Valley.  .  .  . 

Whittle,  J.  C  

Willow  Creek  

Farm'r  &  stock  rais'r 
Lawyer  

Canada  

lone  

1000 

Winship,  F.  H  
Woolsey,  Goe  

lone  City  
lone  

Maine  

NV>w  .Tprspv     . 

lone  

240 

342 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


TOWNSHIP    NO.   3,  AMADOR    COUNTY. 


NAME. 

RESIDENCE. 

BUSINESS. 

NATIVITY. 

Came  to 
State. 

Came  to 
County. 

POST  OFFICE. 

No. 
Acres. 

Adams  R  J.                 ... 

Aqueduct  City  

Lumberman  

Canada  

1868 
1866 
1853 
1850 
1851 
1855 
1854 
1849 
1852 
1859 
1850 
1855 
1850 
1849 
1849 
1852 
1853 
1873 
1854 
1851 
1850 
1850 
1851 
1853 
1852 
1873 
1853 
1849 
1849 
1853 
1856 
1850 
1870 
1859 
1856 
1849 
1850 
1852 
1851 
1850 
1850 
1855 
1850 

1873 
1866 
1853 
1850 
1854 
1855 
1855 
1854 
1852 
1859 
1850 
1855 
1855 
1849 
1849 
1852 
1859 
1873 
1854 
1851 
1880 
1856 
1875 
1858 
1852 
1873 
1853 
1879 
1852 
1863 
1873 
1850 
1870 
1859 
1856 
1849 
1858 
1852 
1854 
1850 
1854 
1855 
1852 
1860 

Pine  Grove  

Pine  Grove 

Pine  Grove,  Cal  .... 
Indiana  

Pine  Grove.  .  .    . 

Boardiiiiin   S    B 

Volcano  

Miner  and  farmer  . 
Druggist  

Volcano  

30 

Boydston   D    S 

Volcano  

Ohio  

Volcano  

Cleveland,  F.  J     

Volcano.,  

Volcano  water-wr'ks 
Fruit  grower  

New  York  

Volcano  

27 
130 
140 
320 
260 

Clough,  A.  P  

Pine  Grove  

New  York  

Pine  Grove  
Volcano  

Foley  J    M 

Shake  Ridge 

Ranching  &   mining 
Farmer  

Kentucky  

Foster  John  A 

Township  No.  3.  ... 
Shake  Ridge  

New  Hamphire  .... 
Illinois  

Volcano  

Foster,  Margaret  

Public  House,  Ranch 
Blacksmith    

Volcano  

Goodrich   C  B 

Volcano. 

Maine 

Volcano  .  .  . 

Hall   James 

Township  No.   3.  .  . 
Aqueduct  City.    .  . 

Miner  

Pennsylvania 

Volcano  

40 
500 
160 

Ham   AC.. 

Hotel  and  mining  .  . 
Farming  &  timber'ng 
Livery  

Kentucky       

Pine  Grove  

Marker,  J.  P    

Harkers   Ranch  .  .  . 
Volcano,  

Salt  Lake,  Utah  
Missouri  

Volcano  

Hinkson,  J.  M  

Volcano  

Hinkson    Richard  S 

Volcano 

Livery               .      ... 

Missouri              .  .    . 

Volcano  .  .  . 

Jerome,  Alex                .       .  . 

Volcano  .      .        .      . 

Ranching     .         ... 

New  York  

Volcano  

160 

Jonas,  P  

Volcano  

Hotel    

Germany  

Volcano  

Klamann,  John  

Pine  Grove  

Miner  

Germany  

Pine  Grove  

Lessley,  James  

Township  No.  3  
Pioneer  

Ranching  &  teaming 
Lumber  &  quartz  mill 
Laborer  

Missouri  

Volcano  

240 

Mace,  F    

Maine  

Volcano  

Marian,  Chas.  M  

Volcano    

New  York  

Volcano  

6 
8 
320 

Mattice,  S  

Volcano  

Mining  

Canada  

Volcano  

Miller,  L.   .  . 

Volcano      .  . 

School  supt  &  teach'r 
Mining  &  farming  .  . 
Hotel  

Alabama  

Volcano  

Peck,  Palmer  N    

Volcano    

New  York  

Volcano  

Petty,  A  

Volcano  

Ohio  

Volcano  

Petty   Miss  E. 

Volcano 

Housekeeper 

Kentucky 

Volcano  .... 

Petty,  Solomon 

Volcano 

Inventor  

Missouri  

Volcano  

Rank,  J.  B  

Volcano    

Milling   and  mining 
County  Surveyor.  .  . 
Milling  &  ranching  . 
Loerrinsr 

Ohio  

Volcano  

Ross   Benjamin 

Volcano 

Portland,  Maine  .... 
Virginia  

Volcano 

Shealor,  James  W  

Shake  Ridge  

Volcano  

160 

Southard,  L.  W.      . 

Pioneer  . 

Missouri  

Volcano 

Stewart.  Robert  

Volcano  

Mining  ... 

Ireland  

Volcano  

Stolcken,  J.  D  

Pioneer  Creeks  

Miner 

Germ  an  v  . 

Volcano  

Tarr,  Warren  F  

Tarr's  Mills  

Milling  [Maine  

Volcano  

320 
20 
40 

Toop,  George  W  

Pioneer  City  

Mining  ICalifornia  

Volcano  

Wheeler,  J.  T  

Pine  Grove 

Merchant  and  miner 
Quartz  miner  

New  Hamphire  .  .  . 

Pine  Grove  .  .    . 

Whitaker,  Jacob  

Volcano  .    . 

Switzerland. 

Volcano  

Whitehead,  W.  H  

Volcano  

Carpenter  &  miner.  . 

Ohio  

Volcano  

Whiting,  Samuel  L  .  . 

Volcano 

Carp'r  &  millwright 
Lumberman 

Massachusetts 

Volcano    .  . 

Whitmore,  F.  M  

Volcano 

Massachusetts      .   . 

Volcano  

480 

Whitney,  I.  W  

Volcano  ... 

Mining  .  . 

New  York  

Williams.  N.  C  

Williams  Station  .  .  . 
Wise  Toll  Road  
Volcano  

Hotel  and  ranch  .  .  . 
Ranching*.  

Maine  

Volcano  

164 
160 

Wise,  E  

Pennsylvania  

Sutter  Creek  .  .  . 
Volcano  

Zeras,  Catherine  

Missouri  

TOWNSHIP    NO.   4,   AMADOR    COUNTY. 


NAME. 

RESIDENCE. 

BUSINESS. 

NATIVITY. 

Came  to 
State. 

Came  to 
County. 

POST  OFFIOE. 

No. 
Acres. 

Allen,  George  

Sutter  Creek  

Lumber  &  ranching. 
Catholic  pastor  .... 

New  York 

1860 
1855 
1852 
1855 
1850 
1849 

1854 
1862 

1858 

1878 
1849 
1859 

1860 
1849 
1858 
1861 
1853 
1852 
1854 
1861 
1850 
1855 
1860 
1853 
1864 

1860 
1879 
1862 
1855 
1851 
1851 

1854 
1862 

1858 

1878 
1849 
1860 

1860 
1849 
1858 
1864 
1876 
1853 
1854 
1870 
1852 
1863 
1860 
1853 
1864 

Sutter  Creek  .  . 
Sutter  Creek  .  . 

2700 

Bermingham,  Rev.  P  

Sutter  Creek  

Ireland  .  .  . 

Breedlove,  W.  N  

Sutter  Creek 

Saloon  ...          . 

Sutter  Creek  .  . 

Brinn,  Morris  

Sutter  Creek   .  . 

Merchant 

Germany 

Sutter  Creek  .  . 

Brown,  Jno.  A  

Sutter  Creek  

County  Surveyor  .  .  . 
Supt  Amador  Canal 
and  Mining  Co. 
Farmer  

Missouri 

Cooledge,  W.  S  

Sutter  Creek 

New  Hampshire.  .  . 
Missouri 

Sutter  Creek  .  . 

Culbert,  Thos.  L  

Amador  City  .    .  . 

Amador  City  .  . 
Sutter  Creek  .  . 

800 

Davies,  D.  T  

Sutter  Creek  

Supt    Con.    Amador 
mines. 
Amalgamat'r  Eureka 
mill. 
Catholic  pastor  
Supt.  Down-'s  mine  .  . 
Prop.  American  Ex 
change  Hotel. 
Drutrsist 

England 

Deacon,  Hiram.  .  .  

Sutter  Creek  .  . 

Sutter  Creek  .  . 
Sutter   Creek  .  . 

320 

DeCarolis,  R  

Sutter  Creek 

Italy  

Downs,  R.  C  

Sutter  Creek.    . 

Sutter  Creek  .  . 

Dudley,  A.  K  

Sutter  Creek 

Sutter  Creek  .  . 

Dunlap,  A  

Amador  

Ohio 

Ellis,  R  

Township  No.  4.  ... 
Sutter  Creek.  . 

Farmer 

Amador  City  .  . 
Sutter  Creek  .  . 
Amador  City  .  . 
Sutter  Creek  .  . 

80 
140 
240 

Fagan,  Peter  

Livery 

Furnanzo,  Luigi  

Township  No.  4.  ... 
Sutter  Creek 

Farmer  
Dentist 

Italy  

Gabbs,  E.  S  

Harrington,  A.  W  

Amador 

Prop.  Amador  House 
Blacksmith 

Herman  F  

Sutter  Creek 

Hewitt,  0.  C  

Amador  City 

Supt.  Keystone  mine 
Real  estate 

Howard  F.  A  

Sutter  Creek  

Massachusetts 

Sutter  Creek  .  . 

Keeney,  W.  F  

Amador  .... 

Prop.  Amador  House 
Livery. 

Amador  

Kerr,  Thomas  

Amador  

Pennsyl  vania 

Amador  

Kling,  G.  W  

Amador  

Mining   .  . 

Ohio 

Amador  

Lepley,  Isaac  

Amador  City  .  . 

Builder.  .  , 

Pennsylvania  .  . 

Amador  City  .  . 

TOWNSHIP   NO.   4,   AMADOR    COUNTY— Continued. 


NAME. 

RESIDENCE. 

BUSINESS. 

NATIVITY. 

Came  to 
State. 

Came  to 
County. 

POST  OFF1CB. 

No. 

Acres. 

Martin,  0.    E  
Mavon  T.  H  

Amador  .  .    
Amador  

Lumber  
Physician  &  Surgeon 

Maine    

1873 
1854 
1849 
1862 
1856 

1858 

1853 
1855 

1857 

1849 
1855 
1846 

1862 
1852 

1868 
1859 

1859 
1860 

1875 
1874 
1855 
1877 

1873 
1865 
1850 
1862 
1856 

1858 

1857 
1873 

1857 

1859 
1855 
1853 

1862 
1872 

1868 
1859 

1859 
1860 

1875 
1874 
1872 

1877 

Amador  

Mclntire,  E.  B  
Mooney,  M.  G  

Sutter  Creek  
Amador  

Mining  
Saloon  

New  Hampshire.  .  .  . 

Sutter  Creek 

320 

Nickerson,  C.  J  

Sutter  Creek  

Supt.   Sutter    Creek 
sulphuret  works 
Supt.     Bunker    Hill 
mine. 
Millwright  
Foreman     Keystone 
mine. 
Foreman        Lincoln 
mill. 
Justice  of  the  Peace 

Massachusetts  

Palmer,  John  

Bunker  Hill  

Amador  City  .  . 
Sutter  Creek  .  . 

160 

Palmer,  Wilmer  

Parlr«      T     ~F 

Sutter  Creek. 

New  York  

Peterson  Arthur  N  

Sutter  Creek  

Missouri  . 

Amador  City 
Sutter  Creek  .  . 

Snt-ti-r     rVoalr 

5 

Porter,  J.  S  

Sutter  Creek  

Post,  J.  M.,  

Township  No   4.  ... 
Sutter  Creek  

Township  No  .  4  .... 
Sutter  Creek  

New  Brunswick  .... 
Maryland 

Sutter  Creek  .  . 

Snttpr   Prpplr 

80 

Randolph,  I.  N  

Insurance  and  collec 
tion  agent. 
Farmer  

Sanderson,  John  

Sutter  Creek  .  . 

Snttpr    r*rpplr 

160 

Stewart,  S.  D.  R  

Supt.    Lincoln    and 
Mahony  mines. 
Miner  

Stone,  John  T  

Sutter  Creek  

Vermont 

Snttpr  Crpplr 

Taylor,  B.  F  

Sutter  Creek  

Foreman       Amador 
mine. 
Farmer  

Ohio 

Snttpr    Crppt 

Taylor,  L.  J  

Bunker  Hill  

Ohio 

Amador  City  .  . 
Amador  City  .  . 

160 

8 

Templeton,  I.  N  

Amador  City  

Foreman      Keystone 
mill. 
Engine'r  Bunker  Hill 
mine. 
Gen.  mangr.  Amador 
Canal  &  Mining  Co. 
Supt.     Spring     Hill 
mine. 
Supt.    Amador    Re 
duction  Works. 

Thompson,  A.  R  

Bunker  Hill  

New  York 

Towns,  H.  H  

Sutter  Creek  

New  Hampshire.  .  .  . 

Sutter  Creek 

Tregloan,  J.  R  

Amador  City  
Suttter  Creek  

Voorhies,  E.  C  

Michigan 

Sutter  Creek 

TOWNSHIP   NO.   5,   AMADOR    COUNTY. 


NAME. 

RESIDENCE. 

BUSINESS. 

NATIVITY. 

Came  to 
State. 

Came  to 
County. 

POST  OFFICE. 

No. 
Acres. 

Ball,  Reuben  

Parson  Bar  .  . 

Ditch  tender  &  ranch 
Ranch  &  stock  raiser 
Teamster  

Indiana 

1853 
1851 

1853 
1867 

Forest  Home  .  . 
Forest  Home  .  . 

120 
320 

Bickford  A  

Forest  Home  Dis't  .  . 
Willow  Springs  .... 
Finn's  Ranch  

New  Hampshire.  .  .  . 
Illinois     

Cook,  H  

Finn,    Catherine  

Farm'g,  public  house 
and  wine  grower  .  . 
Farmer 

Canada  

1853 

1853 
1849 

1853 

1853 
1849 

Drytown 

260 

280 
160 

Ford,  R.  M  

Township  No.  5  .... 
Township  No.  5  

Kentucky  
Pennsylvania  

Amador  City  .  . 
Drytown  

Worley,  Dan  

Farmer  and  miner.  . 

TOWNSHIP    NO.    6,   AMADOR    COUNTY. 


NAME. 

RESIDENCE. 

BUSINESS. 

NATIVITY. 

Came  to 
State. 

Came  to 
County. 

POST  OFFICE. 

No. 
Acres. 

Aniya,  M  

Drytown 

Saloon-keeper  
Farming  

Italy  
Pennsylvania  

1870 
1850 
1854 
1849 

1872 

1852 
1849 
1865 
1849 
1862 
1849 
1850 
1850 
1866 
1853 
1868 
1851 
1864 
1877 
1853 
1869 
1856 

1870 
1873 
1857 
1873 

1872 

1869 
1853 
1866 
1851 
1862 
1850 
1860 
1850 
1879 
1853 
1878 
1853 
1878 
1877 
1854 
1869 
1873 

Drytown  .... 

Baird,  Jefferson  

Plymouth 

Plymouth  
Plym'uth&Oleta 
Drytown  

320 
320 

Ball,  O  

Shenandoah  Valley. 
Drytown 

Farmer  and  miner.  . 
Mill  superintendent. 
Mill  foreman  Empire 
mine. 
Liquors,  cigars,  etc.  . 
Buddler  Empire  mill 
Teami'gfe  butcher'ng 
General  business.  .  .  . 
Miner  
Justice  of  the  Peace 
Farming  and  mining 
Farmer  

Indiana 

Barney,  E.  S  

New  York  .... 

Bawden,  T.   P  

Plymouth 

Illinois  

Plymouth  

Brace,  M.  T  

Plymouth  
Plymouth  

Indiana  .  .          

Plymouth  

Briggs,  Eb.  M  

Missouri  

Plymouth  

Burner,  James.    .  . 

Plymouth  -  .  . 

Virginia      .       ... 

Plymouth  
Oleta  

160 

Burt,  James  

Oleta  

Vermont  

Carraro,  Joseph 

Plymouth 

Italy  
Connecticut  

Plymouth  

Church,  M.  B  

Drytown 

Drytown  
Oleta  
Drytown  
Plymouth  

25 
8C 
200 

Clark,  G.  W  

Oleta  

Kentucky  

Clark,  W.   O  

Drytown  

Indiana  

Clemens,  John  

Plymouth     

Miner  

England  

Cloudi,  F  W. 

Plymouth 

Hoisting  engineer.  .  . 
Teaming  &  ranching 
Farmer  and  miner.  . 

Amador  Co.  Cal  .... 
Ohio  

Plymouth  .    ... 

Coover,  \Vm.    .  .                .      . 

Plymouth     .  . 

Plymouth  
Oleta  

120 
120 

Croff,  J.  W  ' 

Oleta  

New  York  

Dabovich,  Andrew 

Plymouth 

Austria  

Plymouth  

Plymouth  
Plymouth 

\Vales                 

Plymouth  

Davis  Thompson 

Livery  stable 

Illinois     

Plymouth  

Plymouth  
Plymouth  .  . 

Vlining  
Eneine'r  Empire  mill 

England     

Plymouth  

Easton.  G.  W.  . 

Wisconsin  .  . 

Plymouth  

344 


HISTORY  OF  AMADOR  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA. 


TOWNSHIP   NO.   6,   AMADOR    COUNTY — Continued. 


NAME. 

RESIDENCE. 

BUSISKSS. 

NATIVITY. 

Came  to 
State. 

Came  to 
County  . 

POST  OFFICE. 

No.  of 
Acres. 

Plymouth      

Miner  

Wales  

1850 
1850 
1854 
1875 
1856 
1853 
1850 
1865 
1855 
1852 

1849 
1852 
1854 

1872 
1853 
1877 
1880 
1856 
1853 
1870 
1865 
1855 
1854 

1849 
1856 
1860 

Plymouth 

Farnham   H.  C     

Oleta   

'Milling  and  ranching 
Mason  Empire  mine 
Mechanic.  . 

New  York  

Oleta.  .  . 

280 

Gerle,  C.  C     

Plymouth  

Sweden  

Plymouth 

Oilman     John     .        

PI  v  mouth 

Maine  

Plymouth 

Plymouth                     .    iMill  Tn.nr>Vnriist     .  .  .  . 

Pennsylvania  

Plymouth  .    ... 
Oleta  

Goff,  D   M  

Oleta  

Pennsylvania  

Green     Charles   

Plymouth  

Forem'n  Empire  mill 

Ohio  

Plymouth 

Gregg   Louisa  L   

Plymouth     

Plymouth,  Cal  

Plymouth 

Greas  S  W 

Plymouth      ... 

Teaming  

Plymouth,  Cal  

Plymouth  
Plymouth 

Hanks,    Louis  

Plymouth  

Blacksmith    Empire 
mill. 
Livery  stable  

Bavaria  

Hinkson,  N.  C  

Plymouth  

Missouri  

Plymouth 

Plymouth       

Ranching  &  Teaming 
Farming  

Indiana  

Plymouth 

160 
50 

Inskeep  Sarah  

Plymouth    

Virginia  

Plymouth  .... 
Drytown 

Jennings   Geo.  C  

Drytown  

Book-keeper  

California  

Jones,  W.  T  

Plymouth  

Foreman  

Wales  

1867 
1850 
1861 
1849 

1857 
1849 
1868 
1852 
1866 
1870 
1873 
1854 
1852 

1850 
1866 
1871 
1853 
1860 
1852 
1873 
1873 
1873 
1852 
1849 
1852 
1853 
1852 
1853 
1849 
1850 
1862 
1849 

1867 
1859 
1879 
1854 

1857 
1849 
1868 
1852 
1873 
1876 
1873 
1854 
1852 

1855 
1867 
1871 
1853 
1862 
1852 
1873 
187o 
1875 
1877 
1852 
1852 
1858 
1877 
1853 
1850 
1850 
1862 
1850 

Plymouth 

Kephart   George     

Plymouth  

Lawyer  

Pennsylvania  

Plymouth 

Keyes  William   

Plymouth  

Bucket-lander  

Canada  

Plymouth 

Lawson,  P  

Plymouth  

Painter  and  general 
workman. 
Blacksmith  

Denmark  

Plymouth 

LeMoin,  Geo.  W  

Drytown  

Drytown,  Cal  

Drytown  .... 

Miller  J   H                    

Drytown      

Blacksmith  

Missouri  

Drytown 

Mitrovich   Michael  

Plymouth  

Miner  

Austria  

Plymouth 

Morris  James     

Plymouth  

Fireman  

Utah  

Plymouth  .... 

Muclge   \Vm    Hodge   

Plymouth 

Miner      

England  

Plymouth 

Miner 

Austria  

Plymouth  
Plymouth   .... 

Perry  Jno     \V   

Plymouth  

Mining  

New  York  

Pettitt  IE                     

Plymouth 

Farmer  

Ohio  

Plymouth 

224 
141 

Potter  E   S             

Plymouth       

Ranch  'ng  and  lumber 
merchant. 
Dit.nli  owrif>r  .  . 

Connecticut  

Plymouth  
Oleta 

Oleta 

Maine  

Russell  T    N        

Dry  town      I  Mining  

England  

Drytown 

Sallee   Jonathan  

Plymouth   ..               ..'Farmer.. 

Missouri  

Plymouth 

3-JO 
160 

Schairer   Fred  

Plymouth  

Farmer  
Snlpsinan  .  . 

Bavaria  
Michigan  

Plymouth  

Thorns  F   H           

Plymouth 

Plymouth 

Townsend  Mrs.  E  

Oleta     ....         Piihlin  house  

Illinois  

Oleta  

Vanderpool,   Corrinne  

Plymouth  

School  teaching  .... 
Miner            

Iowa  
Wales  

Plymouth  

Venn    Charles             .        ... 

Plymouth 

Plymouth 

Venn,  Wm  
Votaw,  C.  J  

Plymouth  
Williams  District  .  . 
Central  House 

Miner  
Handling  &  teaming 
Farming 

Wales  

Plymouth  

Missouri    

Plymouth  .    ... 
Drytown  .      ... 

135 
700 
H)5 
200 
LO 
160 
3i.O 
50 

Wells  Matthew  H  

New   York  

Wheeler,  Stephen  C  

Plym*  >uth 

Farmer    

Indiana  

Plymouth  

Whitacre,  I.  W  

Whitacre  Rranch  .  . 
Plymouth 

Kanchin0'  

Pennsylvania  

Plymouth  

Whitney  N.  P  

Mining 

Boston,  Mass  

Plymouth  

Williams,  Benjamin  C     .... 
Williams,  J.   C  

Williams  District  . 
Drytown       

Farming  and  teaming 
Merchant  

Mississippi  

Plymouth  .  . 
Drytown  .    ... 
Plymouth  
Plymouth  

New  Hampshire.  .  .  . 
Wisconsin  

Wilson,   A  

Shenandoah  Valley. 
Plymouth  
Oleta  

Farmer  

Woolford,  Joseph  
Yates,  E.  R  

Blacksmith  

England  

Farmer  

Virginia  

Oleta  

136 

MISCELLANEOUS. 


NAME. 

RESIDENCK. 

BUSINESS. 

NATIVITY. 

Came  to 
State. 

L'ame  to 
County 

POST  OFFICE. 

No.  of 
Aties. 

Duhem,  C  

San  Francisco 

Paris 

1  852 

1880 

San  Francisco.  . 

Gaffney,  Thos  

Michigan  Bar 

Potter 

New   York 

1875 

1875 

Michigan  Bar  .  . 

Hill,   Samuel  

Ventura  County  .  .  . 

Stock  raiser.  .    . 

Kngland 

1850 

1850 

Spi  ingville  

7000 

Knox,  Israel  W  .  .    

Oakland 

1852 

237  First  st.  S.  F. 

Monsees,  H.   H  

Coyoteville... 

Farminof    and     fruit 

Hanover 

1857 

1859 

Oieta  

3^0 

Wirts,  G.  D  

Gait  

raising. 
Farming 

Ohio 

1859 

1859 

Gait  

Wrrigglesworth,  Joseph  

Bridgeport  District. 

Ranching  &  teaming 

New  York  

1859 

1859 

Oleta  

760 

